Hawkers Beer

At the start of summer 2013, The Crafty Pint received an email from a wine expert and booze world publisher introducing us to Joseph Abboud, the chef behind Melbourne’s popular Rumi and Moor’s Head restaurants. Joseph had just returned from a visit to his mother country, Lebanon, which somehow had turned from an exploratory trip to find new flavours and ideas for the kitchen into him becoming a beer importer.

When we met soon afterwards, with Joseph bringing samples of the soon-to-arrive 961 Beers from Beirut, it quickly became apparent just how unexpected this turn of affairs had been. Having previously only been exposed to macro lagers, he had never been a beer drinker. Yet here he was with the first of many containers of beer already on the water heading from the Middle East to Australia.

Quite how he had ended up in this position soon became apparent when we met the man behind 961 Beer at its Australian launch event at Rumi some weeks later. Mazen Hajjar – former war photographer, major bank CFO and founder of two airlines yet still to turn 40 at the time – turned out to be quite the character: a passionate believer in the power and heritage of good beer who had taught himself to brew at home before building the Middle East’s first craft brewery then succeeding in exporting its beer to more than 20 countries. Little wonder Joseph had been drawn into his maelstrom…

Of course, being a chef with a fantastic palate, as anyone who’s dined at Rumi can attest, once exposed to the world of craft beer there was no turning back. And, just as his appreciation for the wonders of beer and its suitability for the dining table grew rapidly, so too did the visions Mazen had for beer in Australia. He returned again and again, falling for the country and spying the huge potential in the beer world, and began planning to build a brewery in Melbourne.

And thus it was that, less than two years after he first spoke about 961 Beer at Rumi, the first Hawkers Beer release, a highly aromatic American pale ale, rolled out of the imposing brewery in Reservoir built at a cost upwards of $3m. Two days later, it was named People’s Choice Best Beer at the Great Australian Beer Festival in Geelong; within 20 days, they’d run out of Pale Ale, while the subsequent two releases, an IPA and Pilsner, had started garnering praise from Melbourne beer lovers too.

The name of the brewery refers to Mazen’s first trip to Australia, when they took to the streets of Sydney with bags full of 961 samples and went door to door around the city’s venues promoting their wares like the hawkers of old. Yet there’s nothing old about the brewery they’ve built. The towers of steel in Melbourne’s north comprise one of the most hi-tech microbreweries ever constructed by Canadian manufacturer DME and, with a brewhouse capable of producing 45 hectolitre batches and an ever-expanding field of towering fermenters waiting to be filled, it’s one of the largest in Australia too.

There was no messing about when it came to assembling a brewery team for launch either. They brought in highly rated young brewer Jon Seltin, who made his name reinventing Bright Brewery’s beers with panache, at the start, while well known reps joined Hawkers to build a market in Melbourne. The initial reception was one of the warmest we can recall in The Crafty Pint’s existence (one local bottleshop alone shifted more than 230 cartons in three weeks) and things have grown from there.

While Joseph has since returned to his restaurants, Hawkers has grown into one of the largest independent breweries in Australia, expanding at a rate of knots, entering other states – and the UK, with its IPA available through Marks & Spencer – and installing a canning line to further expand its lineup.

The brewing team has been playing with barrels too – from bourbon to aquavit – while the team has hosted some grand events at the brewery too, even turning it into a circus for one evening.

In August 2019, the brewery embarked on a brand and lineup refresh, closing the chapter on the hawkers story and embracing a more Australia-centric one – read about it here.

Name
Hawkers Beer
Address

167 Henty Street
Reservoir
VIC 3073

Tours

Tours by appointment only
Cellar door sales available


This is a directory listing. To find out more, head here

The Specials

Hawkers Beer Oaty McOatface & Imperial Stout 2023
Hawkers Beer Gratuitous Flare
Hawkers Beer Old Chap, New Tricks
Hawkers Beer Sheer Terroir
Hawkers Bottomless Pith, Read Between The Limes & Downside Up
Hawkers Double Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout 2022 (and friends)
Hawkers Party Starter Hazy Triple IPA
Hawkers Love Affair & Bourbon Barrel-Aged Double White Stout
Hawkers Beer Saint Hildegard 2022
Hawkers Beer Barrel-Aged White Stout 2022 & Double West Coast IPA
Hawkers Cherry-Coconut Birthday Cake
Show 49 more

Hawkers Beer Regulars

Rover Merri Creek Middy

Published December 6, 2022
It might not attract anything like the noise of Hawkers' trophy-winning and typically high-quality lineup, but the Reservoir brewery's offshoot brand of affordable, approachable beers bearing the Rover moniker sure has its fans. Henty St Ale has been selling in vast volume since first appearing in plain gold cans, with Gilbert Rd. Lager as its wingman; ahead of summer 2022/23 the pair welcome a little sibling into the family. As with its peers, it's a case of delivering value rather than cutting… Read more
Style
Mid-Strength Pale Ale
ABV
3.5%

Hawkers Beer Hazy IPA

Published July 28, 2021
If there’s any doubt there’s some love for the Hawkers brand in the beer market, the addition of this new member to their core range should dispel it. Hazy IPA was released on the afternoon on July 26, 2021, and, less than 24 hours later, it was gone from the brewery’s webstore. Considering nobody had drunk the beer when it launched, it’s not a bad sign for the brewery’s reputation for consistency either and, fortunately, at the time of writing, it was still available from a wide range… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA
ABV
6.2%
Stockists

A number of retailers are offering a bonus tin of Hawkers' Hazy Pale with the purchase of packs of Hazy IPA. Participating retailers are here.

