In the nineteenth century the Japanese for the first time discovered wild hops on the island of Hokkaido. The discovering engineers then opened a new brewery in the small town of Sapporo. Later in 1877 the first German style brewery was officially opened in Japan.

In 1886, the brewery was sold to Okura Trading Company. One year later, prominent Japanese businessmen Shibusawa and Kinachiro jointly bought the factory from brewery from Okura Trading Company, and then the company was renamed the Sapporo Beer Company.

At the same time, a handful of other breweries were founded creating a sort of a golden age for Japanese beer. Some notable breweries include Kirin Beer, Yebisu Beer and Asahi Beer.

By the mid 1900s, beer production in industrialised Japan was at its peak with the 4 major brewers, namely Asahi, Yebisu, Sapporo and Japan at each other’s necks and voraciously attempting to capture the lion’s share of the market. Thanks to such ferocious competition, Osaka, Sapporo and Japan breweries finally decided to merge to create Dai Nippon Beer Ltd.

In the late 1950s, Dai Nippon Beer Ltd. was split into 2 separate breweries, Nippon and Asahi. Nippon, who retained the exclusive rights to the famous Sapporo Beer, now introduced it under a brand new name, Nippon Beer, and went on to claim an even larger share of the Japanese market as most people were desperate to drink the ‘oldest beer’ in Japan.

Nearly a decade later in the mid 1960s, the name was changed to Sapporo Beer and the newly revived brand helped implement a new mesmerising advertising campaign, in which random tasters were fully blindfolded and made to drink and choose their favourite beer. Such a campaign helped make many aware of the superior taste and quality of Sapporo.

With Sapporo Beer, human touch and thorough attention is stressed to the highly sensitive brewing process and the fine selection of best quality ingredients. The company uses state-of-the-art brewing technology to ensure the sheer quality and fine test of the beer.

For more information, visit www.sapporobeer.jp/english