Photo/Illutration An image of Yebisu Brewery Tokyo, a facility that will be set up around December 2023 (Provided by Sapporo Breweries Ltd.)

Sapporo Breweries Ltd. will brew the premium Yebisu beer brand at its birthplace of Tokyo’s Ebisu district for the first time in 35 years.

The company on Sept. 12 announced plans to set up the Yebisu Brewery Tokyo facility in Ebisu around the end of 2023.

The brewery will be able to produce 130 kiloliters of beer on an annual basis, Sapporo said.

According to the plan, freshly brewed beer will be served to visitors in the taproom area of the facility starting in spring 2024.

The company will invest about 1.3 billion yen ($ 9 million) to renovate the Yebisu Beer Museum into the new brewing facility. The museum, which explains the history of Yebisu beer, will be closed at the end of October this year for the renovation work.

The Yebisu brand was created in 1890 by Nippon Beer Jozo Co., a predecessor of Sapporo Breweries.

The beer became so popular that the brand name was used for the name of Ebisu district and a train station where the production site was located.

Sapporo has kept its headquarters in Ebisu, but it relocated the beer-producing factory to Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, in 1988.

According to statistics compiled by Sapporo, overall beer sales in the industry from January to August this year increased from the same period of last year.

However, sales of higher-priced beer (350ml cans sold at convenience stores for 250 yen or more with consumption tax), including Yebisu, decreased over the same period.

Sapporo said it believes consumers have lost their appetite for premium beers because they need extra money to cover the rising prices of various other products.

To promote sales of Yebisu beer, Sapporo opened a Yebisu-serving bar in JR Ebisu Station in September.

It also plans to release in November a limited-edition Yebisu beer made with high-grade hops produced in the Czech Republic.

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