{"id":63855,"date":"2022-09-01T15:33:25","date_gmt":"2022-09-01T19:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.themainemag.com\/?p=63855"},"modified":"2022-09-01T15:33:27","modified_gmt":"2022-09-01T19:33:27","slug":"come-for-the-kombucha-stay-for-the-atmosphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themainemag.com\/come-for-the-kombucha-stay-for-the-atmosphere\/","title":{"rendered":"Come for the Kombucha, Stay for the Atmosphere"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To booch or not to booch, that is the question. On one hand, devotees argue that kombucha lowers blood pressure and can even help ward off cancer. On the other, most doctors dispute this but cite some evidence that the fizzy fermented libation has benefits similar to probiotic supplements: boosted immunity and improved digestive health, which is increasingly seen as connected with mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the debate seems worlds away once you\u2019ve installed yourself at one of the sun-drenched, bright tangerine benches at Root Wild Kombucha, its flora-dotted patio tucked into the corner of a buzzy block on Munjoy Hill. Soothing world music streams through the wide garage door, tatted-up couples loaf on the leather sofa just inside\u2014everything seems to be in slow motion. Vibrant photos of surfers and beach scenes line the walls, and in San Franciscan style, you can see all the way down Fox Street as it dips dramatically before splaying out to the East Bayside neighborhood below. In this moment, you\u2019d be forgiven for thinking you\u2019re in California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tucked into a corner of Washington Avenue, Root Wild Kombuchery and its patio offer a welcoming hangout space.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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With its very low alcohol level, traditional kombucha is less about buzz and more about inventive flavor profiles.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

California, as it turns out, wasn\u2019t far from Root Wild founder and \u201cboochmaster\u201d Reid Emmerich\u2019s mind when he began brewing the idea for the business or when he opened it in October of 2018, in partnership with Lone Pine Brewing Company cofounders and owners John Paul and Tom Madden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI knew plenty of people in Portland drank kombucha, and that they\u2019d prefer to drink local kombucha,\u201d explains the native New Englander. \u201cBut there wasn\u2019t any being made here. They were all drinking kombucha from California. So it seemed like a no-brainer to start providing it locally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Emmerich it began with a home-brewing kit, which he used to make kombucha in his home kitchen. He would bring the results to the homes of extremely appreciative friends. That experience soon drove him to create and head up the kombucha program at Urban Farm Fermentory. He did so for a decade before deciding that his science-driven fixation with foraging local and organic ingredients deserved its very own enclave. Root Wild was born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The bar was stained using Root Wild\u2019s own kombucha.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Licensed as a brewery (traditional kombucha\u2019s alcohol content comes in at just under 1%, and the legal limit for \u201cnonalcoholic beverages\u201d is 0.5%, so it\u2019s classified as a beer), Root Wild is housed in the erstwhile and revamped Sahara Club, with production in back and a tasting room in front. They also make \u201chard\u201d kombucha (which requires a second fermentation and comes in at 4.5% alcohol) as well as beer, but their focus remains squarely on traditional kombucha. \u201cYou don\u2019t drink traditional kombucha to get drunk,\u201d Emmerich says. \u201cIt\u2019s about the flavor profiles.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The collision of science and flavor exploration is Emmerich\u2019s raison d\u2019\u00eatre. \u201cI\u2019m not a doctor or an herbalist,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve got a degree in environmental science; my passion\u2019s for nature, and fermenting and blending tastes is what\u2019s at work here.\u201d To that end, he starts with an all-natural base of fair-trade tea and ferments it for about three weeks, then adds a culture of yeast and sugars that transforms it into a drink boosted with C and B vitamins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Flavors such as pine and lavender are all sourced locally.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Owner and “boochmaster” Reid Emmerich.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Leather sofas share space with brewing equipment and natural elements like giant tree roots in Root Wild’s interior.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Which flavors are brewing depends on what\u2019s growing and getting foraged. One week that might be juniper mixed with knotweed\u2014\u201cIt\u2019s a weed that reproduces and spreads like crazy when it gets big, but when it\u2019s young, its shoots are almost like asparagus, and you can juice it,\u201d says Emmerich\u2014or organic and local flavors like wild local blueberries and lemon thyme. Year-round there\u2019s the slightly tart, earthy elixir Root Wild creates from lavender, lemon balm, verbena, and white pine needles (which Emmerich forages himself). Many of the kombuchas are available to tote home in cans and are distributed around Maine and New Hampshire; however, in the tasting room Emmerich is able to offer smaller, inventive batches that he pours into flights and to-go growlers\u2014flavors like orange-juniper and pineapple-jalape\u00f1o.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The place is filled with plants that reference what\u2019s on order\u2014sipping a grapefruit and hibiscus kombucha, one can watch the sun\u2019s rays filter through the billowing blooms of a potted Chinese hibiscus on the patio. \u201cWe tried to bring nature into the picture with the space,\u201d Emmerich says. And wherever the Cali vibe rears its head, it\u2019s always Cali by way of New England. Those aforementioned photos of beaches and surfing are by Emmerich\u2019s friend, local photographer Aaron McNulty, and were shot at Rye and Hampton Beaches in New Hampshire. And the gigantic tree root floating above a table like a sculptural chandelier? Emmerich dragged it out of a marsh in Freeport. All the wood behind the bar was stained using oxidized kombucha made at Root Wild\u2014about as hyperlocal as it gets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want the experience to feel and taste fresh,\u201d explains Emmerich. \u201cOur inspiration is nature.\u201d Whatever researchers ultimately decide about the benefits of booching, it\u2019s pretty tough to believe that doing so in an environment this relaxed won\u2019t, at the very least, lower your blood pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Locals and visitors alike congregate in the tasting room to sample flavors like pineapple-jalape\u00f1o.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\t\t
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