Cheers to Broo’s new carbon-neutral ’green’ brewery

FANCY a carbon-neutral beer? An Aussie brewery group is vowing to deliver just that, and will today unveil plans to build the world’s “greenest brewery”.

Broo chief Kent Grogan; and artist’s impressions of the brewer’s planned environmentally-friendly Ballarat brewery and wetlands. Picture: Rob Leeson

FORGET St Patrick’s Day — an Aussie brewer is bringing a whole new meaning to green beer.

Listed company Broo has today unveiled plans to build the world’s most environmentally friendly brewery in Ballarat, creating 100 jobs in the process.

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Broo aims to power the $100 million brewery entirely with renewable energy, using a mixture of solar, wind and biogas.

The site will also include a museum chronicling the history of beer in Australia as well as a restaurant, visitor centre, wetlands and amphitheatre.

Broo says it will brew “carbon neutral” beer.

Chief executive Kent Grogan said the facility would champion “green brewing”, with spent grain husks from the brewing process to be recycled as feedstock for a biogas plant at the site.

“We are committed to integrating a raft of state-of-the-art environmentally sustainable technologies that will ... enable carbon-neutral beer production,” Mr Grogan said.

The brewery will source water from an underground aquifer at the site, and aims to use just 1.2 litres of water instead of the industry-standard five litres to produce a litre of beer.

Broo’s plan builds on the Sorrento-based company’s bond with regional Victoria, after it forked out $1 million for the Mildura Brewery earlier this month.

Broo beer company chief Kent Grogan. Picture: Craig Wilson

The Ballarat site will be funded through debt and government grants and produce at least 480 million bottles a year — supporting Broo’s distribution network in China and at home.

Mr Grogan said the site, scheduled to be opened in the second half of next year, was likely to be the nation’s third biggest in terms of annual production, surpassing the Coopers Brewery operations in South Australia.

“We’ve got some of the largest distributors in the world chasing our product and this gives us the scale to meet that demand,” he said.

Broo’s masthead labels include its Premium Lager and Australia Draught brands, with a stable of additional labels coming through the Mildura acquisition.

Regional Development Victoria says the Ballarat brewery could attract more than 100,000 extra visitors to the region annually, boosting the state economy to the tune of $28 million.

Broo shares jumped 2c a piece, or 5.3 per cent, to 39.5c in morning trade after the group unveiled the plans.

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