Hawkers Hazy Pale

Published October 13, 2020
After a fast-flowing run of one-off releases to keep things moving through the COVID-19 lockdowns, Hawkers have come up with the first new year round beer to join their lineup since their rebrand in August 2019. Hazy Pale comes with a cleaner finish to the cans than the look unveiled then, too, one that could be a pitch for Carlton fans' hearts. As for the appearance of the liquid, this is no token gesture at haze designed to capture contemporary affections; there's an opacity to the pale yellow… Read more
Style
Hazy Pale Ale
ABV
4.6%

Rover Gilbert Rd. Lager

Published October 11, 2019
If you explained the concept of Rover to someone who'd not come across beers bearing that name from Hawkers' sub-brand, this is likely the sort of beer that would come to mind more than the Henty St Ale. The latter's hoppy punch sits above what you might expect from a brand designed to be approachable, sessionable and, most of all, affordable; its Gilbert Rd. sibling plays in much more guarded territory. It's a pretty old school lager with eyes on the mainstream. Floral, softly spicy aromas start… Read more
Style
Lager
ABV
4.2%

Hawkers IPA

Published September 6, 2019
The launch of the new look Hawkers core range in 2019 was completed by this IPA. As with the new Pale Ale that landed at the same time, it's a leaner and hoppier affair than the original bottled IPA with which the brewery launched in 2015. Out go some of the specialty malts to reduce the beer's sweeter side, in come more hops. On the hop front, it's an array of New World big-hitting crowd-pleasers: Simcoe, Mosaic, Centennial, Citra and Nelson Sauvin. So, as you can well imagine, it's punchily aromatic,… Read more
Style
IPA
ABV
6.0%

Hawkers Pale Ale

Published August 6, 2019
The first beer with which Hawkers reinvented their lineup in 2019 was their new Pale Ale. Not only was it the first to feature the new look (since tweaked again), but it's a rather different beast to the one with which they launched the brewery in 2015. The brewers stripped out all caramel malts to reduce sweetness and upped the load of American hops (Amarillo, Centennial, Mosaic, Citra and Chinook) to a not inconsiderable eight grams per litre. The outcome is a pale yellow beer that explodes with… Read more
Style
Pale Ale
ABV
4.8%

Rover Henty St Ale (Hawkers)

Published December 15, 2017
The Rover line introduced by Hawkers at the very start of 2017 has been reimagined at the very end of 2017. Out go the old school stubbies and in come tinnies off the brewery's newly-installed canning line. There's a new beer inside the bright yellow tinnies too, one that takes its name from the street the Reservoir brewery calls him. It's of a similarly sessionable ABV to its predecessors but possesses a bigger character. Pouring a slightly deeper shade of copper than the tinnies, it fires off sharp,… Read more
Style
Hoppy Session Ale
ABV
4.3%
Stockists

Making its way nationwide in the lead up to Christmas

Hawkers Beer West Coast IPA

Published November 22, 2017
The second and third beers to roll off Hawkers' new canning line hit stores this week, with this West Coast IPA following the first, XPA, in doing so with a gaudy colour combo: green and gold chosen this time around to capture your gaze from busy bottleshop fridges. And, just as the XPA entered a similar segment of the market to the brewery's Pale Ale, albeit with a punchier and quite different hop profile, this IPA comes packing a punchier and quite different hop profile to Hawkers' original IPA… Read more
Style
West Coast IPA
ABV
7.2%
Awards

AIBA 2019 – Best IPA

Hawkers Pilsner 2019

Published April 21, 2015
In one of our chats with the Hawkers team before they even settled on the name Hawkers, as they were mulling over what beers to launch with, one thing was certain: there would be a pilsner. The question was whether it would be a New World interpretation or something more traditional. In the end, the latter won out. The Pilsner features a collection of classic German noble hops – plenty of them – and all German pilsner malt too. The proof is there from the off, with the distinctive floral, softly… Read more
Style
Pilsner
ABV
5.0%

Hawkers Beer Specials

Hawkers Beer Oaty McOatface & Imperial Stout 2023

Published May 30, 2023
Hawkers don’t do things by halves and once again, they’re ready for winter. Over successive years, the Melbourne brewery have released what is frankly an astonishing array of big beers that are often barrel-aged and come spiked with delicious additions like maple syrup and cardamom. It means these two releases feel like a prelude of hefty Hawkers hits to come. Somehow, the lighter of the two (at least in terms of booze) is Oaty McOatface, an oatmeal cacao peanut milk stout. The cacao was sourced… Read more
Style
Oatmeal Milk Stout & Impieral Stout
ABV
8.0% & 10.5%

Hawkers Beer Gratuitous Flare

Published March 21, 2023
For the most part, the beers within the 2023 GABS Australian Invitational Craft Beer 8 Pack sit a fair way from the sort of boundary-pushing, frequently "Should we really? Yeah, why not..." beers one associates with the multi-city event. Sitting either side of 5 percent ABV, they're typically session-friendly rather than designed to blow your head off via an 80mL sample. The one beer in the packs nudging the ABV a little higher comes from Hawkers: their Citra dry-hopped yuzu and pear sour,… Read more
Style
Dry-Hopped Fruit Sour
ABV
7.2%
Stockists

Available in the GABS Invitational Packs

Hawkers Beer Old Chap, New Tricks

Published February 27, 2023
The British may have made the first IPAs but when you buy one today, you probably don’t expect to find English hops inside. Instead, it’s American, Australian and New Zealand varieties that are the stars of hoppy beers and old English types are few and far between. But Hawkers Beer have approached IPA differently with Old Chap, New Tricks a “modern British IPA". So what does that mean? You can read more about the brewery's approach here but in short, it saw Hawkers team up with the UK… Read more
Style
Modern British IPA
ABV
7.0%

