Auckland and Nelson to produce Mac's Gold

Lion Nathan is moving half of its Mac's Gold production from McCashin's Brewery in Stoke, Nelson, to Auckland, with redundancies for some of the 23 staff at the factory likely, a spokesman says.

Lion Nathan operations director Ross Taylor today confirmed about 2.5 million litres of the 4.9m litres of Mac's Gold produced in Stoke would be shifting to Auckland.

The production of the craft beers, and Mac's Gold to supply the southern region, would continue to be based in Nelson, Mr Taylor said.

Mr Taylor said it was too early to know what effect the shift would have on the 23 staff at the Nelson factory, but it was likely some redundancies would occur.

The shift was attributed to the success of Mac's Gold, which has doubled in sales during the four years since Lion Nathan bought the company.

The Stoke factory, which is leased from the McCashin family, who started the brewery, could no longer produce enough beer to keep up with sales, Mr Taylor said.

"The situation in Nelson is it (the factory) has reached its total capacity."

Lion Nathan had explored the possibility of staying in Nelson, but decided it was not feasible, he said.

"We were caught between a rock and a hard place.

"It's nice to have a brand in growth but we have to make sure we keep it growing. We don't want it to stumble because we can't supply it.

"The beer will be brewed using the same process, and the recipe will be retained to match Nelson."

He said staff at the factory had been understanding.

"Over the last few months they have been just flat out, and they could see they can't make any more and we kept asking for more."

Terry McCashin, who started the micro-brewery in the 1980s, said the decision to move production was understandable, but he warned that it would be a major mistake if the brewery ever moved entirely from Nelson.

- NZPA