Description

The company was founded in 1876 by the authority for the development of the island of Hokkaidō (開拓 使 Kaitakushi) in Sapporo. The first master brewer was Nakagawa Seibei, who had learned his trade in Germany. After privatization in 1886, Sapporo merged in 1906 with Nippon Bier, founded in 1887, and Osaka Brewery to form Dai-Nihon Bier. In 1949, when the Zaibatsu were dissolved, the group was broken up and divided into Asahi Beer (then still with the Kanji 朝日 麦 酒, only since 1964 in Katakana) and Nihon Beer (today's Sapporo Beer). In 2003 the group of companies was transferred to a holding company, Sapporo Holdings KK, whose subsidiary has been Sapporo Beer since then. In 2006, Sapporo took over the Sleeman Brewery, Canada's third largest brewery, for $ 400 million.