2015 - 2025

10 years of hawkers

As we gear up to celebrate 10 wild years of Hawkers, it’s time to look back on the beers, cheers, and all the moments that got us here.

⁠⁠Over the coming weeks, we’ll revisit the highlights of each year, leading up to our big anniversary in February 2025. Buckle up! ⁠

2015 was the year Hawkers took flight. Hawkers Beer launched first with Pale Ale, with three more core brews; IPA, Saison and Pilsner following close behind. The reception was nothing short of overwhelming. Within months, demand skyrocketed, pushing us to expand equipment and brew capacity almost immediately. We even rolled out our first fleet of kegs - 2000 strong.

⁠⁠It didn’t stop there. Just one day after packing our first Pale Ale, it won People’s Choice at Geelong Beer Festival. By year’s end, we’d maxed out capacity, made it into over 100 bottle shops across Victoria, and brought home 12 medals from the Australian International Beer Awards and Craft Beer Awards combined.⁠⁠ And the recognition kept coming.

Amongst press features galore, Our IPA and Pale Ale made Crafty Pints 'Best New Beers of 2015', and The Age named Hawkers as one of the breweries to watch in 2016 - And we were just getting started.⁠⁠ It was a year fuelled by passion, hard work, and a supportive community that believed in us from day one.

In 2016, Hawkers levelled up in a big way! We expanded distribution into Queensland and South Australia and landed on shelves at every Dan Murphys across Australia. This was also the year we embraced the art of patience, kicking off our barrel program with 60 bourbon barrels straight from the USA and creating our first (of many to come) Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout.⁠⁠

The brewery got more upgrades, with 188 solar panels and a total of eight massive new 16,000 litre tanks to support our booming production (our sixth capacity upgrade in just 18 months!). ⁠⁠Add to the list; we took Hawkers to Hong Kong and Malaysia, hosted a cinema night in the brewery, and brought home the titles of Supreme Champion Brewer and Brewer of the Year Oceania at the International Beer Challenge in London.

2017 was a year of evolution for Hawkers, marked by new beers and big moves. We introduced the ROVER range in retro stubbies (anyone remember these?!) debuting with a Session Ale and Session IPA. Added to the Hawkers core range lineup was XPA and West Coast IPA, in our first ever tinnies! 2017 also saw our IIPA hit taps and fridges for the very first time.⁠

⁠This was also the year of big upgrades, embracing a reduced environmental footprint. We switched the Hawkers range from bottles to cans, and installed two new 27-tonne malt silos - saving 1,080 less empty bags of malt to throw away per fill, per silo.⁠

We didn’t stop there: Hawkers extended into Western Australia and Tasmania, and onto shelves in 600 Marks & Spencer stores in the UK. Meanwhile, Circus Oz brought the magic to our brewery as the flagship event for Good Beer Week.

By the end of 2018, we had scaled up to a whopping 3 million litres of beer per year, solidifying our place as one of Australia’s leading craft breweries. Speaking of leading, we were named Brewer of the Year Oceania at the International Beer Challenge in London - for the second time in just three years!⁠⁠

It was also the year we introduced some heavy hitters - we went all out with 11 releases in our vintage series, showcasing the best of what we could do with bold, big beers (a few of these gems are still available today!).⁠⁠On the ROVER front, 2018 saw the launch of the golden beacon we now know as Henty Street Ale. As well as the transition of ROVER into cans, bringing fresh vibes and easier portability to our beloved sessionable range.⁠⁠