Nearly 25MILLION schooners of beer will be poured down the drain with tens of thousands of kegs left 'unwanted' due to the corona lockdown
- Breweries will throw out 25million schooners of draught beer due to COVID-19
- Attempts were made to stop the losses through the sale of takeaway schooners
- One brewery will be using 90,000 kegs of waste beer to produce new product
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Australian breweries will be forced to wash nearly 25million schooners down the drain over the next few weeks as a result of pub and club closures.
The extraordinary figure comes despite the efforts of some breweries to sell tap beer in takeaway bottles during the coronavirus lockdown.
Leading brewer Lion announced it would buy back thousands of kegs gathering dust at shuttered venues when they closed their doors six weeks ago.
Lion will pour about about 90,000 kegs or about 4.5million litres at their waste water treatment plants at Tooheys and XXXX breweries.
Those 4.5million litres translates to nearly 25million schooners of draught beer.
Australian breweries will be forced to wash nearly 25 million schooners down the drain as a result of pub and club closures due to the coronavirus
A spokesperson for Lion, which produces XXXX, Tooheys and Little Creatures told Daily Mail Australia it's been a 'gut wrenching' time for the industry.
'Whilst the industry supports and understands the government's decision, this closure has had ramifications at both ends of the supply chain - from farmers to truck drivers,' the spokesperson said.
'We did our bit to minimise the financial burden and support our customers in pubs and clubs, announcing within hours that we would credit venues for their unused kegs.
'Since pubs venues closed down, we've credited all Lion venues for unused, capped kegs – which totalled nearly $25 million.'
Aar manager clears out of the bar fridge to put stock away in the cool room at the Notting Hill Pub on March 23, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia.
In the first month since COVID-19 restrictions halted Australia's $20 billion-plus pub and club industry, it is estimated more than 15,000 litres - or 750-plus kegs - of beer were abandoned
The brewery also sent more than 10,000 1.25L bottles to pubs and clubs to assist in the sell-off of kegs as takeaway beverages.
Carlton and United Breweries donated more than 20,000 resealable bottles to more than 100 pubs in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth to prevent wastage.
The initiative aimed to free up thousands of litres of tap beer currently locked inside Australian pubs since they closed in late March.
In the first month since COVID-19 restrictions halted Australia's $20 billion-plus pub and club industry, it is estimated more than 15,000 litres - or 750-plus kegs - of beer were abandoned.
CUB CEO Peter Filipovic (left) and The All Nations in Richmond publican Bob O'Kane (right) pour a beer into a new two-litre bottle that can be taken home by beer lovers
Beginning of the end: March 18 in Melbourne when pubs remained open were still near empty. Things went from bad to worse about 10 days later when they were shut altogether
