Thanks to a very detailed and helpful explainer recently posted on this page, I’ve started brewing my own kombucha. As a former brewer, I have to say that brewing Booch is a much easier, more relaxed endeavor and the end product doesn’t make me sneeze. (Beer started making me sneeze in my late twenties. I don’t know why!)
I love the sour, the funky, the sweet so it makes sense that I enjoy making and drinking kombucha. It’s just surprising how long it took me to process the tart tea into a cocktail, but I suspect that my severely reduced alcohol tolerance is to blame.
I decided to pair my new favorite non-alcoholic drink with my two favorite buds – gin and campari. The result isn’t exactly a Negroni, but a tart and sweet Negroni-like sipper that’s less dense – and therefore easier to swallow on a hot day – than the traditional cocktail.
You can use any kombucha you want, but I prefer the tasteless one. A lot of the store’s fruity kombucha are watered down with juice, which takes away the tart, funky taste that makes this cocktail so fun. You can swirl it around in a mixing glass and serve it (as shown above), but I actually think I preferred to build it right in a glass full of ice. However you serve it, you will need:
- 1 1/2 ounces gin
- 1 ounce of Campari
- 3 ounces of regular kombucha
Fill a glass with ice and add the first two ingredients. Stir them gently, then pour the kombucha over them and stir again. Alternatively: Pour everything into a mixing glass filled with ice and refrigerate, then strain into a coupe glass.
G / O Media can receive a commission
