Kombucha Cocktails: We're not buying it
A new blog post (but not a rant, just our thoughts on the subject as obviously people are free to do whatever they like with their booch!)
The playwright Noël Coward described mixing the perfect Martini by “filling a glass with gin, then waving it in the general direction of Italy”. Presumably not a fan of vermouth, he preferred his gin unadulterated.
We take the same approach to kombucha cocktails, which appear to be a thing at the moment. We know lots of people like them, so no offence intended, this is just our take on it. You have to nail your colours to the mast sometimes. It seems a strange choice to us to have an alternative to booze and then add it to, erm, booze...
Cocktails are usually a way to make a short drink long. The spirit is really the heart of the cocktail, to which is added a mixer of some sort to transform it into a different drinks experience. They became particularly associated with Prohibition in the USA, where rough bathtub spirits would be made more palatable by the addition of a sweet or bitter mixer.
The key attribute of our kombucha, we hope, is that it has a depth and complexity that only fermented drinks can offer without adding to them, but while also including a low alcohol content.
A healthy choice?
It could be argued that adding kombucha into a cocktail is a great way to include a healthy drink into a cocktail, nudging consumers into making healthier choices. I’m afraid this doesn’t wash with me all that much. The breakfast cereals we ate as kids in the 80’s are still today packed with sugar, but are also fortified with vitamins. However, this does not make sugar-coated flakes of toasted maize a healthy breakfast choice.
Choosing a kombucha cocktail as a healthy option is a bit similar to drinking red wine “because it’s good for my heart”.
So, in the spirit of Noël Coward (if you’ll forgive the pun), here’s our recipe for a Kombucha Old-Fashioned:
Kombucha Old-Fashioned
Fill a glass with your favourite chilled Left Field Kombucha
Add an ice cube or two (optional)
Play some bluegrass music in the background
Enjoy!
Kombucha cocktails are only one transgression. There’s also the category of “hard” kombucha with 4.5 – 7% abv. I guess this is for people who like probiotics in their beer? It seems that instead of an alternative to alcohol, hard kombuchas are now an alternative alcohol. Chacun son goût.
Yes!!! I agree!! I think that certain kombucha companies are trying to capitalize financially by making it more appealing (in an unhealthy way) to a larger market. The people who are doing this are only motivated by money and do NOT care about the true health benefits of kombucha!!!