Hawkers is a fiercely independent company, and with our unconditional commitment to spreading flavourful beer, we will never stop striving to achieve our goal of converting 100% of the market to drinking better beers.
THE BEGINNING
Founded back in 2014 and launched in February 2015, the company's real roots actually extend much earlier. Mazen Hajjar, our founder, started the Middle East’s first craft brewery back in July 2006 during the war between Israel and Hizbollah. By the time he left, his old company was exporting beer to 26 different countries including Australia. It was after one of his trips to Australia hawking beers in a Sydney suburb that the decision to start a brewery in Australia was made. The Hawkers name is inspired by the street vendors that roamed Australia from the early days of the colony. Many early immigrants were hawkers as they needed little capital or skill to push a cart and earn a living. Their activities were critical for the health of many regional economies and they helped spread the colony further.
When we started brewing in February 2015, we were just 4 people. It’s been a wild and crazy ride to get where we are today, and we have seen astounding growth—in both our number and in our learning. Dozens of skilled and passionate people working together, day in and day out, make Hawkers the exceptional brewery that it is. We are lucky to have an all-star crew of talented and team-oriented co-workers who have come together to grow this company into a very special community. At the end of the day, it is our invaluable fans who believe in what we are doing as a company who inspire and motivate us to keep moving forward.
OUR APPROACH
We've installed the largest solar array on a brewery in metropolitan Melbourne, which a big claim! However, if there’s a bigger one out there, then all we can say is well done for helping our environment!
We additionally reduced our electrical consumption by swapping old, incandescent light bulbs with highly efficient LEDs. Our skylights and large windows increased the amount of natural light, keeping the lights turned off until the night shift rolls in.
The two malt silos outside our brewery each hold 27 tons of base malt that we have delivered in bulk from just 20km down the road, saving both fuel and an astounding 1,080 mesh bags each time we fill just one of our silos. It also means that we save 1,080 bag carrying trips for our brewers.
Once we've used the malt in a brew, Farmers John and Dave take away our spent grain to feed their hungry Angus herds. This beer-brewing byproduct is often dumped by many breweries, but instead Hawkers' spent grain is providing a no-cost nourishment to happy, healthy cows in a true win-win for everyone.
Part of operating a successful brewery is maintaining stringent and meticulous cleanliness. Our clean-in-place procedures recycle and reuse our water, and as Australia is only ever just around the corner from another drought, having these systems in place allows us to consume less water.
98% of our rubbish is recycled, and we hope to make that 100%.
The path to sustainability may not be easy, but we are committed to give it our best.
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