The former deputy chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has questioned the motives behind brewing giant SAB Miller's closure of Bluetongue Brewery on the New South Wales central coast.

Alan Asher has suggested referring the closure to the ACCC, arguing the brewery's closure was more about multinational firms trying to kill off local beer brands rather than a sensible business decision.

The company says the closure is due to excessive capacity and duplication caused by the acquisition of Foster's.

Mr Asher, also a former Commonwealth ombudsman, says when he heard the news that Carlton and United Breweries (CUB) - owned by brewing giant SAB Miller - had closed the Bluetongue Brewery in Warnervale, he was astounded by the decision and believes there is more to it.

"Bluetongue has a great little story and potentially a great future," he said.

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"It isn't closed because it was a failure or because people didn't like it; it's been closed because a giant global firm, the tenth-largest on the UK stock exchange and the second-largest brewer in the world, finds it convenient to snuff out this tiny speck of a potential competitor."

The plant was built in 2010 and is the second-largest in New South Wales with 64 employees.

Originally the Bluetongue brand was a joint venture between SAB Miller and Coca Cola Amatil (CCA), who purchased it from businessman John Singleton in 2006.

In 2011, SAB Miller bought out CCA's stake and a two-year deal was struck whereby the two would not compete.

That time has now elapsed and Mr Asher says the closure of Bluetongue Brewery is a way to prevent CCA from regaining a direct foothold in the market.

"What we are seeing here is CUB disposing of all of those assets to remove an obvious way of Coca Cola getting a leap-frog back into that market," he said.

"It's reminiscent in a way of the struggles over the years as small supermarkets were sucked in by Coles and Woolworths."

CUB insists closure was a 'commercial decision'

Doug Eaton, the Mayor of nearby Wyong, says the closure is a huge blow for the local economy and believes the days of the Bluetongue brand, synonymous with local beer manufacturing, are numbered.

"Certainly it's another kick in the guts for Wyong and our local economy, something we desperately didn't need, but one of the things the guy didn't say is they are actually getting rid of Bluetongue as a brand," he said.

"So it does look a bit like, you know, a fight of the international conglomerates and the local brands missed out."

CUB have confirmed that the Bluetongue Beer brand is set to be phased out this year, a decision corporate affairs director Jeremy Griffith says was purely down to dollars and cents.

"Bluetongue was put in the CUB portfolio up against VB and Carlton Draught. It just wasn't getting the cut-through, it wasn't getting the consumer buy-in," he said.

"We weren't seeing significant volumes, so we had to make a commercial decision after a period of time whether we would continue to invest in Bluetongue or continue to invest in VB and Carlton Draught and given the huge brand equity in both VB and Carlton Draught, Bluetongue unfortunately just wasn't getting the cut-through."

The news adds to a torrid few months for the Central Coast food and beverage industry after Kellogg's closed the nearby Charmhaven snack plant last month.