Hawkers Beer Sheer Terroir

Published January 27, 2023
Now, this is exciting. Sheer Terroir is a trio of beers that’s kicking off Hawkers Beer’s Experimental Series and their release follows a long journey. For years, brewery founder Mazen Hajjar has spoken passionately about hops and more specifically, where they're grown. Sure, Mosaic might be a single hop variety but compare it with Mosaic farmed elsewhere and you might find that the hop you think you know and love can taste a little different. In the world of wine, terroir is spoken about endlessly… Read more
Style
West Coast IPAs
ABV
All 6.5%

Hawkers Bottomless Pith, Read Between The Limes & Downside Up

Published November 23, 2022
One advantage of hosting an event for Crafty Cabal members at Hawkers was being able to grab a couple of upcoming releases before they hit retail. Obviously, tucking into cellar stock of years-old barrel-aged beers was pretty high on the "advantage" front too, but let's stick with the program. Bottomless Pith sees them playing with a couple of their favourite things: IPAs and rye. Here, however, the rye arguably plays second fiddle to the ingredient that lends the beer its name: blood orange.… Read more
Style
Blood Orange IPA, Lime Berliner Weisse & Hazy DIPA
ABV
6.0% & 4.5% & 8.0%

Hawkers Double Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout 2022 (and friends)

Published August 29, 2022
Thanks to a flurry of travel as we make up for lost time over the past few years, we're a little late jumping aboard the annual Hawkers imperial stout train. So why not just start at the end: with the denouement of the 2022 series? For the Double Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stout the brewers did just that: aged their imperial stout in bourbon barrels, then emptied that liquid into fresh bourbon barrels and did it again. And guess what: it certainly has plenty of bourbon character, but not so much… Read more
Style
Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Stouts
ABV
13.7% & 13.4% & 13.4%

Hawkers Party Starter Hazy Triple IPA

Published August 28, 2022
Hawkers first got this party started for one of Carwyn Cellars' Canvent boxes, and have decided it's time to get things going again as we head out of winter into spring 2022. If you didn't try Party Starter first time around, it's the sort of big ol' beer you'd expect such a pairing to put out for a special occasion: a hazy triple IPA topping 10 percent ABV and featuring a bit of a Who's Who? of killer US hops – Amarillo, Mosaic, Talus, Citra, Citra Cryo and Mosaic Cryo. Pouring with a light orange… Read more
Style
Hazy Triple IPA
ABV
10.2%

Hawkers Love Affair & Bourbon Barrel-Aged Double White Stout

Published April 5, 2022
If anyone was wondering whether we'd see as wide a variety of dark beers from Hawkers in 2022 compared to the myriad from recent years, this early April double drop appears to answer that question. Love Affair is a collaboration with Hunted + Gathered: a dark lager containing both chocolate and cacao nibs from the Melbourne chocolatiers. Even with these different forms of chocolate, the resulting beer is, well, beerier, than you might assume such romance would create, quite bitter with roasted barley… Read more
Style
Chocolate Lager & Barrel-Aged White Stout
ABV
6.0% & 8.0%

Hawkers Beer Saint Hildegard 2022

Published March 8, 2022
For the past four years, Hawkers have invited the women at their brewery to design and brew a beer for International Women's Day. All have shared the same name in honour of the 12th century polymath regarded as the patron saint of hops, but each year the beer has been different. For their 2022 release, they've moved away from hops and into the realm of fruited sours with a passionfruit gose. And you have to say that, once poured into your glass, it looks rather like the liquid scraped from a passionfruit… Read more
Style
Passionfruit Gose
ABV
4.2%

Hawkers Beer Barrel-Aged White Stout 2022 & Double West Coast IPA

Published March 2, 2022
They've put many types of beer (imperial stouts, barleywines, various Belgians etc) into many types of barrel (whisky, bourbon, aquavit etc) with many types of adjuncts (coffee, chocolate, cardamom, etc), yet one release last year still stood apart from most. In the main, that's because white stouts – in which a brewer attempts to recreate the experience of a stout without the colour, like a reverse black IPA – are a rarity as it is, let alone bourbon barrel-aged versions. While I missed out… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged White Stout & Double IPA
ABV
6.0% & 9.0%

Hawkers Cherry-Coconut Birthday Cake

Published February 15, 2022
As a rule, Hawkers have never been a brewery to play to the galleries on socials or pull attention-seeking stunts, instead leaving their beer to do the talking. That said, as the seventh anniversary of the release of their first beer approaches – February 21, if memory serves correctly – they have been getting into the mood, with a few parties at some of their favourite venues and, in the case of Cherry-Coconut Birthday Cake, a seventh birthday beer. Taking the usual Crafty approach to tasting… Read more
Style
Whisky Barrel-Aged Cherry & Coconut Imperial Pastry Stout
ABV
11.9%

Hawkers Beer Alter Ego: Talus East & West Coast IPAs

Published February 10, 2022
While I can't be certain it was the very first beer in which I experienced the hop variety that was to become Talus – back when it was HBC 692 – Hawkers' collab with Bale Breaker, Tom Needs New Friends, was certainly the one in which it took my palate in its firm grip and took it for a merry ride. Amid the flood of new varieties coming from the States, it might not command the attention of, say, Strata or Sabro, but it's up there as the most dramatically impactful. Breeders and retailers talk… Read more
Style
East & West Coast Single Hop IPAs
ABV
Both 6.5%

