E Tamaki nearly ready for first brew

The distinctive lion has been sandblasted two storeys high on the glass facade. Photo / Martin Sykes

The first beer will come out of Lion Nathan's new $250 million East Tamaki plant next month.

On September 15, Project Century's first brew will flow as part of a series of test runs to enable full transfer of the brewery from the 150-year-old Newmarket site to South Auckland.

Corporate affairs director Liz Read said beer would be brewed at both locations until all work was transferred.

Software engineers, German technicians and brewing experts were this week testing the new systems to ensure production would start on target.

On October 13, bottling will begin in the new 45,000sq m factory behind the brew house. Lion's Newmarket site is just over 5ha so the roof on the new bottling plant alone is almost the same size as the Khyber Pass site, which has been sold to AMP.

The four-year project to shift Lion's operations to East Tamaki started in November 2007 and most of the main buildings at the new factory are up.

Tanks up to 16m high have been moved from the Newmarket site, and six of seven grain silos for malted barley are now on site.

During last weekend, the new four-level glass facade on the Ormiston Rd frontage of the brewhouse was finished.

The facade sports the liquor company's distinctive lion in a two-storey-high logo sandblasted onto glass.

Four tanks are installed in the main brew house and they will be lit at night to showcase the business.

Lion's group capital project leader, Duncan Field, said 15km of piping had been laid and a further 1.5km of pipes was to be completed. About 180 million litres of beer would be produced annually, he said.

Liz Read said the company would save $12 million to $15 million a year after it had completed the shift.