Pabst to Brew Beer in China

Pabst will become the first American beer brewed in China when Tiburon brewer Paul Kalmanovitz opens a newly transplanted brewery in Canton province later this year, Kalmanovitz has announced.

Kalmanovitz, the 81-year-old recluse who bought Pabst last year, attended ground-breaking ceremonies this week in the city of Zhao Qing, where he is relocating his Vancouver, Wash., brewery, according to a company statement released last week.

It will be the first of two Pabst breweries in the United States that Kalmanovitz has ordered dismantled and shipped to China, where they will be rebuilt. The Newark, N.J., brewery will be relocated in a different Chinese province and begin operations early next year, the statement said.

Owned by Joint Venture

“The complete relocation of two brewing plants from one country to another is an historic step,” Kalmanovitz said in the company statement. “It has taken us a long time to make all of the arrangements, but we are convinced it was well worth the effort.”

The plants will be owned and operated by the Zhao Qing Brewery, a joint venture with Peter Wong of San Francisco, who is president of Pacific-Atlantic Trading Co. The statement said the first brewery will produce about 500,000 barrels of Pabst beer each year and employ 500 Chinese workers.

Both breweries being moved produced less than half of their capacity last year, while Pabst beer production declined more than 10% and Kalmanovitz closed numerous American plants.

“I have no idea why Kalmanovitz is going to China,” said St. Louis beer industry analyst Robert Weinberg. “He’s saving face. You’re not closing up a plant--you’re just moving it.”

Eric Shepard, associate editor of Beer Marketing Insights, added: “Certainly there’s a big market there, but does he really intend to be the Beer Emperor of China? Who knows?”