Hawkers Beer Double West Coast IPA

Published September 9, 2021
Hawker’s core range West Coast IPA has picked up a bit of a cult following – and a trophy for Best IPA at the Australian International Beer Awards – among those seeking a heavy dose of hops on a lean, tight base. With the Melbourne brewery never the sort to shy away from brewing big beers either, it follows that West Coast is the kind of core beer that deserves a souped-up version, which is precisely what this is here. Originally released in 440ml cans, Hawkers decided to make Double West Coast… Read more
Style
Double West Coast IPA
ABV
9.0%

Hawkers Whisky Barrel-Aged Stouts 2021

Published August 26, 2021
We all have different ways we choose to see off winter and, for Hawkers, their method involves wishing the coldest months goodbye with two barrel-aged imperial stouts. That should come as no surprise to anyone who has been following the Melbourne brewery's journey of late, with these twin releases coming barely a month on from two barrel-aged Baltic porters and two months after they released four at once. The late August duo have a shared affinity too – both are close collaborations between Victorian… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged Imperial Stouts
ABV
13.2% & 12.3%

Hawkers Barrel Aged Baltic Porters 2021

Published July 16, 2021
Well, the barrel releases don't seem to be slowing at Hawkers. Not content with releasing four different barrel-aged imperial stouts at the end of June, they’ve followed up a few weeks later with two barrel-aged Baltic porters. Sure, with both coming in above 10 percent ABV, it might be a little hard to distinguish these beers from equally boozy imperial stouts but there is a softness to them that reveals they’re slightly different affairs. The Brandy Barrel Aged Baltic Porter is the largest,… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged Baltic Porters
ABV
11.7% & 10.8%

Hawkers Barrel-Aged Imperial Stouts 2021

Published June 28, 2021
As life goals go, setting yourself a mission to become recognised as a leading brewer of barrel-aged imperial stouts is a pretty good one. And it's one the Hawkers team is approaching with gusto for winter 2021, releasing four different barrel-aged versions of said beer. Three of them were aged in bourbon barrels, but let's start instead with the Rum Barrel-Aged version (12.4 percent ABV). It's the leanest, sharpest, and most spirituous of the quartet, with the rum less of the richer, deeper, darker… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged Imperial Stouts
ABV
ABVs as indicated

Hawkers Red Shift & IIPA 2021

Published June 25, 2021
The Fresh Coast Series of higher ABV, hop-driven beers from Hawkers isn't hanging around. It's not long since we found ourselves enjoying the crystalline charms of Nostalgic Tones and yet already the follow up, Red Shift, is here. If its immediate predecessor lent towards the hops, this shifts maltwards: fuller, stickier, with a toffee brittle like character wrapped around its yuzu and red berry fruits. An earthy bitterness is there to dry out the sweetness a little, leaving you with a burnt crust… Read more
Style
India Red Ale & IIPA
ABV
8.0% & 9.0%

Hawkers Nostalgic Tones

Published June 15, 2021
When you release a brown ale called Nostalgic Tones and decorate the cans with artwork that wouldn't have been out of place covering the walls of a 1970s kitchen, one might easily suspect you were taking a trip down Memory Lane. The sort of trip that would lead you into the malty, earthy presence of an English ale, perhaps. Hawkers don't really do that sort of thing, though. Instead, what you have here is an India brown ale with the balance tipped heavily in favour of the India. Bright orange and… Read more
Style
India Brown Ale
ABV
7.0%

Hawkers Freedom Units Triple NEIPA

Published March 18, 2021
Freedom Units was first trailed by Hawkers in 2020, but the first batch never saw the light of day. The triple NEIPA was born free of the requisite opacity and thus the imperial measurements-mocking beer, complete with what appears to be a version of a MAGA hat on the label, had to wait for its moment in the sun. Second time around, they got what they wanted and now it's back, complete with "2.19791oz MORE FREEDOM!" – in other words, they've put it out in bigger cans, and there's certainly… Read more
Style
Triple NEIPA
ABV
10.5%

Hawkers & Three Weavers Kylie

Published March 11, 2021
Without making much noise about it, Hawkers have been racking up an impressive number of collabs with top American breweries. In 2020, they created Jacki with past AIBA champions Three Weavers: a rye IPA honouring Aussie icon Jacki Weaver. And now they're back with another in the same vein: Kylie, also featuring rye, but this time in a bigger double West Coast IPA. Now, I don't know about you, but when I read "double West Coast IPA", "rye", and "8%" on the same label,… Read more
Style
Double Rye West Coast IPA
ABV
8.0%

Hawkers Triplicity Double NEIPA

Published February 24, 2021
To mark their sixth birthday, Hawkers brought back their original Pale Ale in big cans, dusting down the recipe for the first beer they ever shared with drinkers. At the same time, they released a beer of the sort no one on these shores was making back in February 2015: Triplicity, a "tri-hopped double NEIPA". You could argue the beer would be as well served by the name "Duplicity", given it stars a trio of US hops that predate the world of NEIPAs and hazy IPAs by quite some time:… Read more
Style
Double NEIPA
ABV
8.2%

Hawkers Beneath The Trees We Gather

Published September 2, 2020
I'm looking forward to seeing where this sour series goes. Already, we've had Into The Forest, I Go, Under The Tropical Sun and Around The Orchard We Roam. How long before we get I've Got A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts or Whoops! 'Ave A Banana? For now, however, it's Beneath The Trees We Gather featuring yuzu and plums, although such is the intensity and breadth of their character in combination with the souring bacteria and 7 percent booze, you could claim a few other fruits were in the midst and get… Read more
Style
Fruit Sour
ABV
7.0%

