PAROCHIAL South Australians have always asserted that Coopers is the best beer and the world - now there is some proof to back up that claim, at least in terms of the malt used in the products.
Last week Coopers, together with Dutch maltster the Swaen, took out the prestigious Maltster of the Year awards at the World Barley, Malt and Beer Conference in Warsaw, Poland.
It is a massive vote of confidence in Coopers' new 54,000 tonne per annum capacity malt works, which opened in November 2017 alongside its brewery in Regency Park in Adelaide's north.
The malt plant provides around 16,000 tonnes for Coopers' own use, 21,000t is exported to Asia while the burgeoning craft beer and home brew market in Australia now takes a whopping 5500 tonnes, more than 10pc of total production.
Coopers has become a big player in the growing beer sector in Asia, where the malt is used in such household names as Thailand's Chang, Carlsberg, brewed under licence in Vietnman and South Korea's Hite brand beer.
The opening of the new malt facility marks a complete turnaround in business direction for the family-owned brewery and maltster, Australia's largest Australian-owned brewer.
In 2002, when it moved from its Leabrook home in the eastern suburbs to Regency Park, it sold its old malting facilities to Ausbulk to service debt.
Coopers' Maltings Manager, Doug Stewart, was delighted with the result, saying it backed Coopers' decision to not cut any corners in terms of the malt plant's design, which cost $65 million, with Swiss manufacturer Buhler doing the design and Adelaide firm Ahrens undertaking the construction.
He said the malting plant was technologically advanced and produced malt of exceptional quality.
The flexibility to service both big and small customers was also a bonus he said.
"We also are flexible enough to be able to produce special single origin malts for the craft beer and distilling sectors.
"These have included malt from Westminster barley grown on Kangaroo Island, Schooner barley from the Murray Mallee and Commander barley from the Barossa Valley."
"This unique range of malts forms part of the attractiveness of our offering to the craft brewing sector."
Gregor Heard
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
Gregor Heard is ACM's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his 15 years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector.
