Surf Coast brewer says alcoholic kombucha no fad

There’s a boozy new drink that’s hit the bottle shop shelves over the last few months, that’ll be familiar with the health concious. But could this new drop be good for us?

KBooch is one of Australia's first alcoholic kombuchas. Picture: Supplied.

Adding a shot of gin into his kombucha one Sunday afternoon inspired the creation of a new drink — alcoholic kombucha.

Torquay’s Nick Cogger already had a beer brewing background, so it was a no-brainer for the 33 year-old to launch his own line K. Booch.

“Kombucha won’t be a fad, the actual drink is delicious,” he says.

“People aren’t drinking sweet drinks anymore, they’re wanting something sour and tart and kombucha is a great alternative.”

After that fateful Sunday session last June, Nick started researching ways to make the fermented drink from scratch.

He wasn’t alone with his boozy ‘bucha idea, with many companies overseas adding gin or vodka to their kombucha.

Nick Cogger has created his own line of alcoholic kombucha KBooch. Picture: Supplied.

“I flew over to the US and chatted with (some businesses) and forged some alliances,” he says.

But instead of creating a drink with a simple alcoholic add-in, Nick used his brewing skills to create a natural occurring alcohol during fermentation.

“It’s actually hard to make a non-alcoholic kombucha. Most of the big kombucha companies make it their major mission to keep the drink non-alcoholic,” Nick says.

K. Booch is made with a scobie, known as The Mother, which ferments the tea and sugar to create the sour, vinegar tasting liquid associated with kombucha.

“What we then do, is take it a step further and transfer into beer fermenters,” Nick says.

“We add strain of yeast, more sugar and essentially ferment it again to make it alcoholic. Then we blend it with juices.”

K. Booch comes in four flavours — pineapple/watermelon, blood orange, rosé/raspberry and ginger/lime — and is now sold in 200 retailers Australia-wide, including Dan Murphys.

One bottle of K. Booch is 4 per cent alcohol — which is a lot less than a beer or glass of wine.

Nick, who also owns the Front Beach Tap House in Torquay, sells the beverage at his pub.

“Things are going great, but there’s a lot left to do. By summer, I hope to have a reach of 1000 or more bottle shops,” he says.

When asked if there’s a conflict in adding alcohol to a drink that’s been described as healthy, Nick says: “People are drinking a lot less these days and wanting better quality products.

“People are looking for drinks that are better for them, clean labelling, ingredients in the product and keeping sugar as low as possible.”

WHAT ELSE IS ON THE MARKET?

Dirty Bucha flavours made in Byron Bay. Picture: Supplied.

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THE DIRTY BUCHA

The team behind the Bucha of Byron, in collaboration with Stone and Wood, have made three premium boozy cocktails — including botanical gin with lemon myrtle kombucha, premium vodka with tropical kombucha and spiced rum with ginger kombucha.

NAUGHTY BOOCH

These guys are sold on tap in three Melbourne venues and 900 Coles stores nationwide in cans. Try the apple/berry, watermelon/cucumber/lime or ginger/lemon.

@kara_irving