Mighty Craft is moving Dayton Coffey into the newly-created role of Head of Operations – Brewing, based at Mismatch Brewery.

In this role, Dayton will oversee the Mismatch and Jetty Road breweries, support the liaison with contract brewers such as Casella re Better Beer, and will form an integral part of the Supply Chain & Operations Leadership Team.

The team reporting to Dayton will include Tom Wood (Head Brewer, Mismatch) and Sean Varley (Head Brewer, Jetty Road). Dayton will also work across the Mighty Craft network, closely aligning with Ewan Brewerton at Mismatch, Matt Grant at Jetty Road, and Nick Cogger and the Better Beer team, and other breweries within Mighty Craft as required.

Dayton started his brewing career in the laboratory at West End in Adelaide before moving into the brewing department as a brewing team leader. He then moved to Sydney and brewed for James Squire at the Malt Shovel Brewery.

In 2013 Dayton moved to Michigan in the US for a job at New Holland Brewing, working as the Quality Manager before moving into the Operations Manager and ultimately Technical Director role. He helped grow that brewery to be one of the 50 biggest craft breweries in the US, having one of the largest barrel aged beer programs in the country, producing over three million litres of Bourbon Barrel Aged stout annually.

After leaving the US at the end of 2019, Dayton was about to embark on an extended holiday in South America just as COVID-19 pandemic started. He quickly returned to South Australia and commenced with Mismatch in March 2020.

Dayton holds a Bachelor of Science from Flinders University in South Australia, a Diploma of Food Technology from Regency Institute, and holds both the Diploma of Brewing and Certificate of Distilling from the Institute of Brewing and Distilling.

Says Mighty Craft Managing Director Mark Haysman: “This position is pivotal in driving networked and innovative beer production across the Mighty Craft group, with particular focus on curation and oversight of our beer program as well as quality standards and brewery safety, brewery efficiencies and cost of goods reductions.

“Dayton is an incredible asset, and his technical brewing expertise and operational leadership are highly respected in the industry, both locally and abroad. We’re thrilled that he’s taking on this integral new role.”