A Sapporo-Owned Unibroue

Over the weekend, and following a prolonged period of secrecy and speculation, it was announced that Sapporo had successfully bid for Canada’s third-largest brewer, Sleeman Breweries. Assuming that shareholders accept the CDN$17.50 a share offer, which is all but certain, the Japanese brewer will become the owner of not only the brewery that currently produces Sapporo’s brands for the Canadian and U.S. markets, but also a network of strong regional brands, including the Belgian-inspired portfolio of Unibroue ales.

(Incidentally, in the “you read it here first” file, I must rather immodestly note that yours truly was among the first, if not THE first to identify Sapporo as a potential Sleeman suitor, as witnessed by my May 13 blog post.)

For Canadian craft beer aficionados, this was likely the best of all possible results, better, indeed, than the hatchet job which would almost certainly have followed a successful bid by Labatt’s owner, InBev, or Molson-Coors. Internationally, on those levels not occupied by Unibroue, I suspect it will have only minor impact, save for perhaps increasing the Sapporo presence in the United States.

Where the beers of Unibroue are considered, on the other hand, I think that the Sapporo ownership of Sleeman could prove quite interesting. Unibroue’s brands are both highly profitable and well-regarded, and yet at the same time they are also utterly foreign to Sapporo, who have no experience marketing anything like them. This, it seems to me, would indicate that the Japanese brewery might go in one of two directions.

Although the Japanese market for Belgian-style luxury beers is small, it is enthusiastic, which could mean that Sapporo might very well try to use Unibroue brands such as Maudite, Fin du Monde and Terrible as flagships for the super-premium segment there. Or they might decide that they want nothing to do with the brands and sell off the Quebec brewery, perhaps even returning it to local interests. The point in between, that being allowing the brands to languish, is to me the least likely scenario.

Whatever Sapporo does elect to do with Unibroue, it’s a fairly safe bet that they’ll proceed slowly, allowing the existing company structure to continue running the show in the short term. In the longer term, I would project good things in the future for what is arguably Canada’s best-known craft brewery.