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Kombucha Cocktails
PROBIOTIC DRINKING MADE DRUNKER
by Camilla Mortensen
I
survive mainly on kombucha, coffee and hard liquor. Mixing coffee with
whiskey is kind of a no-brainer. I’m perky and buzzed — what could go
wrong? Kombucha, in large doses, has a similar effect on me. Given my
predilection for caffeine and adult beverages, kombucha cocktails strike me
as pure genius.
For those of you who are new to the kombucha craze — I hesitate to call it a
fad, since I’ve got friends who have been singing its praises for years — kombucha
is a probiotic brew of tea fermented with yeast and bacteria, aka a “mother” or a
“scoby” (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast), often likened to a mushroom.
It has low levels of caffeine and alcohol. If you don’t like it now, try it with a
hangover — there’s something about the probiotics mixed with a smell reminiscent
of stale beer that makes it strangely palatable when you are green and feeling icky.
Recently, a friend of mine who shall remain nameless told me that he would
never again drink the bubbly elixir while driving because the device installed on
his vehicle to prevent him from doing something stupid like drinking and driving
locked up after he took a hit. I mocked him, thinking that he was just blaming the
’buch for his own backsliding.
To prove him wrong, I took a slug from my mini-growler of Townshend’s Brew
Dr. Superberry. Then I whipped out the keychain Breathalyzer I had just won at a
Sheriff’s Posse Poker Ride and blew.
I huffed a .02. That’s enough to get a DUII in this town. Duly noted: You are not
supposed to breathalyze right after drinking; you are supposed to wait 15 minutes.
Two minutes later I blew nothing.
So the fact remains: mixing kombucha and liquor is brilliant, but bring a des-
ignated driver along if you will be sampling the alcohol-added wares at Belly, The
Cannery, The Granary or The Barn Light, all of which I’m told feature a tempting mix
of liquor and probiotics — be-
cause there’s nothing like
getting a little drunkered
up and promoting good di-
gestion.
If you are new to kombu-
cha, I’d suggest going to a pro-
fessional for your fi rst cocktail.
While my co-worker found success
in mixing Brew Dr.’s Love with Ab-
solut Hibiscus, I discovered that just
dumping gin into whatever kombucha is
at hand was less than appealing.
Bar manager Jeremy Shank says that Belly
will mix you a kombucha cocktail, featuring notes
of bitter and sweet, from two ounces of Kombucha
Mama’s Pomegranate Lemon with Chamucos Tequila
Reposado, lemon juice, passion fruit and demerara
simple syrup. Shank says it’s well balanced, with
bitter from the pomegranate and sweet from the
passion fruit and demerara.
For you kombucha low-baggers who would
rather mix your drinks at home, Kombucha
Mama has a drink list you can follow. The “Purple
Hippie” also features the Pomegranate Lemon and
KOMBUCHA
it uses a lemon twist, a lemon squeeze and Absolut
MAMA’S
vodka. As the EW staff can attest, that one’s
PURPLE
pretty darn good.
HIPPIE
From Kore Kombucha to Townshend’s
to whatever your best friend is brewing
from the scoby in his closet, Oregon is not
lacking in ’buch to mix with your hooch.
Go forth and let the scobys multiply. ■
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