In 1890 an enterprising French couple started Hanoi's first beer brewery at Elephant Mountain in Hanoi, Vietnam. In the early days, the brewery, called "Hommel" (from the Flemisn abbreviation of humulus, the botanical name for the hop plant) employed 30 workers and produced 150 liters of beer per day. By 1940, the company had increased its capacity to five million liters for markets including Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
After the French left Vietnam in 1954, The Hommel brewery was renamed the Hanoi Beer Company. During the era of the Vietnam War, the brewery went into decline. But by the 1990s, in an era of increasing international trade and political relations, the brewery at Elephant Mountain underwent a large scale investment to improve environmental, safety, production and control systems.
Today, Hanoi Beer, with its trademark one-pillared pagoda, symbolizes both a distinctly Hanoi an way of life as well as steadfast commitment to brewing a quality of beer that would have made Elephant Mountain's first brewers proud.
*Achievements:
- 6/2002: The Quality Management ISO 9001:2000.
- 2005: HABECO was accepted and apply The Environment Management systems and standards ISO 14000:2004.
- 2006: Apply The System of Food Safety and Hygiene ISO 22000:2005.
- the 2004 Golden Cup for Famous Trademark in Madrid.
- 2005 European Golden Award for quality and trademark prestige in Belgium.
- 2006 International Asian Pacific Quality Award (IAPQA), the most important award in the region.