Malt & Grain

Coopers states that it uses only barley from South Australia. The state is one of Australia's major barley-growing regions, with fields in the Mid North, on the Yorke Peninsula and further west on the Eyre Peninsula. Barley there is a winter crop that ripens in spring, before the heat arrives.

Barley becomes malt. To do this, the maltster lets the grain germinate so the starch breaks down, then halts growth in the kiln, a drying oven. How hot and how long it's dried there determines the colour: pale malt stays light and tastes biscuity, while dark malt is roasted and delivers notes of coffee and chocolate.

The Sparkling Ale is golden and hazy, carries its malt sweetness up front and tastes fruity. The Pale Ale, at 4.5 percent ABV, is built lighter, while the Sparkling Ale comes in at 5.8. The Best Extra Stout owes its blackness, according to the brewery, to specially roasted black malt.

Coopers is also a malt house for home brewers. The company is said to be the world's largest producer of canned beer concentrate, which hobby brewers ferment at home with water and yeast. Ask an Australian home brewer what kit they started with, and this name comes up very often.

Australia has no purity law like Germany's, so breweries decide for themselves on ingredients such as sugar. Coopers tells the story of its first Sparkling Ale from 1862, noting that no sugar went into it, unlike some competitors of the time.