2022 TRENDSETTERS
A head of the rest
The push for low-alcohol and no-alcohol beer is a major trend with young age groups . Heaps Normal co-founder Andy Miller explains how the brand helped get it started and what comes next .
With Australians becoming increasingly mindful about their drinking habits , a plethora of innovative brands and retailers are stepping up to offer low- and noalcohol alternatives to beer , wine , and spirits . And investors are putting their money behind this growing category .
In November , alcohol-free spirits maker Lyre ’ s was valued at $ 500 million after completing a $ 37 million funding round . While non-alcoholic beer brand Heaps Normal raised $ 8.5 million in capital in late November , to drive its mission to disrupt Australia ’ s drinking culture .
A report from IWSR released earlier this year predicts that no- and lowalcohol volume in Australia will grow by 16 per cent between 2020 and 2024 , largely driven by younger generations . Australians aged 18-44 are twice as likely as those over 45 to consume zero- and low-strength alcohol , a DrinkWise study found .
Heaps Normal was founded by three friends with a goal of brewing beer that “ tastes so good , you won ’ t miss the alcohol ”.
With years of experience in the beer industry behind them , the trio launched last year with a full-flavoured “ Quiet XPA ” with an ABV of less than 0.5 per cent .
A number of leading business figures , including Adore Beauty founder Kate Morris and Who Gives A Crap founder and CEO Simon Griffiths are backing the brand .
Here , Heaps Normal co-founder and CEO Andy Miller shares why the brand is passionate about normalising mindful drinking and reveals plans for a dedicated physical space .
Inside FMCG : How was Heaps Normal born ? Andy Miller : We launched in July 2020 , in the middle of the pandemic , but we had been working on Heaps Normal in various forms for about two years prior to launching .
Pete , Ben , and I met while working for some of the country ’ s most popular craft beer companies and one day – over a couple of beers – discovered that we all wanted to drink a bit less . The next penny to drop was that we all had very different
reasons for wanting to do so . We figured there were lots of other beer fans out there who had their own reasons for wanting to cut back on the booze , without giving up the beers .
IFMCG : How have the last 12 months been ? Tell us about the work that went into creating a non-alcoholic beer that actually tastes good . AM : Benny spent six months of lockdown running home brew trials in his kitchen . In this time , he developed a unique recipe and process that we then took to a mate ’ s brewery to test how it would scale into a commercial brewing process .
We were so shit-scared about launching a brand new beer brand in the middle of lockdowns that we pre-sold about 80 per cent of our first batch before we even finished brewing it . It was that moment that convinced us there were a lot more people like us , looking for a beer like Heaps Normal .
IFMCG : How important is it to have the backing of high-profile investors from brands like Adore Beauty and Koala ? AM : We ’ re so inspired by the legends who believed in us and backed Heaps Normal from very early in our journey . Many of them have built our favourite brands and businesses – like Kate Morris ( Adore Beauty founder ), Dany Milham ( Koala founder ), Jaddan Comerford ( Unified Music Group founder ), Craig Davis ( Sendle co-founder ), Alex Zaccaria ( Linktree co-founder ) and a handful of other angel investors who have backed
Australia ’ s most successful start-ups , like Canva .
IFMCG : What ’ s on the cards for the next 12 months ? AM : We ’ re developing an exciting new beer that will have a permanent place in our range from early 2022 . There are also a bunch of exciting non-beer projects we ’ ve been working on this year that we ’ ll finally have a chance to introduce to the world when our cities start to open up again .
Our team is growing rapidly and we ’ re planning to build our own brewery [ in 2022 ], too . We can ’ t wait to have that space to bring our community together .
IFMCG : What will the brewery space look like ? AM : We ’ ll have a full production brewery in place next year , dedicated to brewing non-alcoholic beer . It will also incorporate a bar and event space .
One of the things that made us most excited about the way Heaps Normal has been perceived is the support we ’ ve received from other brewers . We want to pay respect to that and use our hospitality side of the business to almost kind of flip the normal model on its head . We will have a selection of our favourite craft beers available in the space , as well as a whole range of different beers that we brew ourselves .
It ’ s not about creating division between people who are drinking and not drinking , it ’ s about making it normal and OK for everyone to choose whatever fits with their lifestyle . t