Small and mid-scale financiers in the Tokyo and Yokohama area who took an interest in the potential of beer established Nippon Beer Jozo Co., Ltd. in September of 1887 with capital of 150,000 JPY (president: Masuzo Kamata) with the goal of becoming Japan’s foremost beer company. However, given that the roster of company founders did not include any financiers or entrepreneurs of major repute, they lacked the ability to raise major investment.Yet by April of 1889, the record of shareholders listed executives from Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Securing these stable investors allowed Nippon Beer Jozo to set itself on the path to stable operations.

In October 1889, two years after the company was founded, the Yebisu Beer brewery was built in what is now Mita, Meguro-ku, Tokyo. At the time, the brewery was surrounded by fields and forests, with a few homes dotting the landscape. The sudden appearance of a three-story modern brick building drew the attention of the community.The beer mash vats, vapor devices, icemakers, and other equipment were all imported from Germany. Several braumeisters from Germany were also hired. By December of the same year, everything was ready for production.

In the 1890s, small breweries began popping up around Japan. Apparently, they numbered between 100-150 such places. Perhaps out of a lack of quality, the majority evaporated within a few years. Yet the newspapers reported Yebisu Beer as of the finest quality, saying it was different from those here today, gone tomorrow style breweries and was making a major impact on sales of imported beer. As Yebisu Beer became more of a household name, counterfeit Yebisu products even came on the market. For several years after 1897, counterfeit Yebisu Beer kept growing, and Nippon Beer had to repeatedly enter litigation over trademark infringement. Yet it was a testament to how popular Yebisu Beer had become.