By Andrew Starke
The Australian beer industry will receive a major shake-up tomorrow (Jun 22) when Pacific Beverages commences brewing at its new $120m Bluetongue Brewery in Warnervale.
The brewing team will ‘flick the switch’ at 7am to initiate the ‘mash-in’ process where malt is mixed with hot water to start making beer.
Fittingly, it will be Bluetongue Premium Lager that takes centre stage with the flagship brand first to be brewed and bottled at the state-of-the-art brewery.
Bluetongue Brewery will hold a launch event for the ‘First Taste’ on Thursday July 29 at 10am at the new brewery, which will host CCA and SABMiller executives, John Singleton, some of the original founders of the Bluetongue brand and a celebrity guest to taste the first beer off the packaging line.
Bluetongue’s newly appointed brewmaster, Dermot O’Donnell, told TheShout there was no timetable yet in place for when other Pacific Beverages, CCA or SABMiller brands would be brewed at the new site, with Bluetongue Premium Lager the ‘sighting shot’ for further production.
”Pacific Beverages has created a very flexible brewery, which can brew a variety of beers ranging from traditional European lagers to modern American and Australian beer styles,” he said.
“The Brewery has significant brewing expertise with brewers from the original Bluetongue Brewery combining with the international expertise that the SABMiller team bring.”
O’Donnell said the Bluetongue Brewery is unique in its design because it has twin-stream brew houses – a large and a small one under one roof, which allow for brewing flexibility to suit consumer and customer demand.
“The commencement of brewing at the Bluetongue Brewery marks the end of the construction phase, the start of our commissioning phase and a huge opportunity for Pacific Beverages here in the Australian market,” said Pacific Beverages CEO, Peter McLoughlin.
“Everyone on site is very excited to see product flowing through the system, and of course the anticipation doesn’t stop there as we are all anxious to taste the first beer once it comes through packaging at the end of July.”
The new brewery is vital to the future success of Pacific Beverages as the brewer was running out of capacity at its existing Cameron Park site and now has the opportunity to brew both domestic and international brands within its current portfolio, as well as other brands from the SABMiller global portfolio.
These include Pilsner Urquell, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Miller Genuine Draught and Grolsch.
Pacific Beverages has so far cornered about 10 percent of the premium beer market since its creation four years ago and the brewery has been designed in a modular format to allow expansion as the company develops in Australia.
The $120 million Bluetongue Brewery, which will have an initial annual capacity of 50 million litres, expandable to 100 million litres over time, will be the State’s second largest brewery.
Pics of the new Bluetongue Brewery