Better Beer a 'runaway success' for Mighty Craft

With $1.8m in sales for the quarter alone, Better Beer accounted for more than 20 per cent of beer and cider sales in Q2 FY22, with demand for the product beyond all expectation.

Mighty Craft reported stock shortages of Better Beer through November and December and the business has subsequently increased its sales forecast to 4 million litres for FY22, 1 million litres above initial expectations.

Mighty Craft’s total beer and cider sales for the quarter were $8.4m, an increase of 21.9 per cent when compared to the same period last year.

Its EBIT for the quarter was $17.7m and the business reported a significant reduction in cash outflow at $1.58m, down since the previous quarter when spending was $5.5m as the business scaled up.

CEO Mark Haysman said, “The business is built for scale and Q2 FY22 was the first time we have been able to demonstrate the impact to the bottom line.

“Given the runaway success of Better Beer, the company expects the sales trends to continue to improve.”

Sales of spirits grew by almost 55 per cent to $4.2 million for the quarter with white spirit production prioritised to meet demand.

In Q3 and Q4, production focus will shift as Mighty Craft amps up its whisky acceleration program, with a target to have 300K litres laid down by the end of FY22 and plans to release a new high end whisky brand, Hidden Lakes.

The business currently has 220K litres under maturation, up from 16K litres at the end of September 2021. This increase was enabled by the acquisition of the Adelaide Hills distilleries and the renovation and expansion of Kangaroo Island Spirits which will launch later this month.

A 1800L steam driven gin still has been installed on the Kangaroo Island site as well as a 4500L whisky still which will be churning out 1200L of spirit a week, making it the largest whisky distillery in South Australia.