Britain’s BrewDog aims to put Punk IPA on the map in China

LONDON: Britain’s BrewDog has struck a deal for its flagship craft beer Punk IPA to be made in China, as it seeks to expand its sales and reach ahead of an initial public offering (IPO) in the coming years.

Scotland-based BrewDog said on Monday it had signed a joint venture with Budweiser China to produce its beers at that company’s Putian Craft Brewery in Fujian province, and sell them through its new partner’s sales and distribution network.

Punk IPA, Lost Lager, Elvis Juice and Hazy Jane have helped turn BrewDog into a household name in Britain. Expansion into new countries will help drive sales higher ahead of an IPO. The company had originally planned a flotation in 2020, but that was shelved during the coronavirus pandemic.

“I think the internationalisation of our business is kind of very key to our IPO plans,” BrewDog founder and chief executive James Watt told Reuters.

While BrewDog has had a presence in China since 2015, Watt said it had been hard to scale up without a local partner. It’s a similar model to a partnership deal BrewDog signed with Asahi in Japan, which saw sales there double in its first year.