One of Coopers Brewery’s oldest beers, Coopers Best Extra Stout, is enjoying a resurgence among Australian consumers with sales at their highest level in almost half a century.
In calendar year 2019, 3.4 million litres of Coopers Best Extra Stout were sold, 10% above the 2018 figure (3.1 million litres), and on par with a previous peak sales volume in 1975.
Coopers Managing Director, Dr Tim Cooper, said Stout has been in constant production since 1879 and was one of the company’s mainstay products during the last century, along with Sparkling Ale.
“During the 1950s, we would sell over four million litres of Stout a year,” he said.
“However, demand for Stout declined after 1975 with sales dipping to below two million litres in the early 1990s.
“From the mid-1990s, sales remained at approximately 2 million litres a year until 2007, after which sales have been gradually increasing, with strong growth in the last three years.”
Dr Cooper said the revival in Stout came at a time when the beer market was being flooded with new beer styles and products as a result of the craft brewing phenomenon.
“It appears that as new beer styles and flavours enter the market, consumers are also keen to look at flagship beers and styles that have stood the test of time,” he said.
“Interest in stouts, dark beers and porters is increasing world-wide and we are certainly enjoying that trend.”
Coopers Best Extra Stout is brewed with specially roasted black malt, which delivers a robust blend of fruit and chocolate flavours and bitter hop notes. It has an ABV of 6.3%.
While demand for Stout is surging, sales of Coopers two newest ales, Session Ale and XPA have also been booming.
XPA, which was launched in May 2019, and Session Ale, which was launched in late 2017, now make up almost 9% of Coopers’ ale sales.
In the period to December 31, 2019, XPA sales topped 2 million litres, significantly ahead of expectations, while more than 3.1 million litres of Session Ale were sold in 2019.
Session Ale and XPA are both hops driven beers with tropical, fruity characteristics.