http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=162875
No thanks.
I like my beer unfettered and in unhealthy quantities.
This represents a new low in beer.
I’m getting so tired of the “unusual ingredients” trend (fad?) that some breweries seem to be embracing. I guess there’s an audience for it, but as for me, I find a well made ‘real’ beer to be much more interesting and compelling.
+1
I agree that if you’re trying to only add to the beer in terms of substance, like vitamins or caffeine or something, then it’s ridiculous. But if the ingredients enhance or add to the flavor of the beer, then why not? And, I think if you’re going to do some interesting blending, do it with lambic. It’s been happening for ages.
Zwanze…
If drinking it for flavor or aroma - taste, then I cool with it. 8)
Now my rant… >:( if for the “health benefits” then these brewers are nothing more then snake oil salesmen preying on folk.
I’m getting treatment for colon cancer and had a few well intention people telling me to take this fermented mushroom tea (kombrucha)to help cure me. There is no scientific/medical evidence what so ever to prove benefits, yet that has not stoped people making a buck off anyone or recommending a waste of money. Can’t wait for the infomercial on TV telling us how the brewer’s elixor will help you lose weight, and let us eat as much as we want too!
</end of rant>.
peace!
Man if you can get your brew into WHOLE FOODS and get them to “drink the kool-aid” you would be $$$$$$ rich. So, can’t blame them for trying. I have not tried it, I’ve drank Kombucha (interesting) and Lambics (love em) but together… I dunno.
If they get Chuck Norris to pimp it on an infomercial though - we’re all in trouble.
beerrat: it’s not really a shroom, just looks like one. It’s a pellicle (sp?) that kinda looks like one. It’s apparently mostly brett which is used in brewing anyway. They say is cures EVERYTHING, best I can figure it helps balance PH levels in your body. Had kombucha, drink kefir regularly. Only benefit I see is I’m not dead yet. But I keep drinking it… :-\
I’m pretty sure IPA is super good for you because after I have drank four or five pints I’m always feeling super!
Chuck does not need any of this health eating stuff, he simply punches the illnesses out of himself. ;D
Kombucha potentially has toxic qualities based on my web-research a few years back. Healthy beer? Use good ingredients and clean water.
Apparently it is super good for you if you are going through menopause…
Or you want to sprout some nice man boobs. Some kind of phyto-estrogens or something in high doses of alpha acids.
Remember homebrew from over at the NB forum? He made all kinds of kambocha. Loved the stuff.
He grew these giant mothers. Those things are crazy.
Paul Stamets, a well respected mycologist touched on kombucha in an interesting article a little while back: http://www.fungi.com/info/articles/blob.html
I am getting so tired of people getting “so tired of the “unusual ingredients” trend (fad?) that some breweries seem to be embracing.” I’m really not sure why one would get upset about this. Do you really think chocolate, coffee, new hops, grain styles, oak/woods and news yeast/bacterias are bad?
I love trying out new ideas in brewing. Some are good, some bad and some terrible but they are all interesting and make me think differently about everything I consume and the endless possibilities to make something that challenges my palate. This is part of what takes brewing from craft into art. Brewing, being pushed by homebrewing and the internet, is really moving into it’s golden age in the US.
I think a kombucha culture addition could add a lot of interesting brett and acedic acid baceria flavor contributions to a beer. I am not sure how easy it would to balance those as kombucha is supposed to have a certain existing natural symbiotic balance that I would think the alcohol and pH change from regular yeast alter up but I would think a blend could certainly be interesting. My sister who brews a bunch of kombucha recently tried a little bit of my NB La Folie and said it reminded her very much of kombucha grown under certain conditions.
This guy: http://www.themadfermentationist.com/ has brewed a couple beers with kombucha culture with some interesting results.
I had kombucha once in Eugene. It was yucky.
If it’s not made WITH additional ingredients then I think you’re drinking it strictly for it’s health benefits. I had a ginger blueberry one, and while the first sip is an almost unpleasant surprise - it grows on you. Sour, bit of fruit, fizzy, and finishes with a bite. Much like a blueberry flavored ginger ale with a shot of vinegar in it. I’d drink it again.
I’m surprised no one has yet suggested proper pitching rates and fermentation temps for “healthy beer”! 
I really can’t find the motivation to try making my beer healthy. If I want something healthy I’ll eat an apple or an orange. When it comes to beer I’ll stick to my favorite IPA.
There were additional ingredients. A friend of my wife’s was making and bottling the stuff to sell. I didn’t care for it at all. He is, however, in the right town to succeed w/ his venture.
+1
Beer isn’t really all that unhealthy in moderation and can be part of a complete breakfast. Seriously, beer in excess is bad for you. But two or three beers a day is way better for you that two or three soda drinks. Being active and eating “sensibly” is the key to good health. A little beer fits in that lifestyle very nicely.