Page 6 - Kirin Holdings Teaching Note

In 2015

Yoshinori

Isozaki

became

President

and CEO

of Kirin

Holdings.

He took
office at a

time when

Kirin had

responded

to market
disruption first in the 1980s when demand for traditional

dark beer in Japan declined and the company answered by

developing in 1990, Kirin Ichiban, First Press, a unique first

press wart process, produced from the finest barley malt

and premium hops.

Usually brewers take the liquid from the mashing process

called the wort from the first and second presses. But Kirin

created a premium beer from only the first pressing. The

result was a beer with a very pure, clear flavour. This

method was ground breaking for the time.

It also allowed for the export market the perception of a

premium beer. Kirin beers are brewed around the world,
including by Anheuser-Busch in the U.S.