Before Life Blood had a name, it started with a simple thought. What if you brewed kombucha the way you would brew a really good IPA?
I had spent years as a homebrewer, making beer in my kitchen, learning what different hops could do. Citra, tropical blends, a hop actually called Lemondrop. Each one brings its own character, its own aroma, its own personality. And it struck me one day that nobody was using hops in kombucha the way a brewer uses them in beer. So I tried it.
The idea: kombucha with the mind of a beer maker
The plan, at first, was to make something with the soul of a good beer without it being one. Same principles, same respect for the hop. I thought I would end up with a kombucha that drank a little like a pale ale.
That is not what happened. Hops behave very differently in kombucha than they do in beer. The bitterness that defines an IPA falls right back. What comes forward instead is the other side of the hop: bright, clean, fruit-forward aromatics. Less bite, more lift. It was not a beer substitute at all. It was its own thing, and it was better than the idea I started with.
Where the flavour in hop-infused kombucha comes from
This is the part people get wrong about hop-infused kombucha. The fruit you taste is not fruit. There is no juice, no puree, no added flavouring. Every note comes from the hops and the way they are brewed. Pick the right variety, treat it right, and a single hop flower can read as mango, as citrus, as passion fruit. That is the whole trick, and it is the whole point of Life Blood.
The flavours, and the hops behind them
The first one I made went on to become The Original. Citra hops, the same variety carrying so many great pale ales, brewed to bring out their aromatic, crisp side. Clean, bright and moreish. It set the template for everything that came after.
Then I got curious. What would a mango IPA taste like as a kombucha? A specific blend of hops later, I had one of the freshest mango flavours I have ever tasted, and not a scrap of mango in it. That went on to become Mangosaurus.
A blend of tropical hops gave me peach, pineapple and passion fruit, layered and juicy. That went on to become Hopical Punch.
And then there is that hop called Lemondrop. You can guess what it does. Bright, sharp, unmistakably citrus. We liked it enough to name the drink after it. That is where Lemondrop came from.
Real ingredients. Big flavour. All from the hops.
Turns out beer was never the only thing worth brewing with them.
Keep reading
What is kombucha?, is kombucha alcoholic?, and kombucha vs soda. Or try the full range for yourself.