Hawkers Dreaming Of Oats & Apollo After Dark

Published August 17, 2020
The oat cream IPA has become one of the defining beers of 2020. Sure, it had debuted well before the year from hell started, but we've never seen so many from so many breweries, and here Hawkers get in on the act with Dreaming Of Oats. It's a style brewers interpret in different ways and, if not careful with the lactose, can lead to an end result that's the equivalent of draining the filling from a box of after dinner fruit crèmes, with both the structure and hop character of a typical IPA smothered.… Read more
Style
DDH Oat Cream IPA & Imperial Choc Orange Stout
ABV
7.5% & 9.7%

Hawkers Moment Of Clarity & Freedom Units

Published July 8, 2020
Hawkers have two very big releases that are set to keep Melburnians hopped up as we return to our couches. The lighter of the two is Moment of Clarity, which isn’t actually named Jay Z’s track from his seminal The Black Album and instead refers to that moment when a double IPA first hits your lips. Pouring perfectly clear and using the one-two of Citra and Mosaic hops, it packs a punch of pine, resin and a tropical pairing of guava, lychee and lime. As Hawkers have managed well in the past, the… Read more
Style
Double IPA & Triple IPA
ABV
9.0% & 10.5%

Hawkers & Against The Grain Bo & Luke Down Under 2020 – Hazelnut & Cocoa

Published June 10, 2020
My first sampling of the latest collabs between Hawkers and US brewery Against The Grain only featured two of the three "Down Under" variants on the latter's Bo & Luke rum barrel-aged imperial stout. The OG was an aggressive, leathery brute, while the maple smoothed out the rough edges and brought the beer back towards the centre ground for such endeavours. So what of the last of the trio to appear: the Hazelnut & Cocoa edition? Perhaps the first thing to say is that, packaging,… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
ABV
12.9%

Hawkers & Against The Grain Bo & Luke Down Under 2020

Published May 29, 2020
The story of Bo & Luke Down Under goes back a while. Sticking to the Australian chapter of the story, the beer was brewed in May 2019 when Against The Grain were in Melbourne for Good Beer Week. They laid down a smoked imperial stout featuring rye, mesquite and beechwood smoked malts, which then spent time in rum barrels before being split into a trio of formats: straight, maple and hazelnut & cocoa. I've only tasted the first two, with the straight version less the larrikins of Dukes of… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged Imperial Stouts
ABV
13.0% & 12.9%

Hawkers Around The Orchard We Roam

Published May 26, 2020
They're not the sort of beers with which you'd instantly associated Hawkers, yet they're quietly amassing quite the collection of fruit cream sours. And with Around The Orchard We Roam, they're adding a peaches and cream-inspired addition to the lineup. It's a fine liquid rendition too, one in which it's far easier to pick out the various components than it is to read the label. Indeed, it delivers everything – peaches, cream and sour – in spades, with the peaches and lactose hitting first on… Read more
Style
Fruit Cream Sour
ABV
6.0%

Hawkers Steph Likes A Party Double IPA

Published April 10, 2020
Around about this time last year, Hawkers unveiled the fruits of their first collaboration with Bale Breaker, the brewing arm of America's Yakima Chief Hops. It was one of those rare beers you come across that stop you in your tracks; sure, it was an IPA in a sea of IPAs, but the experimental hop variety within served up the most insanely broad range of experiences, and the specialty malt imported from Oregon added a delightfully rich and smooth base. Given Tom Needs More Friends wasn't hazy AF or… Read more
Style
Double IPA
ABV
9.5%

Hawkers Right On Schedule Hazy IPA

Published March 31, 2020
They might have come late to the hazy party but it would appear the Hawkers brewers took a fancy to what they saw as they've tagged along with their hosts, cleared their diaries (haven't we all) and rocked up to the next one as the doors open, arms laden with another IPA that's even bigger than their first, albeit one that slips down easier. The reasons for this bigger-in-booze yet easier-to-dispatch one-two punch can presumably be put down to a few things. The sweet-bitter balance leans more heavily… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA
ABV
8.5%

Hawkers Late To The Party Hazy IPA

Published February 8, 2020
It's not like Hawkers have shied away from the world of the IPA. Their core range has always featured one or two since they launched five years ago this month, they've released single hop IPAs, multiple IIPAs, hold the AIBA trophy for the world's best and also released one of the finest of 2019 (in the opinion of the Crafty team) in the shape of Tom Needs New Friends. But, as the title of this new release puts it, they've been late to the party when it comes to a hazy IPA. Now that one has arrived,… Read more
Style
Hazy IPA
ABV
7.0%

Hawkers Under The Tropical Sun

Published January 31, 2020
Since rebranding last year, Hawkers have been embracing a new look for their limited release beers, with the Melbourne brewery’s Kettle Sour Series filling beers with fruit and covering cans with bold colours. Following on from the berry-heavy Into The Forest I Go, Under The Tropical Sun is a bright mango and pineapple sour with a pattern that would serve well on a shirt at a music festival. The beer itself would work well at that festival too, as it’s one that’s light and in which the mango… Read more
Style
Kettle Sour
ABV
4.0%

Hawkers & Alchemy Distillers Antifogmatic Beertail

Published November 11, 2019
It's not every day you find three men at your front door, armed with enthusiasm, cans of beer, ice, lemon, a chopping board, knife and broad smiles. But who's going to complain when they're there with the sole purpose of treating you and your wife to a glass of their latest beer-cocktail hybrid? That was the scene at Crafty Towers last Friday morning as the trio from Hawkers stopped by to tell the tale of how they'd come up with Antifogmatic, a drink they'd conceived with craft distillers Alchemy.… Read more
Style
Beertail
ABV
4.7%

