TOKYO, 19 Oct 2025 — It’s been a rough few weeks for Asahi Group Holdings. A cyberattack took down its main order system, and now Japan’s beer shelves are looking emptier than anyone expected — right before the holiday rush too.
The system broke on September 29. One moment everything was fine, next thing, it’s offline. No orders, no tracking, nothing. Since then, Asahi’s been using phones and fax machines, trying to keep beer moving — slow work for a company this size. Some stock is getting out, yeah, but not enough. A few bars already said they ran dry of Asahi Super Dry, which for many people is the beer in Japan.
People in the supply chain sound half frustrated, half just tired. One wholesaler said they’ve been “guessing truck schedules and hoping someone answers the fax.” Without computers, route planning’s a mess, and deliveries turn up when they turn up.
Retailers have been calling other brewers — Kirin, Sapporo, even Suntory — to fill the space, but it’s not simple. You can’t just turn up beer production overnight. Everyone’s already locked into their yearly plans. So some stores are splitting what little stock they have into smaller drops, trying to make it stretch.
And it’s not just small shops. Department stores are feeling the hit too. Takashimaya listed all Asahi beer gift sets as out of stock — which stings, because beer is about 10% of their year-end gift sales, and Asahi usually takes half that share.
Asahi said its breweries are still running fine, just the systems that take and move orders went down. Super Dry, Asahi Draft, and Clear Asahi are shipping again, bit by bit. More brands should be back by October 24, they said.
Analysts are worried though. The longer the mess goes on, the more habits change. “Once a bar or store switches to another brewer, even for a short while, it can stick,” said Naoko Kuga from NLI Research Institute.
The ransomware group Qilin said it was behind the attack. Asahi — Japan’s biggest beer maker with about ¥592.8 billion in domestic sales last year — hasn’t given a date for full recovery.
For wholesalers and retailers, it’s been a reminder of how fragile things really are. One cyber hit and the whole chain — brewery, trucks, shelves, bars — all of it gets tangled.
