I love beer. After now having visited over 390 different breweries, it’s fair to say I have sampled a lot of beer (follow me on Untappd). From post-race pints and run club meeting locations, to beer miles and relays, running and the kegged nectar seem to go hand-in-hand in Oregon. Our Kegs and Legs feature is where beer & cider drinking runners like me can go to find some new favorite beverages. Check out previous posts here!
I recently stumbled up a drink while perusing for new bottles and cans to take home and try – hard kombucha. I’m a relative fan of the drink, thought not obsessive, so I was pretty taken aback by what I saw. After all, I generally associate kombucha with good things – live cultures, improved digestion, and overall detoxification. What I hadn’t associated it with is alcohol. But I was willing to give it a try.
KYLA Kombucha‘s name is actually an acronym (Kombucha – Yeast – Lactobacillus – Acetobacter). Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, so KYLA was a good decision. It’s actually brewed in Hood River by Full Sail and each of the two flavors (Hibiscus Lime & Ginger Tangerine clock in at about 4.5% ABV. But even with this turn towards an alcohol beverage, it still provides some good – such as only 2g of sugar, vegan & gluten-free, and those same live cultures. We recently tried a few out.
I found that both seemed to have a Kombucha-forward taste, as opposed to being overpoweringly alcohol-y. That was a very pleasant surprise. Clearly these could both be easily drank out of the bottle. I found that the Ginger Tangerine was a little bit more flavorful than the Hibiscus Lime (which was still good, but just milder overall). However, where I think these hit a homerun is adding these to a cocktail. In fact, I tried a few of their recommended cocktail recipes and they were fantastic.
Find out where to get KYLA here and enjoy some of these this summer.
Kombucha:
- Hibiscus Lime
- Ginger Tangerine
- ABV: 4.5%
- Calories: 100
- Available in 6-pack bottles and draft
Kombuchery (?): KYLA Kombucha (Facebook)