SAPPORO BEER

Sapporo Breweries Limited (サッポロビール株式会社 TYO: 2501 ) is a Japanese company that makes beer, headquartered in Ebisu, Tokyo.

History of Sapporo Beer

The origins of this company lie in Sapporo, Hokkaido during the Meiji period, where the Hokkaido Development Department (Kaitakushi) established many businesses. Seibei Nakagawa, a German-trained brewer, became the first brewmaster of the Kaitakushi Brewery in June 1876, and the first Sapporo Lager was produced at that time. Privatized in 1886, the Sapporo brewery became the centrepiece for the Sapporo Beer Company.

In 1887, another company, the Japan Beer Brewery Company was established in Ebisu, Tokyo, and began producing Yebisu Beer. The competition between Sapporo and Japan Beer, as well as competition with the Osaka (now Asahi) and Kirin breweries led to a 1906 merger of Sapporo, Japan, and Osaka breweries into the DaiNippon Beer Company, Ltd., which formed a near monopoly on the Japanese market until after World War II.

After 1949, DaiNippon was split into Nippon and Asahi breweries, with the Nippon Breweries resuming production of Sapporo beer in 1956 and renaming itself to the present name, Sapporo Breweries, in 1964. Yebisu Beer was relaunched as a separate brand in 1971, marketed as a German-style barley beer. Sapporo Black Label beer was launched in 1977.

(Article based on Wikipedia article and used under the GNU Free Documentation License)