Japan is running out of its favorite beer after ransomware attack

Japan is just a few days away from running out of Asahi Super Dry as the producer of the nation’s most popular beer wrestles with a devastating cyber attack that has shut down its domestic breweries.

The vast majority of Asahi Group’s 30 factories in Japan have not operated since Monday after the attack disabled its ordering and delivery system, the company said.

Retailers are already expecting empty shelves as the outage stretches into its fourth day with no clear timeline for factories recommencing operations. Super Dry could also run out at izakaya pubs, which rely on draught and bottles.

Lawson, one of Japan’s big convenience stores, said in a statement that it stocks many Asahi Group products and “it is possible that some of these products may become increasingly out of stock from tomorrow onwards.”

“This is having an impact on everyone,” said an executive at another of Japan’s major retailers. “I think we will run out of products soon. When it comes to Super Dry, I think we’ll run out in two or three days at supermarkets and Asahi’s food products within a week or so.”

The executive said that it would look to other brands such as Suntory or Kirin to quench Japanese drinkers’ thirst but acknowledged that many customers are fiercely loyal to Super Dry’s taste.

Asahi declined to comment on any possible shortage or retailer inventories. Japan’s largest brewer produces the equivalent of 6.7 million large bottles of beer per day on average in the country, based on Financial Times calculations using its 2024 sales figure.

The Asahi incident follows a spate of cyber incidents at other major companies that have proved highly disruptive. Earlier this week, the UK government provided a £2 billion emergency credit line to Jaguar Land Rover after production stopped for a month due to a devastating cyber attack.