Hawkers Into The Forest, I Go

Published October 11, 2019
Following their recent rebrand comes another departure from Hawkers in terms of look, as the artwork for Into The Forest I Go has to be as jaunty as anything the Reservoir brewery has put out in its four-plus years to date. It's all hot pink, bold purple and lively blue – and a decent indicator of the mood of the liquid inside. Reminiscent of their Wheaty / Liberty collab, it pours a lurid deep pink colour that bleeds into the head. The use of lactobacillus to sour the beer takes the aroma closest… Read more
Style
Berry Sour
ABV
4.6%
Stockists

Available direct from Hawkers online store or nationwide week commencing Oct 14

Hawkers & Circus Oz Strong Pale Ale

Published August 28, 2019
Hawkers and Circus Oz have a relationship that stretches back a fair while and features one of Good Beer Week's least likely events. Back in 2017, the iconic Australian troupe worked with the Reservoir brewery for a show featuring National Institute Of Circus Arts performers making full use of everything they could get their hands on. It's led to Hawkers providing beer at all their big shows and now they've gone a step further with the release of this strong pale ale, from which Circus Oz receive… Read more
Style
Strong Pale Ale
ABV
5.7%

Hawkers & Carwyn Cellars The Forgotten Casks Imperial Stout 2018

Published August 5, 2019
By their very nature, barrel-aged beers are rarefied beasts, in many cases unique. Even within that rarefied realm, this collaboration between Thornbury venue Carwyn Cellars and Hawkers is – if you'll forgive the tautology – very unique. Why? Well, the barrels used to age a portion of the brewer's 2018 Imperial Stout were the freshly-emptied 17-year-old whisky casks the Carwyn team acquired from Sullivans Cove to launch their spirits range. And not only are there no more such casks left but it… Read more
Style
Whisky Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
ABV
14.2%
Stockists

Just 600 bottles – available from midday on August 6 from Carwyn Cellars

Hawkers Cognac Barrel-Aged Barleywine & Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout 2019

Published July 31, 2019
The darker, colder months are met with no little joy in Reservoir as, each year, Hawkers release a variety of dark and barrel-aged beers. Following on from this year's "straight" Imperial Stout 2019 – which you can read about here – you can now get your hands on 500ml bottles of a barleywine and an imperial stout, both of which have spent time in barrels. The Cognac Barrel-Aged Barleywine's time in oak has given the beer a rich, velvety sweetness. There’s a lot of dark fruit at play… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged Barleywine & Imperial Stout
ABV
11.6% & 13.2%

Hawkers Imperial Stout 2019

Published July 26, 2019
Hawker’s Imperial Stout is now in its fourth year and has brought in its wake so many barrel-aged iterations that, even if you've missed one or two, the Hawkers section of your cellar may very well be bulging by now. This year’s barrel-aged releases will be out in the near future but, for now, we have the standalone Imperial Stout 2019 to see us through. At 10.6 percent ABV, this year’s is a touch lighter than its predecessor (and closer to the first two releases) and the Hawkers team have… Read more
Style
Imperial Stout
ABV
10.6%

Hawkers & Pink Boots & Cryer Malt Saint Hildegard XPA

Published May 31, 2019
Pliny The Elder might have been the first person to write about hops but, centuries later, Saint Hildegard enriched our knowledge of hops like nobody before her. An artist, writer, composer, philosopher and Christian mystic, Hildegard of Bingen is widely considered the founder of natural history in Germany. Among the myriad animals and plants the polymath observed during the 11th century was the humble hop. Saint Hildegard is the first person to described hops in a scientific manner, even describing… Read more
Style
XPA
ABV
4.6%

Hawkers & Against The Grain & Liberty Collabs 2019

Published May 23, 2019
They've been enjoying quite the 2019 to date at Hawkers. Their collab with US brewery Balebreaker, Tom Needs New Friends – an IPA featuring an experimental US hop variety and Oregon malts – is one of the finest beers to come our way this year. They spent their trip to the US for this year's Craft Brewers Conference brewing beers with some of the country's leading brewers then returned to collect Best IPA in the Australian International Beer Awards' most hotly contested category (as well as Best… Read more
Style
DDH IPA & Kettle Sour
ABV
7.0% & 4.5%

Hawkers & Bale Breaker Tom Needs More Friends IPA

Published April 5, 2019
As these words are being typed, the Hawkers crew are making their way around the US collaborating on beers with American friends. Before they departed for this year's Craft Brewers Conference, however, they laid down another Trans-Pacific collab with Bale Breaker, the brewing arm of Yakima Chief Hops (YCH) when they were in Australia for hop harvest with Cryer Malt. Tom Needs More Friends, named for Cryer's Tom Madams (more than the MySpace Tom), is an IPA brewed with Oregon malts not used in Australia… Read more
Style
IPA
ABV
6.5%

Hawkers Barrel Aged Imperial Stout with Cardamom & Coffee

Published August 31, 2018
Back in his days at 961 Beer in Beirut, Hawkers' co-founder Mazen Hajjar created an imperial stout inspired by Lebanese coffee. It featured cardamom and coffee and now, several years later and at a different brewery in a different country, he's at it again. This time around, it's one of a few variations on the brewery's 2018 Imperial Stout, one that has spent time in bourbon barrels as well as being dosed with those two adjuncts. As with some other barrel aged releases from Hawkers – think of last… Read more
Style
Bourbon Barrel Aged Coffee & Cardamom Imperial Stout
ABV
12.7%

Hawkers Imperial Stout 2018

Published June 24, 2018
Hawkers has a number of barrel aged imperial stouts set to leave the brewery some time during winter 2018 but has sent out a teaser first in the shape of its third imperial stout. Once again, they've looked to beef it up from previous years, rising from the 10 percenter of 2016 via the 10.7 percent ABV 2017 vintage to this year's 11.5. In bolstering the booze last year, some of the refinement of 2016's debut was lost; here, the balance has been redressed. The beer delivers its array of dark chocolate,… Read more
Style
Imperial Stout
ABV
11.5%

