Lion has officially launched its new $60 million Little Creatures Brewery in Geelong, Victoria, and the new addition will more than double Little Creatures' brewing capacity in Australia.
According to Lion, the brewery represents the next stage in Little Creatures' brewing operations in Australia, which currently consist of the original Little Creatures site in Fremantle, Western Australia, and the White Rabbit Brewery at Healesville, Victoria.
The Geelong site was built to brew and distribute the popular craft beer brand to the growing East Coast market.
“Little Creatures is one of Australia’s most popular craft beers, and our investment in this major new brewery at Geelong will allow us to meet the growing demand for the Little Creatures portfolio of beers now, and into the future,” Lion CEO, Stuart Irvine said.
“Importantly, we’ll be able to produce beer closest to where our future growth will come from – the eastern states. Beer is always best consumed fresh, and this allows us to provide fresher product to the eastern market,” he said.
The brewery has been built using state-of-the-art German technology and features a number of environmental initiatives such as waste heat collection and a carbon dioxide recycling system.
It also has a combined heat and power plant installed on site, which will eventually be used to create electricity on site, using the excess energy as a heat source in the brewing process.
The first brew to be produced in the new facility was Little Creatures Bright Ale, following the brewery’s official commissioning in July this year. The brewery is expected to produce around 1.25 million cartons of beer in its first year, with its first brews already transported to the East Coast market.
The new brewery has doubled Little Creatures’ brewing capacity.
