(Courtesy Kirin Holdings)

Kirin Holdings purchased  Colorado-based New Belgium Brewing in 2020 and Bell’s Brewery in Michigan in 2021 and they are evidently still in the hunt for more US craft breweries or at least their brewing facilities.

Here’s the deal…

The second biggest brewer in Japan Kirin Holdings is looking to grow its US craft beer presence.  According to Reuters,  last week Kirin CEO Yoshinori Isozaki told reporters: “Our craft beer business in North America is on a roll.”

In 2020 Kirin’s Australian subsidiary Lion purchased Fort Collins, Colorado-based New Belgium Brewing, one of craft beer’s largest US independent craft breweries for an undisclosed sum.

And in 2021, it acquired Kalamazoo, Michigan-headquartered Bell’s Brewery the nation’s seventh largest craft brewery.

New Belgium Brewing is known for its popular Voodoo Ranger IPA line, while Bell’s Two Hearted Ale has consistently been named the best beer in America by the American Homebrewers Association. Their merger in 2021 combined two of the top 10 craft makers in the United States.

North American craft beer is now Kirin’s most profitable business, Isozaki inferred in his brief meeting with reporters, highlighting that Kirin is on the lookout for interesting craft breweries

In the year ended in March 2022, Kirin saw US beer sales generate $454 million for the company, accounting for 3% of global sales, and the Japanese drinks giant expects that to grow to 5% this fiscal year.

However production and distribution across such a wide geographic market as North America remains a challenge for Kirin Holdings, so the company is considering buying facilities from other craft brewers that are in the doldrums and have excess capacity, according to Isozaki, with the intention of picking them up for a good price.

Kirin Holdings is also looking to expand into other parts of Asia and to grow its health supplements business in North America, according to Isozaki.

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