The Star: June 04, 2020

Thursday June 4 2020 The Star 15
Advertorial
Three Boys Wheat
The story behind an award-winning beer
EVEN after 16 years in business, Ralph
Bungard is excited to have his Three Boys
Wheat beer included in this year’s New World
Beer and Cider Awards Top 30.
The annual Top 30 list features the best beer
and ciders for customers to enjoy, having
been awarded top marks by an independent
panel of 25 judges at the beginning of March.
“There are so many well-made beers out
there that to find your way to the top of that
pile is exciting,” Bungard says. “Particularly for
our Wheat beer which has been around for a
long time.”
Three Boys Wheat has been part of the core
range for much of the Christchurch brewery’s
existence. The brewery launched in 2004
and has since become a fixture in the New
Zealand craft beer world.
Bungard remembers making home brew
during his student days, generally as a
budgetary measure, and without the benefit
of the quality equipment and ingredients
available now.
Having departed New Zealand’s shores to
pursue a career in science in the United
Kingdom, he was introduced to the universe
of beer made there and in Europe.
“The variation was mind-blowing at that
stage for someone who’d come out of New
Zealand, where beer was largely just brown
and fizzy variations of a brand,” Bungard
says. “There are all those amazing European
beers, plus the incredible British styles. And
you don’t have to travel that far to get a
massive variation in culture.”
Having had his tastebuds turned on, he
started brewing as a hobby while living in
Sheffield. But in 2001, he and his wife and
young family returned to New Zealand. Here,
Bungard found working in science wasn’t a
favourable option, due to the lack of funding
available.
And so, while working part-time at the
University of Canterbury, he developed what
became the Three Boys Brewery.
“It was a choice of two loves in a way,” he
says. “I really loved science, and still am
passionate about it. But as a scientist, money
shouldn’t be at the front of your thoughts. And
brewing had science aspects to it; working
things through and experimenting, plus being
able to make something from scratch. It
became more attractive, and it was the right
time to do it.”
Bungard now wonders how he summoned
the courage to take the leap. Having spent a
lot of time honing his beers to a commercial
level, the Three Boys core range was
launched.
That has largely been maintained over the
decade and a half since, with the Pilsner and
IPA being at the heart of the range. There’s
also the award-winning Wheat, a Porter,
Golden Lager, APA, and many other quality
beers.
But Bungard remembers a conversation with
New Zealand craft beer pioneer Richard
Emerson, whose Pilsner had long been the
flagship for Dunedin’s Emerson’s Brewery.
“He said ‘every brewery needs an Emerson’s
Pilsner’,” Bungard says. “What he was saying
is that every brewery needs a beer that
Check out the full list of New World Beer & Cider Award winners and discover a new
drop this season at www.newworld.co.nz/top30 and at your local New World store.
people will keep drinking. It creates the
backbone. We have the Pilsner and the IPA,
and we produce others around them, but
they’re the ones that people grab first and
love the most.”
It remains a valuable lesson, especially in
a now crowded craft beer market where
experimentation and branding are often
favoured over consistently producing good
beer. Three Boys also make the currently
popular varieties, while remaining focused on
the familiar favourites.
Such as Three Boys Wheat, now enjoying
its day in the sun as part of the New World
Beer & Cider Awards Top 30. It’s a style that
Bungard says has come into its own over
recent years.
“Some people don’t like
to hear it, but there’s
nothing new in brewing,”
Bungard reflects. “Our
Wheat has all those
things that modern craft
brewers are doing,
adding the flavours that
yeast brings to it, and
ramping up the mouth
feel. We were inspired
by Hoegaarden,
which is hazy, and
has orange peel in
it. We chose lemon
peel, because it was
much more Kiwi.
Three Boys Wheat
always sells and is
a sure-fire crowd
pleaser.”
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THe aWaRd WiNnErS
ArE HeRe
Sprig & Fern Scotch Ale
Back for a second year in the Top 30, this was
one of the real crowd-pleasers in 2019.
Generously rich, malty style with a hint of
smoke and layers of chocolate. “Great depth
and complexity – sweet with lovely, subtle
smoky character”, said the judges.
fInD tHe bReW
fOr yOu
Open your camera or
QR code app to scan me.
Peckham’s Farmhouse Cider
Made in the same way as non-vintage
champagne with different vintages of wildfermented
cider blended together. Pleasing
rural aroma, rich apple flavour balanced by late
tannic note. “Absolutely stunning, so many
flavours, delicious, love it”, said the judges.
Emporium Brewing Drop, Cover,
Hold Tropical Sour
Tropical fruit flavours come from a crazy
Norwegian yeast called kveik (difficult to
pronounce but it’s like Kuwait, if it was spelt
Kuwhyk). The sourness is very light, just a brisk
acidity really and the fruit character is
passionfruit and berries with a hint of spice.
TOp 30 wInNiNg bReWs
iN-sToRe nOw
Visit newworld.co.nz/Top30 for beer and food inspiration and lots more!
Renaissance Elemental Porter
A welcome return for Renaissance, the
Blenheim-based brewery that nearly went
bust in 2017, and one of the absolute classics
of New Zealand craft beer: a rich, chocolatey,
silky, syrupy smooth Porter with a hint of
coffee and licorice.
Enjoy better.