Kombucha Beer Is on the Way
This healthy bev just became roughly 1000 percent more appealing to most.
Health nuts have long been singing the praises of kombucha, a fermented Chinese tea with a litany of supposed health benefits. But the rest of us may soon be jumping on the bandwagon as well, now that an ambitious home-brewer has gone and made it alcoholic.
The founder of Santa Fe’s Honeymoon Brewery, Ayla Bystrom-Williams has apparently found a way to increase the minute amount of alcohol in current kombucha brews (currently around 1 percent) to levels comparable to beer (around 5-6 percent). With patents currently pending, she’s been keeping mum on the exact details of her fermentation process, although she has revealed it was inspired by the openair process used to create Belgian lambics.
Really though, what do you care how it’s made? The bottom line is that in the not too distant future you’ll be able to get drunk in a way that’s actually doing you good. Although we should point out that the benefits of drinking kombucha are still very much up in the air, as outlined in this recent article in the Washington Post. Bystrom-Williams is currently engaged in research that she hopes will bring an end to the ongoing debate and vindicate kombucha drinkers once and for all.
Still, whether or not the beverage is actually good for you, there’s no denying that it’s been a massive hit. Analysts in the United States recently estimated that the industry could bring in more than half a billion US dollars in 2015, and that was before we heard about the alcoholic variety. Australian producers have tapped into the craze as well, with a number of different outfits competing in the market — one label even opened up their own dedicated Sydney bar.
A notice on Honeymoon Brewery’s website currently alludes to an imminent Kickstarter campaign, with an eye to getting the Kombucha beer on shelves towards the end of the year. The bad news is that it looks like it’ll only be available in the United States. Fingers crossed it’s a hit, and that they think about expanding.
Via The Guardian.
Images: Mgarten Wikimedia Commons, Iris Photos via Flickr, Wild Kombucha.
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