Page 45 - Beverage Master December January 2020

Craft Beverage

shelves nationwide, and producers were left with With only one hard kombucha on the market at
three options: keep their kombuchas under 0.5% the time—Unity Vibration in Ypsilanti, Michigan—
and follow strict labeling laws, sell them in the beer Rood approached a brewer who was making both
section at their current ABV, or create an intention- beer and kombucha and asked him to make a
ally higher ABV beverage. For those who chose the prototype that offered the best of both beverage
latter — a “hard” kombucha — the crisis presented worlds. “The prototype was awesome,” he said.
a golden opportunity. The low-alcohol beverage “At the same time, my wife had an adorable rabbit
with a healthy dose of probiotics caught on quickly, named Dr. Hops, and I thought, ‘what a perfect
and in just a few short years, became the hot new name for a health-conscious kombucha that’s all
kid on the beverage-industry block. According to hopped up.’ So that’s why we named our product
Nielsen, sales of hard kombucha spiked 247% in the Dr. Hops.”
52 weeks leading up to April 20, 2019.
While Rood was developing his product in 2016,
One of the first to create high-alcohol kombucha another hard kombucha hit the market: Boochcraft,
was Dr. Hops, based in San Francisco. “I was work- California’s first high-alcohol kombucha, and
ing in Berkley with the fitness and yoga community, today’s market leader in sales.
and craft beer was exploding and doing amazing
things,” said CEO and founder Joshua Rood. “Non- To make hard kombucha, producers start with a
alcoholic kombucha was also growing rapidly. I’ve mixture of sugar, tea and water. For his base, Rood
always been a food and beverage guy. When I saw selects the highest organic quality and fair trade
this happening, I realized you could make a high-al- tea he can obtain. Next, he adds SCOBY—a com-
cohol kombucha that would be authentic to both bination of bacteria and yeast that he’s developed
categories, offering the benefits from the health in-house—and adds it to the tea mixture. The con-
properties of straight kombucha, and the flavor, coction ferments for a week, allowing the SCOBY to
complexity and pleasure of a really good craft work and make kombucha what it is: a probiotic,
beer.” sour and flavorful drink. To raise the alcohol level

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