Friday, August 31, 2012

Getting this started again with a kick: Ginger Kombucha Beer

Unity Vibration's Kombucha Beer - Ginger

This is kind of like the hippy version of a vodka Red Bull.  It has alcohol and caffeine (at lower levels than a vrb) and it also has nutritional aspects from the kombucha.

Unity Vibration makes two flavors of kombucha beer: ginger and raspberry.  I tried their ginger beer.  It tastes like a natural ginger ale with a slight twinge of funk/sourness, but hardly noticeable.  It had more sweetness than I was expecting, but not as much as a soda.  I was expecting it to be a sour beer.  Their beer doesn't taste like any kombucha I've ever had.  The ginger wasn't as spicy as a Bundaburg or Stewarts ginger beer (non-alcoholic, used for ginger flavor comparison only), but definitely more flavorful than a mainstream ginger ale.  It was more like a candied ginger than a spicy ginger.  If I hadn't read the label, I would have had no idea it was 8.0% alc./vol.  The beer tastes and has a mouth-feel more like a lambic or a cider than a typical beer.  This is probably because of the addition of ginger, residual sugar, and the open top fermentation in oak barrels.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

Link to August Marinscope column and a quick update

Wow I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted.  It has been a tough, beautiful, rewarding month that has included a temporary change in my work schedule, my birthday, and the one year anniversary of my dad passing away from cancer.

I'm planning on writing more this weekend, but here is a little teaser.  I reworked a previous blog entry into a Marin County focused intro to winery tasting rooms column in the Marinscope Newspapers.  So here is the link: http://marinscope.com/articles/2012/08/03/all/lifestyles/doc50197e16bb2dc435527072.txt

I have some free samples to taste and post as well as some tasting notes that I haven't gotten around to typing up so that should be coming soon.