Courtesy of Sapporo-Stone Brewing
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Sapporo-Stone Unveils Escondido, California, Expansion; Updates Richmond, Virginia, Project Status

May 23, 2024
Goal to shift brewing of Sapporo beers to the U.S. coming to fruition some two years after Sapporo acquired Stone Brewing.

San Diego, Calif.-based Sapporo-Stone Brewing has unveiled phase one of its overall $60 million expansion plan at its two U.S. breweries — phase one being a $20 million expansion of its Escondido, Calif., brewery. The company, which was acquired two years ago by Sapporo U.S.A., also has invested $40 million in its Richmond, Va., facility, and the combined expenditures will double Sapporo-Stone’s capacity to about 700,000 barrels a year in those two facilities combined.

The Richmond expansion is expected to be unveiled in the fall of this year. The Escondido project includes added tanks and packaging lines for improved efficiency and added capacity. The company hosted an open house May 21, 2024, to showcase the Escondido expansion.

Sapporo-Stone operates out of two Escondido brewing and packaging buildings, and a distribution warehouse with offices, with additional warehouse space in San Marcos and Downey, Calif. On the East Coast, the company features a brewery and an off-site warehouse.

Sapporo U.S.A. acquired Stone Brewing in 2022 in order to brew its Sapporo beers on U.S. soil rather than import them for sale in the marketplace. Today, both breweries are producing those brands, the announcement stated, and by late summer all production of Sapporo beers will have moved from Canada and Asia to the U.S.

About the Author

Andy Hanacek | Senior Editor

Andy Hanacek has covered meat, poultry, bakery and snack foods as a B2B editor for nearly 20 years, and has toured hundreds of processing plants and food companies, sharing stories of innovation and technological advancement throughout the food supply chain. In 2018, he won a Folio:Eddie Award for his unique "From the Editor's Desk" video blogs, and he has brought home additional awards from Folio and ASBPE over the years. In addition, Hanacek led the Meat Industry Hall of Fame for several years and was vice president of communications for We R Food Safety, a food safety software and consulting company.

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