By NOEL MURPHY
HEALESVILLE’S White Rabbit Brewery will move to Geelong’s Little Creatures brewery in May.
Beer giant Lion confirmed the move this week after the Independent revealed in September staff concerns about a a review of the company’s operations at Healesville.
“We’ve recently undertaken an extensive review of the White Rabbit Brewery and as a consequence we have made the difficult decision to close the site at Healesville and establish a new dedicated White Rabbit Brewery at our brewing operations in Geelong,” spokesperson Elise Gare said.
“White Rabbit is an essential part of our craft portfolio and it is becoming increasingly popular with lovers of great craft beer.
“Unfortunately, our ability to expand our brewing capability to meet the growing demand is restricted at the Healesville site, so we’ve decided to move White Rabbit to our Geelong brewery where we will be better able to meet demand.
“The Healesville site will close at the end of May 2015. Regrettably, there will be a small number of redundancies associated with the closure of the site.
“Our people are our number-one priority and we’ll be working with them to provide all the necessary support during this period of transition.”Little Creatures’ $60 million South Geelong facility opened for business in the historic Valley Mills along the Barwon River last December.
Little Creatures bought the site for $6.4 million in 2010 after considering several other options for its long-term east-coast headquarters.
The company runs two other boutique brewery/restaurants outlets in Victoria – the beleaguered Healesville site and another in Fitzroy.
The Healesville brewery, like Little Creatures Geelong site, had been a community hub in the region.
