ELLON-headquartered craft beer giant BrewDog is expanding in China after partnering with brewing giant Budweiser.
The joint venture with Budweiser China will see the Scottish firm’s Punk IPA and other beers brewed in China. BrewDog also plans to open more bars in the world’s second largest economy.
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In a statement issued to the BBC this morning, BrewDog founder James Watt described the Budweiser partnership as “transformational” and said it would bring the craft brewery to “every corner of the world’s biggest beer market”.
Under the deal, BrewDog said it expects its beers would begin to be produced at Budweiser China’s Putian craft brewery, in the south-eastern province of Fujian, by the end of next month.
China, which is the world’s biggest market for beer, currently accounts for less than 1% of BrewDog’s overall sales.
It is the company’s second tie-up in Asia following a deal with Asahi in Japan in 2021, which BrewDog said helped it double its sales in the country.
The company says it currently has an international network of more than 110 bars but just one in China. BrewDog Shanghai, which opened in 2020, is in the Jing’An district of the city.
The Scotland-headquartered firm employs more than 2,300 people and also has breweries in the US state of Ohio, Berlin in Germany and Brisbane in Australia.
The company reportedly planned to start selling shares on the London stock market in 2020 but postponed the move as the pandemic saw pubs and bars closed during lockdowns.
Mr Watt has said BrewDog has no plans to imminently revive a share sale but has hinted that one could take place by the end of this year.
