Tangambalanga General Store owner-operator Phillip George was delighted to learn Murray Goulburn had sold the trademark.

“Whoever the investor is, well done on keeping the Kiewa brand alive,” Mr George said.

“It’s good someone has had some confidence to put some money behind it and keep it going.”

Mr George created the Kiewa Ice Coffee – “Last Drinks” Facebook page in response to the looming demise of the brand.

He said it showed how adored the product was, with sales having “double, tripled, quadrupled” at his shop.

A soldier from Adelaide bought 125 cartons of 600ml Kiewa iced coffee and froze it for the trip home.

He was raised on the brand as an Albury schoolboy.

“We’ve had people come into the shop from Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong,” Mr George said.

“On Friday we had a limo pull up from Wangaratta just to buy Kiewa milk.”

Murray Goulburn has not said who has bought the brand, but Mr George, who will switch to Riverina Fresh milk from Monday, said he would buy Kiewa label if possible.

The Wagga-based Riverina Fresh is not the buyer.

Murray Goulburn milk suppliers, attending a meeting at Tangambalanga to discuss the company’s board election, welcomed the retention of the Kiewa marque.

The company also stated a cut in milk intake by a third compared to last year with a target of 2.3 billion litres.

Cudgewa supplier James Hill said Kiewa milk represented just six million litres.

“It’s because it’s local to us that it matters, for someone else from somewhere else it doesn’t matter,” Mr Hill said.