Who owns this brewery?

From the archive

Lion, through New Belgium Brewing Company, Inc. Kirin Holdings Company, Limited is the ultimate parent.

VERIFIEDPARTIALLYEvidence BChecked 2026-09-07

Since: 2019-12
Direct owner: Lion
Ultimate parent: Kirin Holdings Company, Limited

The October 2025 change is a reporting and management restructuring. Tally does not infer a transfer of shares from it, in either direction.

How Tally knows

Lion Little World Beverages, Lion's craft division, agreed in November 2019 to buy 100 per cent of New Belgium Brewing Company; the employee-owners approved that December and the ESOP ended. Tally answers PARTIALLY because the structure is in motion: from 1 October 2025 New Belgium reports directly to Kirin Holdings rather than through Lion, and Kirin's own announcement of that change still calls New Belgium Lion's US craft subsidiary. A reporting line is not a shareholding, so Lion stays in the chain and the post-2025 legal shareholder is recorded as unresolved rather than guessed at.

Evidence

4 sources

New Belgium Brewing to join Lion Little World Beverages — New Belgium Brewing (2019-11) Proves: New Belgium's own announcement of the Lion transaction and the end of employee ownership
Kirin Holdings — group companies — Kirin Holdings Company, Limited (accessed 2026-09-07) Proves: Kirin Holdings' group structure
Kirin Report 2024 — main subsidiaries — Kirin Holdings Company, Limited (2024) Proves: Lion among Kirin's main subsidiaries
Notice of Change of CEO at Lion — Kirin Holdings Company, Limited (2025-09-03) Proves: That from October 2025 New Belgium reports directly to Kirin while still being described as Lion's US craft subsidiary

Connections

new-belgium-brewingowned byLion2019-12–present · B
new-belgium-brewingultimately owned byKirin Holdings Company, Limited2019-12–present · B

What we still don’t know

The legal shareholder of New Belgium after the October 2025 reporting restructuring is not established.