This week on Econ 919: kombucha. No, not that scary thing your friend's wife has steeping in a jar above the refrigerator, but commercially brewed kombucha, a fermented, but non alcoholic, sparkling tea.
The popular acceptance of the refreshing drink has seen it to go from home-brew oddity to store shelves in the last couple of decades. And now it’s coming to the Central Peninsula’s first kombucha tap room, which is opening tomorrow in downtown Kenai.
Owned by Devon and Brian Gonzalez, Kenai Kombucha, was that first going to be a side gig for Devon as she raises their first child but building the tap room turned into more than a full time project for Brian: who quit his day job working with sheet metal. The couple, with help from the Alaska Small Business Development Center and friends have installed a 1000-gallon brewery inside to storefronts on Attla Way across from Wells Fargo.
I spoke with them earlier this week.
Brian: Luckily we have really good friends that are in all different trades that have helped us out. You know with no no money involved. They're just here being good friends.
KDLL: Pizza and kombucha?
Brian: Exactly.
KDLL: We were standing here in front of your cooler which looks pretty good size 10 by 10 or something and that's not a small investment you guys are serious about this.
Brian: We've definitely put a lot of money into it. A lot of time and a lot of money.
KDLL: Now, the tell me about your your idea to open up a store front, a bar, a tap room.
Devon: After the Wednesday markets all summer long we just for super busy and we knew that the demand was there. People just kept asking, you know, what are you going to do next? What are you going to do this winter, you know, where can we get it? And we tell them the locations at the restaurants and stuff but They wanted to be with us they wanted a someplace to go and hang out and get their refills from us.
KDLL: We got flavors you guys got?
Brian: Right now we have our pineapple ginger, the spiced Apple, black cherry, the natural flavor and then we're coming out with a few surprises here coming up.
KDLL: What does natural kombucha tastes like?
Devon: People will say that there's like an apple, there's a honey notes to you know, that flavor that they're getting when they drink the natural flavor.
KDLL: So 15 years ago, I'd never heard of kombucha at all. I saw it once, and it kind of frightened me seeing one in a jar. And this is seriously the first time I've ever tried it, first time I've had the nerve to try it. And it's super tasty. And I'm more than a little surprised. Do you find there are people who, like me have been hesitant about this, you know, like,...
Devon: I think it's every other person that tries it. They're just super grossed out. You know, their friends mothers made it on their counter and it's super nasty and I just I love to encourage those people and even their children to try it and to see those faces of pure enjoyment.
KDLL: Well, maybe you could tell us a little bit specifically about kombucha and its ingredients, manufacturer, and then maybe some of its benefits also, health benefits.
Devon: So, kombucha is a fermented tea that promotes good gut health. It contains amino acids, antioxidants, B vitamins, and that's all good for your gut, you know, your digestive system. So you start your kombucha with a scoby and scoby is a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. And with that, you're going to add your starter liquid and then you're going to brew a really big, strong batch of sweet tea and then you're going to add your starter liquid and your scobey into that and then you're going to let that sit and ferment. And when I was doing that at home, it would take about two weeks to do that for your first ferment. And after that you're going to pull off and you can flavor it and play with it some more.
KDLL: Tell me about your opening here. When's coming up?
Devon: So Saturday, October 12, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. we are having our grand opening, our open house for our tap room. So bring your friends and your family come down, hang out. Enjoy a cup of kombucha or fill up your growlers, just see all the hard work that we've done in the last month or so.
KDLL: How much is a glass of kombucha to go for?
Devon: $5 plus tax.
KDLL: How about a grower?
Devon: We have a few different growler sizes we have a 25 ounce, a 32 ounce and a 64 ounce and the prices fluctuate between $7.50 and $16.
Our number this week is 200 -- as in pounds; that's the estimated weight of all the scobys in the brewing vats in the back room of Kenai Kombucha.
That's all for this week's Econ 919. For KDLL's Shayla Cochran, I'm Jay Barrett.
