BREWDOG CIDER ARM, HAWKES, CALLS FOR APPLE DONORS IN CARDIFF

BrewDog-owned urban cidermakers, Hawkes, is making a stand against apple wastage.  With over 2.5 million apples going to waste every day in the UK, this urban cidery is calling for the nation to take charge of wasted apples’ destiny, by introducing an apple mail-in box.

As a pint-loving nation, Hawkes knows we don’t want to see any cider to go to waste.  The brand-new apple mail-in box now encourages Cardiff to join in on saving perfectly good apples, simply by ordering online and filling it up, up to 10kg.

Acquired by BrewDog in 2018, Hawkes was born out of founder Simon Wright’s realisation that people had thousands of apple trees, spread across allotments, gardens and growing wild. While people had the apples, they didn’t always know what to do with them. Many would be left to rot. Until Hawkes started making cider.

From 2019’s apple drive, Hawkes has already created a cider, called THIS IS LONDON, which launched on Thursday 13^th August.  In order to understand the real terroir of London Apples, Hawkes fermented all them together to create a cider made of 100% donated London apples.  This year, Hawkes wants to discover what a cider made from Cardiff’s apples  is like.

Available in UK bars and online, 100% of the profits of the THIS IS… range are donated to Social Orchards Urban Planting.  The charity recognises the benefits that an orchard can bring to a community and is dedicated to the aim – to ensure every household in the UK’s town and cities be within walking distance of a productive, well-cared-for, community-run orchard.

The new mail-in box opens the initiative up to receive donations from nationwide.  Hawkes’s vision is to produce localised ciders to add to the THIS IS…range next year, with a hope to engage with Cardiff too.

Simon Wright, founder of Hawkes says “The year I started our Cidery I spent my whole summer driving round picking up unloved apples, and there were so many more that I just couldn’t manage. This year we’re making a bold statement, to show the people of the UK how bad apple wastage is in our country. Now it’s up to you, to send us your apples!”

To donate some apples simply visit WeAreHawkes.com, order a box, and send it back via pre-paid courier.

**800,000 apples are wasted in UK homes every day; however, this is only part of the problem. With further wastage coming from production, supply chain, unpicked fruit and unclaimed windfall the true figure is astronomically higher at around 2.5 million wasted apples EVERY day in the UK, meaning that annually the UK is wasting over 900 million apples. The problem has worsened further in the last two years with the impact that Brexit and COVID-19 has had on the number of fruit pickers available in the UK.  Hawkes’ 5,000 pints is the equivalent of 40,000 apples, which is 1.6% of daily UK apple wastage.**