Morgantown’s Neighborhood Kombuchery is finding its kombuchas in high demand.
Morgantown’s own kombucha brewery, Neighborhood Kombuchery, got its start in 2019. Of course, an economy-crippling pandemic hit soon after.
But Neighborhood Kombuchery owners Carissa Herman and Andrew Rhodes were committed. Because tangy, refreshing kombucha is believed to promote digestive health and it’s minimally alcoholic, it’s a sound dietary choice and a pleasant alternative to beer or wine, and it’s rising in popularity.
So they kept at it through the challenges of the pandemic—and now their products are everywhere. We at Morgantown magazine can get it on tap and in cans right next door at Appalachian Mercantile in Granville, but you can find it all over Morgantown, across the state, and beyond. We caught up with Herman to ask her how it’s going.
Q First, remind us why we should try kombucha.
Carissa Herman There’s the fun side of it, and there’s the wellness side of it. Kombucha is fizzy and refreshing. In our kombucha, we lean into seasonal flavors and herbs, so you’re getting a lot of what’s fresh and fun—right now we’re doing strawberry. And on the wellness side, a lot of our customers tell us the kombucha makes them feel better—probiotics are something they’re actively trying to incorporate into their diets, and this is a pleasant way to do it.
Q How did Neighborhood Kombuchery get through the pandemic?
CH A lot of pivoting! When COVID happened, our main business model was to distribute kegs to restaurants. Well, all the restaurants shut down and, if you think about what a keg is, it’s meant to serve a group—and there were no groups. We chose to go the way a lot of craft breweries had already gone, which was to can our product. It gave businesses that did not have kegerator set-ups access to our product as things opened, and it also enabled us to reach further out into the state of West Virginia.
Q Where can people find Neighborhood Kombuchery kombucha?
CH It’s changing so fast right now, I’d hate to list some places and leave somebody out. If you go to wvkombucha.com and click the “Where To Find Us” link, I have listed all of the businesses throughout the state where you can buy our kombucha and specified where it’s on tap or available just in cans.
Q You also hold growler fill nights at your brewery on Pleasant Street every Friday, right?
CH Yes, that’s another thing that helped us stay afloat during the pandemic, having those dedicated brewery hours, Fridays 3 to 7 p.m. at the brewery. We have kept that as a staple. We’re also in the thick of farmers market season now, and we’re always at Morgantown’s market, which is on Saturdays, and Bridgeport’s, which is on Sundays.
Q What’s your most popular flavor—what should people try first?
CH When we first started canning we had such a good reception to our Blueberry Lavender flavor that that is the one that we led with. We sell them as fast as we can make them. We’re now making Strawberry Rose, which is selling the same way. I’d say Blueberry Lavender is probably still our No. 1 seller.
Some of the nationally distributed kombuchas on the market are good, Herman says, but she encourages people to buy their kombucha and anything else they can locally. “Support our local businesses, the folks that grow food here, our local farmers, this season—it’s really important to the economy here,” she says. “If there’s a great product made locally, why not buy local?”
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