How Aussie coffee liqueur Mr Black is taking over the US

It’s been 10 years since Sydneysider and industrial designer Tom Baker met Central Coast distiller Phillip Moore and tasted his coffee liqueur.

Back in 2013 a drink like this was not on the radar of the Australian palate but Baker’s obsession with good coffee told him otherwise.

The then 23-year-old millennial had been consuming espressos since he was 12 and assured Moore that not only would the Australian coffee drinking fraternity embrace the product, but that “every bar and restaurant in the world needed this on their shelf”.

Humble beginnings

The now prophetic assertion saw the pair set up Mr Black that same year, and for the first two years of operation it was a double act that exemplified the concept of quality over quantity.

Moore was “one of the godfathers in distilling in Australia” producing the magic brew, while Baker made it “look pretty” and hustled it — by phone, in person, from his car boot, at food markets and bars around Australia, while holding down a day job.   

“I was just him and I. He made it and I sold it. It was fortuitous to have that (complementary skill set) as our starting point, so we were off to a good start.”  

That initial honing and persistence was shepherded with some serious scaling nous that saw Mr Black picked up early by Dan Murphy’s (2014) and enjoy capital-raising success that qualified the business as the only crowd-funded alcohol in existence at the time. 

“We were the first company in the world to use crowdfunding to start a business to sell liquor. It really got us off the mark. We always said we’ll keep making it as long as people keep drinking it. That was the fundamental ethos of Mr Black and we’re so proud of that. We never tried to push it down people’s throats.”

Instead, they used soft marketing, really well, and really early.

Scaling up

“We were already a digital native company when COVID hit, so there was no pivot needed. We already had the online store doing a lot of our work in the digital and social spaces.  A lot of companies had to adjust really quickly, but for us it was more of the same — only on a larger scale.” 

A follow-up vote of financial confidence came from a company that has since gone on to cement Mr Black’s position as a global force. 

Back in 2015, world’s premium drinks giant Diageo (Johnny Walker, Guinness, Smirnoff) saw something in the Australian product and made a hands-off, minority investment in the company through its Distilled Ventures program. 

“[The people at] Diageo have been incredible. They showed a lot of belief in our brand at the start and this really gave us a bit of a leg up financially. Then they sat back behind the scenes and watched us do our thing for the next eight years.”

That was until October last year, when the global beverage company purchased Mr Black — for an undisclosed sum — adding it to their portfolio of more than 200 premium brands. 

“We’re well and truly integrated now, joining the company from all around the world. That’s all happening at this moment. Our job now is to become a much loved brand within their global range of products.”

The future forward

While no longer the CEO of Mr Black, Baker is still its proud founder and his new role as global ambassador for the brand sees him hopping on planes to North America almost at the same rate he enjoys his coffee. 

“It’s been a whirlwind. The business is absolutely on fire. I’ve already been to the US three times and have another three flights in the next few weeks,” he said.

Such is the demand in “the country every business wants to break into”that Mr Black can now lay claim to being the leading premium coffee liqueur in the US. “We’re also the fastest growing of its kind globally,” ahead of classics like Tia Maria and Kahlua. 

While unit figures are something Diageo keeps close to its chest, Baker’s 10-year perspective gives some insight into the scaling that is going on at the moment. 

“North America has thousands of reps selling Mr Black whereas before, it was just 15 of us. 

And I think Diageo has 27,000 employees around the world. It really is the end of one adventure for our company but very quickly into the next with our brand and its new extended family.”

And that adventure kicked up another gear about two weeks ago, into the realm of Hollywood and US prime time TV when another great Australian export, Hugh Jackman, appeared on America’s no. 1 talk show The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. 

“I was having a quiet beer in San Antonio and my phone lit up and everyone was like, “Mate you need to turn on The Late Show. Colbert is drinking Mr Black with Jackman. And there they were, drinking Mr Black espresso martinis with a bottle on the table, mixing their own drinks.”

From one Australian export to another. Actor Hugh Jackman drinking Mr Black espresso martini on The Late Show. Source: Supplied

Despite the rush of international fame, Baker can claim some of the brand’s overseas success having “personally hand sold Mr Black into thousands of bars throughout the US”. The Martini Espresso recently knocked Manhattan off the top shelf to become the country’s favourite cocktail. 

“They’re just obsessed with it. They love the flavour, they love coffee cocktails. Having Mr Black front and centre of that story is groundbreaking. We’ve never really had a spirit company that’s broken from our shores and cracked the US like this.”

While the popularity of Baker and Moore’s home-grown liqueur reaches new territory every day, Baker is acutely aware of the role Australia played in its international success. 

“Mr Black was the right idea at the right time and I’ve got absolutely no misconceptions. We were so lucky to be where we were, to come from a country as remarkable as Australia that supports innovative young start ups,” Baker said. 

“We’re still based on the NSW Central Coast.” 

A new purpose-built facility has increased production capability from 5000 bottles a year to a million.

“And we know that Mr Black stands on the shoulders of a dominant coffee story (thanks to Italian migration) and the amazing access to talent and equipment from the wine-making industry here.” 

“We were able to find the most incredible coffee and wine production experts and that access has always been the bedrock of Mr Black’s growth.”