‘Last drinks’ rumour false, says Mildura Brewery owner

THE boss of Mildura Brewery shut down speculation on Sunday the iconic pub was about to call last drinks on its operations because of an unpaid bill.

Operations manager Daniel Shadlow said the closure rumours had reached the brewery’s suppliers and his staff in recent days.

The scuttlebutt centred on an AGL final notice sent to the brewery for an unpaid account of about $52,000.

“But it was done in error,” Mr Shadlow said. “We don’t owe AGL a cent.

“I’d heard the rumours and I’ve had to speak to a number of our suppliers to clear up the situation with them.

“AGL has confirmed they are retracting the order and we are now seeking legal advice on potentially getting damages as a consequence of their action.

“On the back of COVID and the lockdowns, this sort of stuff doesn’t help a business.”

The speculation of the brewery’s demise was fuelled on Friday when Broo Limited – which bought the local pub in 2017 for $1 million – revealed it was offloading one of its Victorian properties for $7.5 million.

In a statement to the ASX, Broo announced it was selling its property at Ballarat West, where it had planned to open the “world’s greenest brewery”.

Mr Shadlow said the company was selling the land because “we don’t require that facility as fast as we first thought”.

“This type of brewery isn’t as required now because of our contract agreement with CUB (Carlton & United Breweries), which make a vast amount of package for us now,” he said.

He said that beer production levels remained strong at Mildura Brewery.

“Production has been at 70 per cent of capacity and just last week we were back up to 100 per cent, which is 65,000 litres a fortnight,” Mr Shadlow said.

Broo’s share price at the close of trade on Friday was $0.018, well down from an issue price of 20 cents in October 2016.