The managing director of Australia’s largest family-owned beer group, Coopers Brewery, is stepping down after 23 years, making way for the first outsider to run the business in more than a century.

Tim Cooper said the company, which has a 5 per cent share of the beer market, was defying a broader downturn – sales across the country have contracted 4 per cent. Drinkers are returning to less expensive old-school beer brands with long histories, he said. Younger drinkers are also bypassing beer and opting for ready-to-drink spirits and low-carb seltzers.