Paulius Musteikis
Isis Newman of the Mermaid Cafe fills a growler of fresh NessAlla Kombucha.
It’s an old story. You overindulged during the holidays and the new year brought resolutions. More vegetables! Less meat!
If 2016 also finds you cutting back on alcohol, your options around town just got a little more interesting. Locally brewed NessAlla Kombucha is popping up on tap at several eateries around town, including Mermaid Café, Alchemy, the Side Door Grill and Tap and A-OK Sunshine and Spirits. It will soon be available on tap at both Willy Street Co-op locations.
Kombucha, a fizzy drink made from fermented tea, is reputed to have many health benefits. It’s made with a SCOBY (symbiotic culture/colony of bacteria and yeast); the yeast and bacteria work together to eat the caffeine, tannins and sugar in the tea and turn it into the effervescent, tangy beverage known as kombucha. Although kombucha is fermented, its actual alcohol levels remain low, so that the drink is classified as non-alcoholic.
NessAlla, one of the first craft kombucha breweries in the country, was started by Alla Shapiro and Vanessa Tortolano in 2008. Their product has grown in popularity over the last few years as they’ve educated Madison about the drink. Popular in Russia, where Shapiro lived until she was 7, and on both coasts of the U.S., kombucha has been slow to make its way to the Midwest.
Shapiro and Tortolano make each batch of kombucha from scratch using a custom blend of Rishi Teas from Milwaukee. Their seasonal blends, which appear four times a year coinciding with the solstices and equinoxes, are made with seasonal wild herbs.
This winter’s blend, made with hibiscus, ginger and cardamom, has lots of vitamin C and a bright, ruby red color to brighten the gray winter days. Kegs of the seasonal blend, a specialty blend and the lemongrass ginger flavor will be available at both Willy Street Co-ops by Feb. 1. Customers can bring growlers and fill from the taps.
Shapiro and Tortolano say kombucha on tap, as opposed to bottled, is fresher, less expensive and produces less packaging waste.
Gwen Johnson of A-OK Sunshine and Spirits says having kombucha on draft is “novel and exciting — our customers love to see what flavor we have fresh from week to week.”
Some bars are serving their kombucha straight-up — the Side Door Grill & Tap and the Hop Garden in Paoli both pour NessAlla’s Juniper Hops blend. But other taverns are creating kombucha-forward cocktails. At the Tip Top Tavern, look for the Romantic Side, a blend of bitters, gin and this winter’s seasonal blends.
There goes that cutting back on the alcohol thing.
