Sapporo-Stone Brewing will cease the exporting of Stone beers in January 2025, a spokesperson for the company confirmed.
Stone exports its products to nearly 20 countries via a network of international distributors, according to its website. However, these markets account for roughly 1% of total sales, the company told the Drinks Business, which first reported the news last week.
“Our export business was larger when we had Stone Brewing Germany and our taproom in China,” CEO Zach Keeling told Brewbound via a spokesperson. “Since those closures and despite best efforts, it has been a small and declining legacy business.”
Stone Brewing Germany, a 100-hectoliter brewery with a taproom and beer garden in Berlin, shut down and was sold to BrewDog in 2019, nearly three years after opening in fall 2016. Plans for the complex were announced in 2014.
The project encountered delays before it opened, and the “significant portion of a decade and significant millions” were not enough to overcome the difficulties, co-founder Greg Koch wrote in a blog post about the sale.
Stone shuttered its taproom in Shanghai, China, in early March 2020, citing pressures from tariffs and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The location opened its doors in July 2018.
As the company looks to 2025, Stone’s nationally distributed portfolio in the U.S. will be trimmed as well, executives told Brewbound last month.
Stone’s Enjoy By series (a “beer that literally has a drop dead date,” per chief revenue officer Tom McReavy) and other limited releases will be removed from broad distribution, but will remain available at Stone’s breweries in Escondido, California, and Richmond, Virginia.
Instead, Stone will lean on its core portfolio – Stone IPA, Stone Delicious, Buenaveza Mexican-style lager and the recently launched Stone Pilsner – as well as its 6- and 12-pack can packages next year.
Dollar sales of the Stone portfolio have declined -5.2% in the 52-week period through November 2 at off-premise retailers tracked by market research firm NIQ, according to data provided by 3 Tier Beverages. Volume, measured in case sales, declined -6.7% year-over-year (YoY).
In the four-week period through November 2, Stone’s volume trends have softened to -4.5% YoY, but dollar sales declines have accelerated to -6.2% YoY.
Volume of Stone’s core portfolio has increased +1.5% in the 52-week period through November 2 and those gains have accelerated to +3.6%in the latest four weeks, according to NIQ data Stone shared.
Sapporo-Stone was formed in 2022, when Japanese brewing giant Sapporo acquired Stone, then the ninth largest craft brewery in the country by volume, according to the Brewers Association.
Editor’s note: this story was updated at 3:45 p.m. on November 26 to reflect the accurate number of export markets and include additional scan data.