There's no end in sight to Australia's long and slow decline in beer drinking.
Even the managing director of Coopers Brewery, which has managed to generate a small increase in annual profits, has a glass half-empty view on where consumption of draught beer in Australia is headed as it plummets to levels last seen in 1972, despite a hefty increase in population since then.
"At the moment we see it only continuing to decline," Dr Tim Cooper told Fairfax Media on Thursday. 
He terms it a "vicious cycle" as the downward spiral of keg beer sales is exacerbated by publicans worried about the decline who are demanding higher rebates and discounts to try and shore up their profits, which when combined with upward pressure on prices from twice-yearly mandatory excise increases, lift the price of a glass of beer for those walking into the pub.
Big liquor retailers such as Woolworths and Coles are also trying to protect their profits by demanding better margins in a shrinking market, and they are increasingly being joined by independent retailers wanting the same thing.
But still, Coopers lifted annual after-tax profits by 3.2 per cent to a record $28.9 million in 2014-15 even though beer volumes from draught beer sold through kegs has fallen to its lowest level in six years for the company. This is in line with declining beer consumption across Australia. Packaged beer sales were up by 6.3 per cent at Coopers.
Dr Cooper says the firm's independent status is helping it keep loyal customers in "hipster" markets, with the northern NSW towns of Byron Bay, Ballina and Coffs Harbour a particular stronghold.
"We're very strong in northern NSW," Dr Cooper told Fairfax Media.
NSW sales made up 24.8 per cent of the total sales from Coopers in 2014-15, just behind its home state of South Australia with 25 per cent. Victorian sales were 18.6 per cent.
But he says the broad industry decline is "troubling" because more than 10 per cent of Australia's total beer volume has disappeared from across the broader market in the past six years.

Packaged beer sales rising
Coopers managed to generate a small increase in Australian market share to close to 5 per cent of the total market. The rise in packaged beer sales offset the 2.7 per cent decline in keg beer volumes to 12.8 million litres. Total revenues increased to $235.1 million from $231.3 million.
The company, like other brewers, also had to counter a significant rise in the cost of malt, one of the key raw materials in the beer-making process.
He says malt had increased by about $60 per tonne during 2014-15.
Dr Cooper says national beer volume in 2009 was 18.7 million hectolitres, which equates to 1.87 billion litres.
He says Australians are now drinking less than 17 million hectolitres per annum, which are levels last seen in 1972.
But Coopers, which is Australia's largest remaining Australian-owned beer maker, had still been able to increase total beer sales across its portfolio by 4.7 per cent to 78.8 million litres. Dr Cooper says that marked the 22nd consecutive year of growth.
The results come against the backdrop of yet another likely change in ownership among the big beer players in Australia from the proposed global $146 billion mega-merger between Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller.
SABMiller bought out Foster's in a $12.3 billion takeover in late 2011 which handed control of beers including Victoria Bitter and Carlton Draught to SAB Miller.
Lion, owned by Japan's Kirin Corporation, is the market leader in Australia with its brands including XXXX Gold and Tooheys.
Lion holds about 48 per cent of the $14 billion beer market but was given a big leg-up in 2012 when it secured the licence to sell the No.1 imported beer in Australia, Corona.
Corona had previously been distributed in Australia by Foster's, but its then Mexican owner demanded a licensing switch because of a change of control clause when Foster's changed hands. SABMiller's Carlton & United Breweries business in Australia has a market share of around 42 per cent.
Coopers also has some international brands in its beer portfolio including Carlsberg and Kronenbourg 1664, which came into the portfolio in 2012 after their owners decided to switch to a different distributor following the Foster's takeover by SABMiller.
It also distributes Brooklyn Lager in Australia and Dr Cooper says those international brands had delivered strong sales in 2014-15.