By NOEL MURPHY
LITTLE Creatures’ $60 million brewery has made its first ales in the lead-up to opening at South Geelong’s former Valley Mill later this year.
The brewer will make its boutique Little Creatures ales at the heritage site, set to employ up to 100 as the company’s new Australian east coast base.
Several batches have been produced as the brewery fine-tunes its operations.
The village-style brewery will include a restaurant and dining hall similar to the company’s renowned Fremantle complex.
Japan’s Kirin holdings’ Lion Co took over Little Creatures late last year but was embroiled in high-profile industrial strife in Geelong when unions picketed the site in defiance of a Supreme Court order on building sub-contractor labour.
The unions withdrew in the face of significant penalties, with Little Creatures launching a charm offensive in Geelong as the opening draws near, sponsoring a large chamber of commerce meeting last week.
The South Geelong brewery project has involved considerable alterations to the red-brick former woollen mill, including installation of brewhouse tanks and large metal grain silos.
The company made three attempts by crane to install an energy storage tank, the largest in the brewery.
“The tank even had a bit of a mishap on the way down from Shepparton when it fell off its cradle on the back of the truck,” the company said on its website.
More recently Little Creatures had been “wrangling with all sorts of utilities” but was “pretty chuffed’” to have a “crack team of brewers on board”.
Little Creatures brought the site for $6.4 million in 2010 after considering several sites for its long-term east coast headquarters. The company runs two other boutique brewery/restaurants outlets in Victoria at Fitzroy and Healesville.
Little Creatures marketing coordinator Emma Layton said the brewer was on track to open later this year.
Architectural issues dealing with heritage industrial buildings were somewhat “complicated” and builders had worked around a number of obstacles, she said.
Ms Layton said the company was getting to know people in Geelong and prided itself on a long history of supporting local communities.
“We’re excited about Geelong,” Ms Layton said.
“We’ll be brewing all of the Little Creatures beers at the brewery in Geelong.
“Our focus right now is the beer and making sure everything is up and running.”
