Brewing

a

New

Culture:

How

Heaps

Normal

Made

Sobriety

Cool

Brewing a New Culture: How Heaps Normal Made Sobriety Cool

What do you do when you want to keep the ritual of beer—but ditch the booze?

If you’re Andy Miller, you start a brand that flips the whole narrative on its head.

As co-founder and CEO of Heaps Normal, Andy didn’t just launch a non-alcoholic beer brand—he helped spark a cultural shift in how Australians think about drinking. In Episode 18 of The Mucky Middle, we talk about building a brand with no roadmap, fighting off copycats, and what happens when your purpose becomes cooler than the product.

1. A Beer for the Middle Ground

Heaps Normal wasn’t built for teetotallers. It was built for everyone else—the 80% who drink, but sometimes wish they didn’t.

“We were never trying to convert people. We just wanted to give them a better option.”

Andy and his co-founders (a brewer, a designer, and a punk musician) set out to normalise not drinking—not through guilt or shame, but through branding that felt fun, laid-back, and unapologetically beer-like.

No preachy health claims. No pastel packaging. Just a great tasting beer—without the aftermath.

2. Brand First, Product Second

Most non-alc beers position themselves around function: “good for you,” “no regrets,” etc.

Heaps Normal took the opposite approach.

“We knew we had to build a brand people wanted to be seen with.”

That meant investing heavily in design, tone of voice, and brand personality from day one. The team worked with agencies and creative partners to craft a brand that felt aspirational—not apologetic.

The result? A product that didn’t just sit in the health aisle, but on the pub shelf—next to the real stuff.

3. When the Category Explodes

Andy’s team launched into a category that barely existed. Then, suddenly, everyone jumped in.

“We went from zero competition to twenty brands in a year.”

Rather than panic, Andy doubled down on Heaps Normal’s unique positioning. They refused to race to the bottom on price or formula. Instead, they focused on brand depth, customer experience, and their broader mission: reducing alcohol consumption by 20% over 20 years.

That long view kept them from chasing fads—and kept consumers coming back.

4. Brand Is a Behaviour Change Tool

For Heaps Normal, success wasn’t just about units sold. It was about culture shifted.

“We wanted to make it cool to say no.”

From surf comps to art collabs, Heaps Normal embedded itself in communities that had nothing to do with sobriety—and everything to do with identity. They built a brand that stood for something bigger than beer.

And that, in turn, helped normalise something once seen as taboo: choosing not to drink.

5. Purpose-Driven Means Profit-Driven (Eventually)

Andy is candid: the path to scale hasn’t been easy.

“Retail margins, logistics, brewing—none of it is designed for low-alc products.”

Still, Heaps Normal has raised multiple rounds, grown nationally, and sparked genuine category growth. Their challenge now? Balancing mission with commercial rigour. That includes thinking beyond beer, evolving the portfolio, and professionalising operations without losing soul.

As Andy puts it:

“You can’t scale a vibe. But you can scale what the vibe stands for.”

6. Advice for Purpose-Led Founders

Andy’s lessons from the frontlines:

• Build community before you build a product
• Don’t wait for a category to exist—make one
• Use brand to shift behaviour, not just drive sales
• Measure success over decades, not quarters
• Be ready for copycats—but don’t copy back
• Stay playful. It’s beer, not medicine

TL;DR: The Heaps Normal Playbook

• Brand is your superpower—invest early
• Speak to the middle, not the extremes
• Behaviour change starts with belonging
• Culture is a strategy, not an afterthought
• You don’t need to shout “non-alc” to sell it
• Long-term vision beats short-term hype