BEECHWORTH'S Bridge Road Brewers' recently completed improvements have come from a federal government funding round which has been at the centre of a damning independent assessment.
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The brewery was granted $307,500 from the federal government's regional jobs and investment package to support the $449,793 committed by the brewery owners.
Victorian Liberal Senator Jane Hume has visited the brewery for the official opening of the improvements and a day after Australian National Audit Office found there was political interference, little accountability and almost no conflict of interest management in the grants program.
But despite the criticism, the ANAO did not identify which projects had funding approved or rejected against advice.
"Grants are selected very carefully and are done without bias and they are done because there are opportunities to come out of the investment," Senator Hume said.
"Here at Bridge Road Brewers they have employed (6.5) people in this new facility in an ongoing basis.
"The audit report, in fact, suggested there was no bias in the selection of any of these projects."
Indi MP Helen Haines, who also attended the official opening, was concerned there were no minutes available from meetings at ministerial level where key decisions were made.
"That causes concerns for transparency and that recommendations of the departments weren't fully followed," she said.
"That can happen, but what would be terrific for taxpayers is to have very clear transparent minutes from any meeting where funding decisions are made."
Bridge Road Brewers chief executive Donald Mace confirmed the improvements consisted of an covered courtyard seating, kitchen relocation and expansion and installation of a centrifuge machine and new bottling line with the latter two upgrades leading to better efficiency and beer quality.
"We do lots of research and talk to other brewers about what is appropriate," he said.
"We are now getting a better yield out of the batch of beer and better distribution across the country."