Southampton native and Hamptons Kombucha founder Bill Bockhaus is fascinated by fermentation.
From starting out as a bus boy at Wölffer Estate Vineyards in Sagaponack, to becoming a server there, and then, not long after, a winemaker, he’s someone who’s been always been pretty bent on the brew.
“I was a server and playing around with the wine and tasting it, learning the notes and I kind of grew this fascination with the art of winemaking and fermentation,” he says.
So much so that he eventually went on to study at SUNY Cobleskill, where he became one of the first students to graduate with a degree in fermentation back in 2023. Returning to his East End home, he went back to Wölffer to work in their wine cellar, which he enjoyed but, he admits, began to feel a little stagnant over time. Eventually, he started experimenting with kombucha, founding his company Hamptons Kombucha in May of last year.
“A coworker at Wölffer gave me my first SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast, essential for fermenting sweet tea into kombucha), my first-ever starter,” Bockhaus says. “With that one gallon of starter liquid, I eventually turned it into what it is now, which is insane to think about. With that one gallon, it turned into five gallons, and I started playing around in my basement, kind of like Walter White from Breaking Bad.”
Next, Bockhaus left his East End home to work for one of the biggest producers in the Northeast: Aqua ViTea, based in Middlebury, Vt., and one of the largest kombucha producers on the East Coast. “They had numerous 20,000 gallon tanks. They had one of the biggest de-alcoholizers in the world. They had a canning line the size of a Stop and Shop,” he says. “My time there was awesome. I learned a lot.”
Bockhaus was in line to become one of the company’s biggest brewers, a large feat for the recent college graduate in his early 20s. But, unfortunately, he says, it came to an abrupt end in February of 2025 when the company laid off a significant portion of their staff following the withdrawal of funding by a potential investor.
“It was quite upsetting,” he says. “But I thought, ‘you know what?’ Let’s see if I can do it myself.'”
And he did, initially starting out by making kombucha in his parent’s basement. “I tried looking into the incubator places,” he says, most notably the Food Business Incubator at Calverton, but couldn’t use it due to financial restrictions. He was able to sublet a space at his mother’s business, the Classy Canine in Southampton, turning it into a commercial kitchen and gaining a Food Processing Establishment License (Article 20-C) from the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Armed with three sinks, a refrigerator, a freezer and a few tanks, Bockhaus is able to produce around 350 gallons of kombucha each week. A small, one-man operation, he then transfers his homemade brew into 12-oz. bottles he bought off Facebook Marketplace and hand delivers them to his customers.
“I’m official,” he laughs. “It took a lot of work to get where I am right now, and I think people are starting to finally realize that I’m being serious.”
Fast forward to almost a year later, and the Southampton resident’s homemade kombucha is available online as well as at a handful of East End locales, most notably 8 Hands Farm in Cutchogue and Sagaponack Farm Distillery. Blueberry pomegranate, pineapple lemonade and watermelon mint are the available flavors and each 12 oz. bottle cost $5. “I’m in cahoots with a couple other places, but nothing’s quite set in stone yet,” he says. Bockhaus is also doing local deliveries throughout most of the Hamptons and the North Fork.
To shop Hamptons Kombucha click here. For more information, email [email protected], call 631-680-8022, or check out their Instagram page.
