The ‘Brothers’ of Kombucha Have Landed

Kombucha Bros is the latest product line to come out of popular Nelson owned Kombucha brewery and fermented food wholesaler, Renegade Ferments. Owned and operated by Brandon Turnage and Jacob Hechter since 2016, the two “brothers” go a long way back with common roots both coming from California and winding up in New Zealand over 15 years ago to discover their shared love of nature, culture and of course, the New Zealand brewing scene. “It [New Zealand] felt really natural for us to start our brewing business here all those years ago and to finally bring our Kombucha dream to life, it [fermenting] is something we love to do and New Zealand has really inspired us over the years” Managing Director Brandon Turnage says.

Recently renovating the self-owned popular Nelson craft beer hangout, ‘Craft Beer Depot’ to make room for a new canning line is one of the many adjustments the company is making to keep up with demand. “We are really excited to have the space to install a canning line and to make way for our current and future products under the Kombucha Bros brand” Turnage says. “Bringing our product to market in cans really speaks to our awareness for the need to be recycling our packaging locally in New Zealand and thinking about our ecological footprint in regards to extra emissions resulting in shipping heavy glass and raw ingredients to make our packaging, values we share with many other New Zealanders” Turnage says.

Kombucha Bros ‘fun and cheeky’ products plan to bring a range of international inspiration with its’ approach to brewing and blending Kombucha. Product lines consisting of original blends with locally sourced flavours are available now in select stores throughout the country but mainly online through their web sales portal kombuchabros.co.nz. A first of its kind New Zealand hopped Kombucha and a range of alcohol blended Kombucha flavours with top quality gin and vodka are to be released in the coming weeks; as well as secondary fermented ‘hard Kombucha’ alcoholic range are planned, all to arrive in stores and online very soon. “Our aim here is to truly wed New Zealand flavours, regional produce and ethos with our Kombucha products and really provide a distinctly New Zealand inspired alternative to Kombucha products already available on the market today. Products that have not been seen in New Zealand before, this is an exciting first for the Kombucha brewing market here” Turnage says.

With demand growing for the healthy beverage in New Zealand and Kombucha Bros current ability to service over 30,000 liters a month or 360,000 Liters per year over a range of products, Turnage says the volume of production and demand is just getting started. “Kombucha has re-invented international brewing and fermenting through consumer interests and its time that New Zealand stood up to outside Kombucha manufacturers dominating the scene. So we are geared up and with a fully accredited NZFSA and MPI accredited brewery already producing at full tilt, we are ready and frothing to increase production three-fold at any time”, Turnage says “we are already on the road taking orders from wholesalers for products we haven’t even released yet and have a very keen interest from distributors servicing the café, restaurant and bar scenes. Our website is up and fulfilling direct to consumer orders already proving there is high demand. The goal for us is to make our products available in as many different regions around New Zealand, and we are up for the challenge.” Turnage says.

Kombucha Bros products are available nationally to consumers online through their website www.kombuchabros.co.nz - Bars, Restaurants and cafes are currently being serviced through Bid Food wholesale and kombucha bros wholesale trade portal. Our products will be available in all good New Zealand owned super markets in the next few weeks.

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