Boutique brewers going public

Seems like we are back in the 1990s: Three Australian craft brewers went public in December as the trend towards expensive beers has reached the stock market. The three craft breweries (Empire Beer, Gage Roads and Oz Brewing) are based in Western Australia and are collectively raising AUD 15 million via initial public offerings.

Although the mineral boom may have left Western Australian drinkers with the sort of disposable income that makes a AUD 9 beer sound like reasonable value, they are not alone in their liking for top-shelf beers. While the sales of premium beers rose more than 11 percent last year, craft or boutique beers increased by 23 percent.

Gage Roads has a distribution agreement with the Hardy Wine Co and Oz Brewing plans to operate a brewpub in their Mad Monk Brew Café in Fremantle as well as opening another brewery for packaged products in its second year; the purpose of their offer is to raise AUD 1.5 million. Empire will use the proceeds of its floatation to purchase the brewpub of Colonial Brewing Co at Margaret River, open another outlet in Fremantle and to eventually have more Colonial-style brewpubs around Australia.

James Marinko, CEO of the well-established Little Creatures operation at Fremantle, was quoted as saying that he was not surprised at the rush of new entrants to the sector “as it appears to be the ‘in’ thing to do….but it’s bloody hard work.”