Sapporo-Stone Brewing hires new vice president

Sapporo–Stone Brewing announces the addition of Joel Pipman, VP Brewing Operations to oversee the company’s bi-coastal breweries. Pipman brings 19 years of brewery experience in the areas of brewing, packaging, quality assurance, utilities, business administration, engineering, maintenance and leadership.

Pipman will be based in Richmond, Virginia, where Sapporo-Stone Brewing will be producing about half of its beers, shipping to the Eastern and Central U.S. and abroad. He will oversee operations at both bi-coastal breweries in the primary leadership role.

“Sapporo-Stone’s quality culture enticed me to join this great team,” explained Pipman. “I look forward to helping the team reach its goals and am excited to brew a lot of awesome beer together.”

Sapporo-Stone’s leadership team is designed to meet the unique needs of a large brewery producing the number one selling Asian beer brand in the U.S. and innovative craft offerings. Pipman will guide the team through ongoing growth and innovation, ensuring consistency across both breweries and meeting the exact specifications of Sapporo’s beers.

Pipman spent the last five years as Senior Brewmaster for Anheuser-Busch in Williamsburg, Virginia. Prior, he held roles in engineering, quality assurance, finance, and maintenance at Anheuser-Busch breweries in Newark, New Jersey, and St. Louis, Missouri. Pipman holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University with a Master’s in Business Administration from Washington University in St. Louis. He earned his diploma in Brewing from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling and is Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Certified.

Both Sapporo-Stone breweries are currently undergoing major expansion as the company prepares to brew all Sapporo beers for the U.S. in addition to Stone offerings. The combined company anticipates brewing about 700,000 barrels in 2024, double the total production at Stone breweries prior to its 2022 acquisition by Sapporo U.S.A. Sapporo beers will begin flowing from Sapporo-Stone breweries in early 2024.

Sapporo is the oldest beer of Japan and the number one selling Asian beer brand in the U.S., growing 7.6% year-over-year and gaining share within the rapidly expanding import beer category. Stone Brewing is also gaining share within the crowded craft beer category, outpacing category trends by nearly 4 points.