- published: 09 Feb 2015
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Asahi Breweries, Ltd. (アサヒビール株式会社 Asahi Bīru Kabushiki Gaisha) TYO: 2502 is a leading brewery and soft drink company based in Tokyo, Japan. The company has a 40% share of the Japanese beer market.
The company's primary beer, from 1957 through the late 1980s, was Asahi Gold (overtaking Asahi Draft, its original formula, which remains in production). In 1987 it introduced Asahi Super Dry, which initiated the Japanese craze for dry beer; this led in turn to Asahi's dramatic turnaround in business performance, and its surpassing of former second ranker Sapporo Brewery in sales and profits.
Asahi was founded in Osaka in 1889. During the First World War German prisoners worked in the brewery.
In 1990, Asahi acquired a 19.9% stake in Australian brewery giant Elders IXL which has since become the Foster's Group.
In 2009, Asahi acquired the Australian beverages unit of Cadbury Schweppes.
On January 23, 2009, Asahi acquired 19.9% of Tsingtao Brewery from Anheuser-Busch InBev for $667 million. The sale will make Asahi Breweries, Ltd. the second largest shareholder in Tsingtao behind only the Tsingtao Brewery Group.
Coordinates: 35°42′35″N 139°48′01″E / 35.7098°N 139.80037°E / 35.7098; 139.80037
The Asahi Beer Hall (a.k.a. Super Dry Hall, or Flamme d'Or) is one of the buildings of the Asahi Breweries headquarters located on the east bank of the Sumida River in Sumida, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed by French designer Philippe Starck and was completed in 1989. It is considered one of Tokyo's most recognizable modern structures.
The shape of the building is that of a beer glass, designed to complement the neighboring golden beer mug-shaped building housing the Asahi Breweries offices.
It is noted for the Asahi Flame, an enormous golden structure at the top, said to represent both the 'burning heart of Asahi beer' and a frothy head. The 360-tonne golden flame was made by shipbuilders using submarine-construction techniques. It is completely empty.
The Asahi Flame is often colloquially referred to as "the golden turd" (kin no unko, 金のうんこ) and the Asahi Beer Hall itself as "poo building" (unko-biru, うんこビル) by many Tokyo residents.