Hawkers Bourbon Barrel Aged Old Ale 2018

Published June 19, 2018
In order to preserve their growing collection of barrels for ongoing use, the brewers at Hawkers like to refill them as soon as they've been emptied, pumping them full of CO2 as they're drained with the next base beer ready to be siphoned in. When it came to the bourbon barrels that housed what was to become this beer, they hadn't actually planned what was going to become their new resident so decided to knock up an old ale, a strong, malt-rich beer with origins in England that's not too far away… Read more
Style
Barrel Aged Old Ale
ABV
8.5%

Hawkers & Crux Fermentation Aquavit Barrel Aged Wheat Wine 2018

Published June 7, 2018
Last year, Hawkers welcomed Larry Sidor to their Reservoir home. The former Deschutes brewmaster who now heads up the much admired Crux Fermentation was calling in on an old acquaintance, Hawkers CEO Mazen Hajjar, and, while in town, they laid down a wheat wine, a high alcohol brew featuring a high proportion of wheat. The majority was then put into Aquavit barrels (Aquavit being the Scandinavian spirit flavoured with various herbs and spices) and left. And left. And left. The contents were finally… Read more
Style
Barrel Aged Wheat Wine
ABV
13.0& / 12.8% / 12.7%
Stockists

Plonk, ACT

Hawkers Beer (Cellar door)

And select outlets in VIC, ACT, WA, NSW & SA

More stockists...

Hawkers Beer IIPA 2018

Published April 5, 2018
It’s been quite the busy six months for Hawkers Beer. Since installing a canning line, the brewery’s core range has expanded dramatically, effectively doubling in size. But, through all those changes, if you could highlight a common thread through the brewery’s beers, it’s that they favour balance, something that rings true with both the core range and the limited releases. It was the case for the first IIPA to leave the brewery last year and it’s equally true of the second release. Indeed,… Read more
Style
Imperial IPA
ABV
9.0%

Hawkers Beer Hop Series IPA No.2

Published February 27, 2018
The first beer in Hawkers' occasional Hop Series of IPAs featured a collection of recently developed German hops. For round two, they've focused on South Africa, in part because you hardly ever see beers brewed with South African hops and in part because the chances of seeing them in beers like this got even less likely after AB InBev allegedly strangled supply to small brewers after the merger with SABMiller. Hawkers managed to get their hands on a few varieties – Southern Star, Southern Dawn… Read more
Style
South African IPA
ABV
6.0%
Stockists

And other good beer outlets

Hawkers Beer Lager – RETIRED

Published November 24, 2017
"So, what sort of lager is it?" "It's just a lager." "No, I mean, is it a Munich helles style, a pilsner?" "It's just an easy-drinking lager." Thus went the conversation when Hawkers' national sales manager dropped in with samples of the brewery's two new cans. And a glance at the side of the Lager can reveals little more. It's a bloody lager, mate; just get it into ya (we may be paraphrasing slightly). That said, there's more to it than that. Sure, there's… Read more
Style
Lager
ABV
4.2%

Hawkers Beer XPA – RETIRED

Published October 26, 2017
As summer 2017 approaches, Hawkers Beer has entered the ever busier world of cans. And, in christening its canning line, the Reservoir brewery has also entered the ever busier world of XPAs; for a style that was the focus of much debate as to what it actually meant/was/should be not too long ago (maybe still is now), it's sure proving rather popular. This XPA will be the first of a number of Hawkers beers to appear in cans, with a West Coast IPA to follow. As for what the X, P and A stand for in… Read more
Style
XPA
ABV
4.6%

Hawkers Beer Barrel Aged Imperial Stouts 2017

Published July 26, 2017
Less is more? Pah! More is more when it comes to barrel aged beers at Hawkers. Having launched its barrel program in 2016 with bottle releases of a bourbon barrel aged imperial stout and a barley wine, for winter 2017 they've taken this year's vintage of Imperial Stout – a beer that's already bigger in ABV and boozy character than last year's impressive debut – popped it inside two different types of spirit barrel and then split the bourbon barrel element into three, resulting in four beers to… Read more
Style
Barrel Aged Imperial Stouts
ABV
Various
Stockists

Launched at an event in Adelaide on July 26 then available nationwide from July 31.

Hawkers Beer Hop Series IPA 1

Published April 3, 2017
If you're reading The Crafty Pint, there's a better than even chance you've come across breweries releasing a series of beer showcasing hops. For the most part, they use the same base beer then pile on large volumes of a particular hop. Here, Hawkers does that for the most part but, instead of showcasing one hop in each beer, they're showcasing a region. And first up is Germany. Given most excitement for lovers of hopped up beers tends to derive from varieties coming out of the States, Australia… Read more
Style
German IPA
ABV
6.0%
Stockists

Hawkers Beer

And at good beer outlets in VIC, TAS, SA & QLD

Hawkers Beer IIPA

Published March 16, 2017
Aside from a five-way collaboration hosted for the Good Beer Week Masterclass in 2015, for the first year and more of operation, Hawkers Beer impressed with a consistently good core range of to style beers and rapid growth. More recently, however, the shackles have been loosened, allowing for a couple of imperial stouts to appear and the amassing of a seriously large number of barrels – not to mention the launch of second brand Rover. It means fans of the Reservoir brewery can look out for much… Read more
Style
Imperial IPA
ABV
9.0%
Stockists

