Bluetongue Brewery at Warnervale to close, 64 jobs lost Exterior of the new Bluetongue Brewery. Picture: Waide Maguire Source: News Limited John Singleton with a Bluetongue lizard at the opening of Bluetongue Brewery. in 2010, Picture: Waide Maguire Source: News Limited Carlton United Brewery has closed its Warnervale Bluetongue Brewery and 64 workers will be unemployed by the end of the year. Carlton United made the decision to close the Warnervale site and will relocate the brewery equipment and sell the remaining assets. It's the second major business to announce its closure in as many months with Kelloggs at Charmhaven announcing it was closing down this year as well. Carloton United corporate affairs manager Jeremy Griffiths described the decision as difficult. "We spent the last two years reviewing the operation to see what we could do with the site," Mr Griffiths said. We have advised the 64 employees that the majority of the site will be closed down by the middle of the year. It's a very difficult decision. Warnervale represented about five per cent of the overall CUB capacity. We advised staff at 9am, although there has been some speculation over the past few weeks. Mosty people might have wondered how the Warnervale operation fitted in with a large network like CBU. Mr Griffiths said the workers were given the day off. He said beer would still be brewed on site as the operation was wound down slowly over the next 12 months. The closure is also expected to thrown into doubt both the name and sponsporship of Gosford's premier sports stadium at Graham Park. Brewer Chris Willcock at Bluetongue Brewery in 2011. Former Bluetongue Brewery owner John Singleton was fuming. "I hoped it wasn't so, obviously it was," Singelton said. 'It's just so crook, it's VB's fault. When Mr Singleton sold the business it was on the condition the brewery be built on the Central Coast. It didn't matter where on the coast, Gosford wherever, it happened to be Warnervale and when it opened it was a bloody exciting day. It cost a $120 million and was meant to be he catalyst for a whole range of other things, like restaurants. It was a great bloody day. H ruled out buying the brewery back. That was 10 or 12 years in the making, I just can't do that again, I don't have the resources. Someone else might, Coke might be able to. Wyong Mayor Doug Eaton said he heard "whispers' in December there were concerns about its future. "We're trying to put a consortium together to take over the facility and we will be talking to people in the pub and club industry," he said. Obviously it has a limited market. Former Miss Universe Jennifer Hawkins was one of the celebrities at the Bluetongue Brewery opening in 2010 at Warnervale Source: News Limited Bluetongue Brewery was founded in 2003 by four entrepreneurs who set out to create a premium Australian beer. The original brewery was at Cameron Park, Newcastle, where a team of brewers oversaw the creation of the Bluetongue range of beers. Blue-tongue was purchased by Pacific Beverages in 2007, a joint venture company formed by Coca-Cola Amatil and brewer SABMiller, who has invested $120 million into the construction of the Warnervale brewery. The brewery was to have an initial annual capacity of 50 million litres, expandable to 100 million litres over time, and was tobe the state's second largest brewery. When it opened in November 2010, many high profile celebrities attended, including former Miss Universe, Jennifer Hawkins.