BeerBud.com.au, an online start-up founded by former investment bankers, aims to tap the lucrative craft beer keg

THREE bankers walked into a bar and never walked out. It’s not a joke — these guys chucked it all in to start their dream company - and it’s paying off.

MEET the guys who went for Friday drinks and never came back. Three former investment bankers are ditching the suits and ties to take a pop at the big brewing houses.

Like most great ideas, it happened over Friday drinks.

Two years ago, Andy Williamson, 27, Alex Gale, 30, and Mark Woollcott, 35, all held high-paying positions at investment firm CMB Capital — Mr Williamson and Mr Gale had worked together previously at Macquarie Capital.

The trio had become “increasingly bored” of drinking Becks and Peroni of a Friday, and even more frustrated at having to walk three blocks to the nearest bottle shop to purchase an “exorbitantly expensive case” from a limited range, according to Mr Williamson.

“At the time we were working with some of the leading online companies in Australia — we were getting our hands dirty in business development roles, writing the strategy papers — but at the end of the day they weren’t our businesses,” he said.

The trio, who spent their time at CMB advising and investing in a range of online and digital media-related start-ups, identified a hole in the market. Or as Mr Woollcott puts it: “One thing we all have in common is we realised life’s short — you want to spend it doing something you love.”

In other words, having a pint.

BeerBud.com.au is an online store positioned at the intersection of two hot growth markets: online liquor sales and craft beer. Beer lovers can purchase customised selections or curated pack. It’s a similar model to online wine stores such as First Vintage.

“Craft beer today is booming, but two years ago it was more in its infancy,” Mr Williamson said. “It was emerging in pubs and bars but it was difficult to find elsewhere — you’d find a beer at the pub you liked but it would never be available in your local bottle shop.”

The site stocks more than 100 craft beers with tasting notes and member ratings.

According to new research from Roy Morgan, the number of Australian adults consuming craft beer in an average four-week period has increased to more than one million for the first time.

Craft beer only accounts for 3.3 per cent of the $6.7 billion annual beer market in Australia, according to IBISWorld, but Aztec data covering Coles, Woolworths and ALM shows craft beer sales grew by 48 per cent between 2011 and 2013 — an accomplishment given the overall beer category has been struggling.

“The thing that gets us really excited is where the craft beer industry can get to,” said Mr Williamson, who advised on the Carsales.com.au initial public offering during his time at Macquarie Capital. “It’s still a very small part of the $6.7 billion beer market, but the big opportunity for us is that continued shift in consumer drinking behaviour.”

Currently less than two per cent of alcohol sales are online — Williamson predicts over the medium term that figure will grow to between 20 and 25 per cent. Likewise, he predicts craft beer will grow from 3.3 per cent anywhere up to 30 per cent. That may not be so far-fetched — in the US, craft beer consumption has been growing rapidly and now accounts for $14 billion annually, or 14 per cent of total beer sales.

Soft launching two months ago, the site has already signed up hundreds of customers including Saatchi & Saatchi, Starcom, NTT, Standard & Poors and Bankwest. The trio recently curated an event for Sydney’s Vivid Festival at the Museum of Contemporary Art and are even experimenting with a beer and yoga session in partnership with Pop-up Yoga dubbed ‘Beer & Broga’.

According to Mr Woollcott, these kinds of events will form an important part of the consumer education strategy. “There’s an increasing number of craft beer events put on by breweries around the country that we want to become a part of,” he said. “It’s still a relatively small industry, so the last 12 months have been about getting to know all the brewers.”

And when all else fails: there’s an Instagram competition promising a year’s worth of free beer.

That should do the trick.