Japan’s Kirin Brewery has prioritised three brands across the beer, ready-to-drink and whisky categories to help it reach its global goals.
The drinks giant named its Kirin Ichiban beer brand, its ready-to-drink brand Hyoketsu, and Fuji Japanese Whisky, as its “three flagship pillars” which will help by “accelerating cross-market links to innovation originating in Japan, particularly across Asia Pacific”.
The move follows Kirin having recently announced a strengthened overseas growth strategy that positions the company to reach a 20% global revenue target by 2035, building on its presence in more than 40 markets.
At the forefront of this plan is the establishment of Kirin Brewery Southeast Asia in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which opened in 1 October as its Southeast Asia`s regional headquarter.
According to Kirin, the new regional office will enable faster, locally-insighted decisions across Southeast Asia and supports the company’s aim to build upon its portfolio of alcoholic beverages.
Kirin’s ambitions
Kirin Brewery president and CEO, Hideki Horiguchi, outlined the company’s long-term ambition to lift the overseas share of Kirin Brewery revenue to 20% by 2035 (excluding liquor tax).
Horiguchi said: “We’ve put the strategy, organisational structure, and regional partnerships in place, launching a new company in Southeast Asia is an epoch-making step.”
According to Kirin, Hyoketsu is already resonating internationally, “ranking number one in light RTD in New Zealand and Taiwan, with plans to further accelerate momentum in Asia Pacific through integration with Japan’s innovation pipeline and brand initiatives”.
The plan is for Kirin Ichiban to “scale globally with new Zero Carb and 0.0 variants to meet rising health consciousness” and “Fuji Whisky will continue to build brand awareness and widen distribution as its portfolio expands”.
Globalising Japanese-origin brands
The drinks giant also revealed that in Asia it will progressively produce and manufacture closer to the market where feasible, continuing to utilise its export operations from Japan and the Zhuhai (China) base while evaluating a manufacturing footprint in Southeast Asia.
Kirin Brewery general manager of the overseas business division. Kosuke Fujishima said: “Beer is fundamentally a local business, our aim is to brew closer to the market. We will globalise Japanese-origin brands without diluting identity, the core remains Japanese, while flavours and product content will localise based on consumer insights.”
The strategy
Beyond Asia, Kirin Brewery is also “deepening collaboration with New Belgium Brewing in North America” now responsible for production and sales of Kirin beer since January 2025. However, it was noted that “whisky routes run through major wholesalers and opportunities for Hyoketsu are under evaluation”.
In Oceania, the business will work with its subsidiary Lion, to grow Kirin Ichiban’s share in Australia while maintaining Hyoketsu’s leadership position in New Zealand.
However, in Europe, Kirin revealed it is “expanding beer (including Kirin Ichiban 0.0) and Fuji Whisky while optimising production capacities across Germany and the UK and pushing deeper retail penetration into the UK market through a new partnership model introduced this year”.
Looking forwards into 2026, Kirin Brewery has revealed that it’s Kirin Ichiban and Hyoketsu brands will “align their global activities with one of the world’s biggest international sporting events, showcasing their strength in creating impactful global experiences and celebrating Kirin Hyoketsu’s 25th anniversary, now expanding across seven overseas markets in addition to Japan”.
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