SA brewer buying thousands of new kegs
Coopers lager sales grow in a surprise market as the family-owned business taps more locals returning to the pub. Five drinks rise to the top.
Family-owned Coopers today announced it had ordered 7000 extra kegs in response to rising on-premise demand for its beers.
The company – one of the state’s top 100 businesses according to InDaily’s South Australian Business Index – also unveiled its profit for the 2026 financial year was $23.9 million, up from $22.5 million the year prior.
Sales of both keg and packaged beer rose in the 12 months to June 30, 2026, with the former up by 7.4 per cent and approaching pre-Covid levels, Coopers managing director Michael Shearer said.
The managing director – Coopers’ first non-family boss – said total sales were up 2.4 per cent, “against a backdrop of a market that’s stable at best”.
“This is our third year in a row of consecutive growth,” he told InDaily.
“Why are we bucking the trend of the market? I think there are a number of reasons: we produce a quality product, we offer good value to the consumer.”
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Chasing in-premise sales of Coopers is a priority as consumers return to the hotels, Shearer said.
The purchase of the 7000 new kegs would meet that rising demand, he hoped, noting the two-year freeze on draught beer taxes was encouraging punters back into pubs and hotels.
But he wanted that tax freeze to be extended to packaged beer too, which remains the preferred way Australians buy Coopers; of total sales, 87 per cent were packaged beer products by volume.
“We would like to see some sort of relief in packaged beer as well,” he said.
“That has twice-a-year CPI-based excise increases. We would like to see that either capped at, say, two-and-a-half per cent and a once-a-year increase.”
Surprise state driving sales
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Sales of Coopers products are increasingly being driven by interstate buyers, with three in four Coopers beers now sold outside the brand’s SA home.
The fastest-growing market for Coopers is now Queensland, which is learning all about Coopers’ lagers.
Aussie Lager and Dry 3.5 are the standout products in the traditional home of XXXX beer, Shearer said.
“Queensland has been fantastic,” he said.
“It’s now our number three state at 18 per cent of our volume.”
Aussie Lager is yet to crack into Coopers’ top five products; however, the green can – Pale Ale – is the most popular pale ale in Australia. It is followed by Mild Ale, Sparkling Ale, Dry 4.2 and Dry 3.5.
And while it has not entered the top products list yet, the brand’s new zero alcohol option Coopers Zero only launched in August last year but has already sold 400,000 litres in the last financial year.
“Where Zero is ranged, we’re getting outstanding growth,” Shearer said.
“The consumer feedback has been amazing. The product resonates with our customers. It’s a 0 per cent alcohol that’s brewed, which is trickier to make, but it gives it a good flavour. It’s a zero that tastes like a beer.”
Sales growth in SA was 3.2 per cent, Shearer said, predominantly driven by lager sales.
“We currently hold around six per cent of a national beer market which is dominated by two foreign-owned giants, so there’s definitely plenty of growth potential for us to target,” Shearer said.
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