How Heaps Normal is changing our perception of a ‘coldie’
A fledgling Sydney start-up is a stone-cold success, raising over $8.5m on the idea that not all fun has to involve alcohol but it can still include a coldie.
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If you want to change the world, first start with the market you’d like to influence, then slowly move into a space that is accessible to all.
That’s been the masterplan behind Sydney startup Heaps Normal, a non-alcoholic drinks maker that is slowly but surely trying to show Australians that not all fun has to involve alcohol … but it can still include a coldie.
“It had come up in conversation a few times in the past couple of years, but basically we’d forgotten the reason we drank in the first place,” says Andy Miller, 40, one of Heaps Normal’s co-founders.
“Coming to that realisation was a big moment for us. We had started going out just to have a beer; it had become the main event and defeated the purpose of being social.”
The Heaps Normal story began three years ago when Miller and his friends and co-founders Peter Brennan, 41, Ben Holdstock, 38, and Jordy Smith, 34, began questioning their motives for catching up over a drink.
The group had largely spent their careers working around alcohol, with Holdstock and Miller working for craft beer and liquor brands. Brennan had an altogether different experience, growing up in a family with alcohol abuse issues.
After much talking, the group got to work and learned how to make a beer without alcohol. Unlike some breweries that make a full-strength beer and then later boil out the alcohol, Heaps Normal experimented with different processes.
“We actually created our own process where there was no need to remove the alcohol. Instead, we used a native yeast that only undergoes a very small amount of fermentation,” Miller says. “We also cut back on sugar so there was less that could be turned into alcohol.”
The recipe, it turned out, would become an immediate success, with all 500 cases selling out during their first week in the market.
Since its launch in July 2020, the label has gone on to be stocked at Beer Cartel, Porter‘s Liquor, Cellarbrations, Thirsty Camel, IGA Liquor, Blackhearts and Sparrows, Dan Murphys, BWS and Liquorland. At the World Beer Awards last year, Heaps Normal won the low- and no-alcohol category with its Quiet XPA.
Today you’ll even find a four-pack of Heaps Normal XPA on the shelf at Coles for $13, with mini cartons to be available at Woolworths in coming months.
“Our position in the market is around a focus on non-alcoholic beverages because we believe that it’s important for all of us to determine what works for us when it comes to alcohol consumption,” Miller says.
“The opportunity to change drinking culture is not about preaching to the choir; there are people who already understand the benefits of not drinking alcohol.” —Andy Miller
“And we see our audience as beer drinkers. The opportunity to change drinking culture is really not about preaching to the choir; there are people who already understand the benefits of not drinking alcohol.”
Unlike some companies before them, Heaps Normal avoided grocery stores for some time.
“It was an intentional part of our strategy to hold off as we see ourselves as beer drinkers,” Miller says.
The brand wanted to garner the interest of traditional beer drinkers before entering supermarkets, he says.
“It’s really exciting because the possibilities for non-alcoholic beer are almost anywhere, really.”
The startup’s growth hasn’t been without help. During a capital raise last year they achieved $8.5 million in support while avoiding the venture capital route, receiving investment from Who Gives a Crap’s Simon Griffiths and Adore Beauty’s Kate Morris.
That money has gone into the startup’s expansion, with its team now comprising 23 staff.
It’s also gone into a new project. Heaps Normal is set to launch its own bar in the form of a distillery in Marrickville, Sydney, early next year. The 1700-square- metre space will be constructed using reused and recycled materials.
“We’re looking to build the largest non-alcoholic brewery in Australia,” Miller says.
The brewery will arrive in a food and drink precinct alongside the likes of powerhouse gelato brand Messina and popular Sydney dry gin Poor Toms.
“Most importantly, we will have some alcoholic beverages available over the bar as well,” Miller says.
Heaps Normal’s success isn’t limited to Australia. Its non-alcoholic beer is already being distributed in Singapore and Malaysia. “We’re actually about to move into Hong Kong next,” says Miller. “We really see Southeast Asia as Australia’s backyard.”
How does one get familiar with the territory? These days Miller calls Bangkok home, having made the move with his partner at the beginning of the year.
“I think there’s a massive opportunity for non-alcoholic beer in Thailand,” he says. “It’s exciting to see a lot of movement in the craft beer scene in Bangkok, and seeing independent producers.”
The couple lives in an apartment in downtown Bangkok’s Sathorn area. On days Miller wants to leave the home office he pops down to Sarnies, a local cafe run by Thai owners who used to live in Australia.
“To escape the four walls of home I’ll often head down with my laptop,” he says.
“They have absolutely amazing croissants, and a sausage and egg roll that uses a Thai sausage with herbs and spices. We’re really looking forward to getting our beers in places like Sarnies when we expand into Thailand.”
Back home, the brand hopes to continue to grow the local non-alcoholic drinks industry.
A 2021 study by London-based research group IWSR Drinks Market Analysis found Australia was one of several nations that would see major growth in the no-alcohol and low-alcohol beer space. The local industry is expected to grow 16 per cent between 2020 and 2024.
Late last year DrinkWise found through surveys that Australians aged 18 to 44 were twice as likely to consume low- and no-alcohol beverages compared with those over the age of 45.
Miller confirms Heaps Normal has increased its revenue 400 per cent in the past year. But he says what he would also like to see now is a shift away from alcohol consumption being a priority at social events.
“Drinking is not an activity in itself, it’s something that should complement what we’re doing, be it a pastime or a social match,” he says.
