Media Release

Coopers enters cider market with international Agreement

Coopers Brewery is entering the Australian cider market.

Coopers has signed a contract with the English cider manufacturer, Thatchers Cider, to keg and distribute draught Thatchers Gold to the on-premise market in Australia. Thatchers Gold is the second largest draught cider in the UK.

The contract was signed in Adelaide by Coopers’ Managing Director, Dr Tim Cooper, and the Managing Director of Thatchers, Mr Martin Thatcher late last year.

Thatchers Gold is currently being put on tap in hotels across Australia.

“We expect Thatchers Gold will have a major impact on the draught cider market in Australia,” Dr Cooper said.

“It is highly regarded as one of the world’s best ciders and is a great fit within our portfolio of quality beers. We are determined to establish Thatchers Gold as a premium brand in the growing Australian cider market.”

Dr Cooper said that Coopers had been looking at the cider market in Australia for the past three years, but had not found the right partner until now.

“Mark Goulmy, the General Manager of our distribution company Premium Beverages, was contacted by Thatchers last year about a possible distribution agreement,” he said.

“Chairman Glenn Cooper and I subsequently met Martin Thatcher and his team in the UK and felt an immediate affinity with them.

“Thatchers is a fourth generation family business that produces premium quality products. It has been growing rapidly in the past 20 years and the fit seemed right. We are extremely excited about the possibilities.”

Mr Thatcher he was delighted that an agreement had been finalised.

“There are so many synergies between Thatchers and Coopers that I’m absolutely convinced this has always been a partnership just waiting to happen,” he said.

“Both companies share similar values of heritage, family history, quality and most importantly a deep rooted care for their business and their customers.

“Thatchers Gold, crafted in Somerset, the home of English cider, is a cider that represents everything that we at Thatchers cherish and we are delighted that we may soon be sharing our cider with Coopers’ customers – we hope our friends in Australia will enjoy their pint of Gold as much as we do in the UK.

Thatchers Gold is carefully blended using specific cider apples in the UK to produce a balanced and refreshing cider.

“Coopers will be bringing a small part to English heritage to a pub near you,” Mr Thatcher said.

Under the arrangement, tankers of bulk cider are being shipped to Coopers’ brewery at Regency Park from Thatchers’ facility at Myrtle farm in Sandford, North Somerset.

The cider is being kegged by Coopers into Coopers’ standard kegs, to integrate seamlessly into the existing systems of hotels, clubs and bars around Australia. Premium Beverages will also distribute Thatchers packaged cider.

Coopers’ Chairman, Mr Glenn Cooper, said he was currently negotiating to have draught Thatchers Gold on sale at the Clipsal 500 in late February and expected it would create enormous interest from the public.

The cider market is currently one of the fastest growing sectors of the Australian liquor industry, with recent IBIS World figures showing demand has doubled over the past five years.

Thatchers is a fourth generation family company that began producing cider in 1904 when Martin’s great grandfather William Thatcher started making the product on his farm at Somerset. It began selling draught cider to pubs in 1904. Today the company grows apples on 360 acres and processes around 25,000 tonnes of fruit per year. Products include a range of single varietal ciders, premium, draught and fruit and pear ciders.

Cooper’s Video News Release about the deal. (note: this was produced by Coopers)