And other good beer venues in VIC, QLD, SA & TAS

Rover Session IPA – RETIRED

Published January 20, 2017
In the very earliest days of the Hawkers Beer project, co-founder Mazen Hajjar told us of his plans to introduce a second label dedicated to approachable, session-minded, lower ABV beers that they'd sell in mini-cases. The hope was that, in both price and character, such beers would entice and then not scare off the masses of Australian beer drinkers that craft breweries need to win over to truly thrive. The success of the core Hawkers range – and demand from others to have their beers brewed at… Read more
Style
Session IPA
ABV
4.0%
Bitterness
30 IBU
Stockists

Rover beers are heading to venues where you find Hawkers beers

Rover Session Ale – RETIRED

Published January 20, 2017
In the very earliest days of the Hawkers Beer project, co-founder Mazen Hajjar told us of his plans to introduce a second label dedicated to approachable, session-minded, lower ABV beers that they'd sell in mini-cases. The hope was that, in both price and character, such beers would entice and then not scare off the masses of Australian beer drinkers that craft breweries need to win over to truly thrive. The success of the core Hawkers range – and demand from others to have their beers brewed at… Read more
Style
Session Ale
ABV
4.3%
Bitterness
20 IBU
Stockists

Rover beers are heading to venues where you find Hawkers beers

Hawkers Beer Barleywine 2016

Published December 20, 2016
The only new beers to appear from Hawkers in 2016 were the brewery's imperial stout and its barrel aged cousin, with the former making our Best New Victorian Beers of 2016 list. At least, that was the case until now, with a second barrel aged beer snuck out just in time for Christmas. This time it's a barley wine, one that also spent time in bourbon barrels before being released into the wilds in time for festive sipping. It pours a rather gorgeous auburn, with the effects of the bourbon barrels… Read more
Style
Barrel Aged Barley Wine
ABV
12.5%
Stockists

From the brewery (cellar door specials)

And other specialist beer venues

Hawkers Beer Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout 2016

Published August 16, 2016
After an opening year or so in which, a couple of GABS and Good Beer Week brews apart, Hawkers Beer had been doing little other than try to keep pace with the rapidly growing demand for its four core beers – Pale, IPA, Saison and Pilsner – the Reservoir brewery released its first seasonal in June. The Imperial Stout was a finely crafted and very traditionally minded take on the style; a balanced affair that paid tribute to the English originals. At the same time that they packaged said beer,… Read more
Style
Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout
ABV
12.2%
Stockists

Hawkers Brewery

And here while stocks last

Hawkers Beer Imperial Stout 2016

Published June 10, 2016
However you look at it, the only conclusion one can draw is that Hawkers is making good beer. The Reservoir brewery's growth since launching in February last year has been phenomenal, every beer they've entered into competition has medaled and there's buzz aplenty around the beer world. So, when one of the founders gets in touch to say he's really excited about a new beer, it's probably worth keeping an eye out. The beer is the first of Hawkers' imperial range, an imperial stout with its roots and… Read more
Style
Imperial Stout
ABV
10.0%
Stockists

Others TBC (if the beer isn't already gone...)

Hawkers / Edge / KAIJU! / Evil Twin / Baird Inappropriate Touching

Published June 30, 2015
On the opening Sunday of Good Beer Week, Hawkers Beer in Reservoir hosted brewers from Edge Brewing Project, KAIJU!, Evil Twin and Baird Beer plus a host of paying guests for the festival's fourth annual collaboration masterclass. Ostensibly, the day is as much about bringing together top brewers and beer lovers for a day of entertainment and enlightenment (and engorgement) but while all that is going on a beer is made too. In the past it's seen a double black IPA come out from Nogne O / Moylan's… Read more
Style
Imperial Schwarzbier
ABV
6.5%
Stockists

Hop Heads

Dr Morse

Regent Cellars

Post Office Hotel

Wine Planet

More stockists to follow

More stockists...

Hawkers Saison – RETIRED

Published April 21, 2015
The fourth (and, we believe, final) beer to form the Hawkers core range is this Saison. It's fitting as, when doing their groundwork for Hawkers, it was sampling a saison at Bright Brewery that Mazen's eyes lit up. Impressed by the beer and subsequently by its brewer, Jon Seltin, it was the moment that led to the two working together at Hawkers. The beer they've created at Hawkers is another, like their Pale, that leaps out of the glass. There's lemon and bitter orange peel at work with the soft… Read more
Style
Saison
ABV
5.6%

Hawkers IPA – RETIRED

Published March 10, 2015
Hawkers co-founder Mazen Hajjar is a man never shy with his opinions. And among those many strongly held opinions is that his IPA is his favourite of the Hawkers core range. You can see where he's coming from; having stepped up the hop aromatics a touch from the first batch, the brewing team has ended up with a beer of both depth and sessionability. Based upon the same three hops as the pale, but within a very different structure, it possesses pleasant enough grapefruit, passionfruit and pine aromas,… Read more
Style
IPA
ABV
6.5%
Bitterness
70 IBU

Hawkers Pale Ale – RETIRED

Published February 19, 2015
As a way to announce yourself to the world, Hawkers' first beer did a pretty good job. Released on a Thursday, voted People's Choice Best Beer at the Great Australian Beer Festival in Geelong on the Saturday. It went on to sell faster than any beer in history – by a rate of two-to-one – at local bottleshop / bar Carwyn Cellars and the first 15,000 litres was sold out within 20 days. The beer itself is an American style pale ale and one that aims for the punchy character of the APAs you'd find… Read more
Style
American Pale Ale
ABV
5.2%
Bitterness
50-plus IBU
Stockists

For the 2021 limited release tallboy tinnies, head here