Japanese brewing giant Asahi aims to reach 1 million hectoliters – more than 850,000 barrels – in production in the medium-term following its acquisition of Wisconsin contract producer Octopi Brewing.
Victoria Segebarth, managing director of EMEA & Americas at Asahi Europe & International, discussed the company’s plans for Octopi’s facility in Waunakee, Wisconsin, the acquisition of which was announced last week.
“That will be both continuing the existing contract production that is the cornerstone of Octopi, but then also investing to enable us to brew our global brands in Octopi going forward for the North American markets,” she said.
In Wisconsin, Asahi will produce Asahi Super Dry and Czech beer Kozel for the U.S., as well as other brands in its global portfolio for export to Canada, including Peroni Nastro Azzuro and Grolsch.
Octopi founder Isaac Showaki will remain at the helm of the facility’s contract brewing and co-packing business, which will “maintain the existing contracts that Octopi has and run with those as is,” Segebarth said.
Asahi had long been searching for a North American production hub to help bolster its flagship Asahi Super Dry in the U.S. and Canada. The brand sells 100,000 hectoliters – about 85,216 barrels – in the U.S. annually.
“The Octopi acquisition will allow us to push Asahi Super Dry into other channels and other areas that we’ve been really keen to expand in going forward,” Segebarth said. “And Octopi will enable us to produce different SKU formats than we’ve been able to traditionally that are more applicable to the U.S. or the Canadian beer markets. It also gives us more flexibility to enable us to respond more quickly than importing the brand.”
Bottles, cans and kegs are being looked at for new SKUs for the brand, she said.
Until now, Asahi’s route to market in the U.S. has focused primarily on Japanese restaurants with “limited availability outside of this,” an Asahi spokesperson told Brewbound.
“A significant opportunity exists to grow distribution,” the spokesperson added, noting Asahi Super Dry has “a very strong repeat purchase” rate to support expansion to other classes of trade.
Octopi’s location in the center of the country makes for convenient shipping to coastal cities and ladders up to Asahi’s goal of reducing emissions by 30% by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, Segebarth said.
“Traditionally, we’ve been strong in California and New York and we’re growing now across many of the major cities in the U.S.,” Segebarth said. “This is why this acquisition is so exciting. It enables us to expand that even further, so we are looking to get a national footprint for Asahi Super Dry.”