More than a dozen independent breweries have been pushed to the brink of insolvency in the past 12 months.
After a decade-long craft beer boom, more than a dozen independent breweries across the country have been pushed to the brink of insolvency in the past 12 months.
Some, like Red Lion Brewery in regional Victoria, have shut up shop entirely. Others, like Wayward Brewing Company in Sydney, have pushed on with a restructuring plan, cutting up to a third of their workforce to break even. And still more await their fate, like Melbourne-based brewery Hawkers.
After going into voluntary administration with $1.7 million of unpaid tax debt on February 12, the “fiercely independent” brewery faces a March 6 ASIC hearing to determine its future.
Hawkers co-founder Mazen Hajjar is frustrated as he describes the “all-out assault” on the industry since…