Pacific Beverages opened its new green Bluetongue Brewery this Tuesday, with celebrities such as former rugby league player Andrew Johns and Australian band Thirsty Merc as some of the guests attending the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Previously located in Cameron Park in Newcastle, NSW, Bluetongue – now located in Warnervale on the Central Coast – is the second largest brewery in the state.
According to Chairman of Pacific Beverages and Group Managing Director of Coca-Cola Amatil (CCA), Terry Davis, Bluetongue is Australia’s greenest brewery. It features a $10.5 million water recovery plant from CST Wastewater Solutions and Global Water Engineering (GWE), which helps reduce the brewery’s water usage and carbon footprint.
The water recovery plant passes wastewater through several pre-treatment steps before entering a GWE ANUBIX-B anaerobic methane reactor in which organic content is digested by bacteria in a closed reactor and converted into biogas and cleaned effluent.
Mr Davis said: “Our considerable investment in this new Brewery is just part of the $1.4 billion that CCA has invested over the last decade locally in Australia in infrastructure; plant and equipment, as well as the latest water and energy saving technologies to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of our food and beverage operationsm.”
According to CEO of Pacific Beverages Peter McLoughlin, the Bluetongue Brewery is one of the most environmentally sustainable breweries in the world.
“Our sustainable initiatives have focused on six key areas namely water and energy consumption, product packaging usage, waste generation, atmospheric emissions and considered land use,” he said.
“We will be utilising approximately 2.2 litres of water to produce one litre of finished beer, which is significantly below the international average of between four and five litres.
“Our customers can be assured that not only are they getting brewery fresh tasting beer, but that it is also brewed in an environmentally friendly facility.”
With a particular focus on the draught beer market, the Bluetongue Brewery will manufacture a range of traditional European lagers and modern American and Australian beer styles.
Pacific Beverages is a joint venture by Coca Cola Amatil and global brewer SAB Miller.