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Lion-owned beer brand Little Creatures has opened its first venue and microbrewery in San Francisco's Mission Bay, which will sell a range of beers imported from Australia and feature 36 taps with beers brewed exclusively on-site.

The venue is situated in an emerging sport and entertainment precinct of San Francisco, close to Oracle Park, home of the city's baseball team, as well as the soon to be opened Chase Center, home of NBA team, the Golden State Warriors.

Lion commercial operations director Luke Higgins said the craft beer market in the US is showing positive signs for the future, with craft beer sales up four per cent by volume and retail sales up by seven per cent to $27.6 billion in 2018.

“San Francisco has an array of great craft brewers and passionate beer consumers so it’s the perfect launch pad for introducing Little Creatures to the US,” said Higgins.

“We’re looking forward to seeing Little Creatures Mission Bay become part of the craft beer community on the west coast of the US and we’re excited to see it already creating a buzz. The new venue will be all about introducing the famous Little Creatures beers and hospitality to a new part of the world and ensure the locals over here enjoy it as much as we know the Little Creatures global community does.”

The San Francisco site for Little Creatures adds to the brand's number of venues overseas, including London, Hong Kong, Singapore and London.

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