Three Boys, one of New Zealand’s most important craft breweries and a two-time champion brewery, is in new hands after being sold.
The brewery, founded by Ralph Bungard and his wife Brigid Casey, is now owned by the head brewer Damian Treacher and his business partner, Jason Bass.
“It’s exciting news I think for the industry because we like to think we are a successful business with a really good brand and we’re passing it on the people who are not gonna shit on it,” Ralph told Pursuit of Hoppiness.”
The sale comes just days after it was announced that DNA Brewing in Blenheim has bought Hop Federation.
Treacher, who started brewing at The Laboratory in Lincoln before moving to Beer Baroness, has an outstanding record o producing award-winning beers and Bungard said he was the right person for the business.
“We’ve had offers before and had people sniffing around and what’s put us off is that we couldn’t see how that would work for Three Boys. People get excited by numbers on a page rather than excited by the fact that they’ll be making some great beer.
“A big thing for us was finding somebody who could see what we stood for — that’s important when it’s your baby.”
He also said he and Brigid wanted to free up time as they entered their 60s.
The right time to exit
“The bottom line is that it’s the right time for Brigid and me.
“Our decision is matching the philosophy of Three Boys: if you’ve got enough money — and that doesn’t mean you have to be extraordinarily wealthy — but if you’ve got enough money, what you’re often short of is time.
“We’re not short of anything else in our life and despite absolutely loving the industry I also had in the back of my mind that I didn’t want to be fading off into the distance and getting sillier and less relevant.”
Ralph said they thought about getting in someone to run the business for them but that didn’t feel right.
“You could stand back and have someone run the business but you can’t hold them in it. Unless you give them skin in the game, they could be gone tomorrow, no matter how much you pay them.”
When Damian joined Three Boys he was taken aback when Ralph first proposed buying the business.
“Ralph brought it up not long after I started by saying ‘I want to retire by 60’. And I was like, well, how old are you now?
“And he said, ‘you’ve got three years, so would you be interested in finding a way to buy the brewery off me?’
“At the time I thought, ‘that sounds amazing, but I’ve only been here for six months’. It was a lot to take in. I didn’t know if I was up to the task of running a brewery this size, managing a group of people, and staying true to what Three Boys is, and also ensuring that I was able to brew beer to the standard that I set for myself.
“At the time, I thought, yeah, that sounds great. But realistically, I kind of didn’t think that I would be able to do it. Another year on Ralph brought the conversation up again.
“He’s like, ‘look, we talked about this a year ago. What are your thoughts? If you’re interested, let’s take this conversation further. If you’re not, then we’ll start to potentially look at other options and make other plans.
“At that stage we’d achieved a lot, and I thought it was the right time.
“I’ve always wanted to run and operate and own my own brewery. Did I ever expect it to be Three Boys? No.”
Damian said he was hesitant to start up a new business and go through the growing pains — the fact Three Boys doesn’t have that issue made it an opportunity too good to say no to, but he needed help.
“When I realised it was too big of a job for me on my own, I reached out to Jason.”
US-born Jason Bass works for Stoup Brewing in Seattle, but he’s now a New Zealand citizen and lives in Sumner.
He’s been doing sales, marketing, distribution and logistics for Stoup — which runs three venues — remotely from New Zealand.
“I have known Jason for a while,” says Damien. “We had talked about the idea of starting up a brewery in the past, and so when this was the option it was a no-brainer. He didn’t even need to think about it.”
The pair needed some financial assistance to buy the brewery, which they got from the bank and the current owners.
“We came across a few hurdles along the way that were mainly financial. That’s when Ralph and Brigid they would retain some shares which we would buy out over a slightly longer period of time, when and if that time comes.
“They’ll be there for support, helping with any issues and guidance, and in a mentoring role.
“That takes a huge bit of pressure off my shoulders, knowing they truly believe that we can continue to do what we’re doing,”
And the good news for the wider industry is that Damien and Jason were able to secure finance from the bank for this venture — good news because a little while back banks wouldn’t touch craft breweries, deeming them too high risk.
“There was a lot of forecasting and planning that had to go into it to convince them that everything was OK but it has been a profitable business and It has been able to survive through all the rocky patches. So, it was mainly just convincing them or explaining to them and showing them that we have a good track record.”
Continuing the Oyster Stout legacy
Damien joked that his job now was to ensure the breweries famed Oyster Stout continued to hold its place as New Zealand’s most awarded beer.
While that’s important for Ralph, the only real terms and conditions centre of Three Boys’ history of giving back to the community.
“There no terms and conditions around Oyster Stout,” he said with a laugh, “but there are around things like our community support sponsorships and the arts support, that are dear to our heart. Damien and Jason are really into that as well because they see this is the core of the business.
“And there’s also some support to the Heathcote Cricket Club, which is my other love.
“I play old man’s cricket these days but I’m president of the of the cricket club and it’s been very successful in recent years.”