A Speight’s spokesman said the smokestack was now only an outlet for flue gas, as the company no longer burned coal.
The chimney received exterior maintenance as part of a building maintenance programme.
The work to the barrel addressed some weathering and included cleaning, minor repairs and a new protective layer of paint, the spokesman said.
The chimney was constructed in 1938 as part of a large-scale extension of the brewery.
The chimney had at least one detractor when it first appeared.
In an Otago Daily Times letter to the editor in July 1938, a correspondent who signed off simply as ‘‘Disgusted’’ said the structure would be a “permanent disfigurement” to the city.
“A visitor coming to Dunedin will be impressed by the fact that one of the most conspicuous landmarks in the city is in the form of a beer barrel.”
