Dave Pearce
Beer Side Hustler
We shine a light on some of Aotearoa's best and brightest.
They shine a light on their favourite 3 Wise Men Clothing.
Seems like everyone these days has got a side hustle going on. True story, according to Statistics NZ. Last year they reckon there were over 200,000 potential dreamers, schemers, movers, shakers, and risk takers with more than one job.
Including Dave Pearce. Senior exec at a large telco by day, and beer side hustler “pretty much every other hour of my life.”
Dave, a former beer industry marketer - “Beer is in my blood” - is a co-founder, along with three others, including, rather helpfully, a German brewer, of Badass Beverages - “A little project turning big ideas into rad drinks that put a smile on your dial and a high five on your taste buds,” he says.
“The idea was to brew beers that we liked, that we didn’t see others doing in NZ – you know, the Hefeweizens, Schwarzbiers, Kölschs, Maibocks and Dortmunders of the world,” Dave says with perfect pronunciation, “and then have some fun naming them.”
Job done. Sloth Anytime Ale, Schadenfreude Session Pilsner, and the musically inspired California Sun IPA - "Can't beat the Ramones," - Disko Inferno Black Lager and the award winning Hefe Metal - “A badass riff on a classic Hefeweizen wheat beer” - all rock the taste buds and crack a smile at the same time.
So why Badass? “It captures the spirit of what we wanted to do and is also a bit of a pep talk for ourselves. You don’t always feel badass when you’ve had a hard day, finally got the kids to bed, then need to chase up some payments for the side hustle,” Dave says. The idea had been brewing for a while but with families and mortgages, giving up the day jobs wasn’t an option.
It was a life-changing trip five years ago that gave Dave the confidence to take the plunge. With his wife and kids, he drove round the USA living in a caravan for six months. “It took a couple of years of research and planning and saving, and we had to figure everything out for ourselves. I thought if I can handle that, I can handle anything.”
With so many things on the go, Dave needs gear that “looks good and just works. I stick to the classics like 3 Wise Men button- down shirts, slim-cut chinos, military jackets, and chukka boots. Timeless never goes out of fashion.”
Ok, last thing - any advice to would-be side hustlers Dave? “Keep telling people about your idea, until it gets to the point where you have to do it! Also, get a notebook. I’ve got literally hundreds of beverage ideas in them. And puns. So many puns. Most won’t ever make it off the page, but it’s so great that some of them have made their way into a chiller or on a tap bank and people are buying and loving them.” Now that’s badass.
Shop Dave Pearce's Top Picks:
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