Beer sales were already shrinking before the COVID-19 pandemic hit on-premise sales, but the situation has only worsened since stay-at-home and shelter-in-place orders began in mid-March. As bars and restaurants are suffering due to local safety restrictions, brew pubs have been particularly hard hit as the majority of their business comes from on-premise sales.

Breweries have had to quickly adapt in order to stay afloat in this most unusual climate. Full Sail Brewing, has found success in pivoting to two innovative new products: hard ginger ale and hard kombucha. The Hood River-based company created KYLA Hard Kombucha, which it bills as “kombucha with a kick.”

The name KYLA is actually an acronym for the drink’s main ingredients: Kombucha – Yeast – Lactobacillus – Acetobacter.

For those new to the wild world of kombucha (or “booch,” as its fans call it), KYLA describes it as “an effervescent beverage produced by fermenting tea and sugar with a living culture called a SCOBY (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast).”

The drink is popular among the health and wellness crowd, or consumers looking for “better-for-me” or “healthyish” options that are still hard. It is so popular, in fact, that  grocery store chain Whole Foods named hard kombucha as one of its top trends for 2021.

According to the store, “hard kombucha checks all the boxes: It’s gluten-free, it’s super bubbly and can be filled with live probiotic cultures.” Whole Foods accurately predicted the rise of hard seltzer in its 2018 trends list.

“Born of a desire to go beyond beer with a better-for-you booch, KYLA Hard Kombucha is crafted by Hood River, Oregon’s master fermenters who know their way around a brewery,” the environmentally focused company boasts.

KYLA Hard Kombucha comes in four original flavors: Berry Ginger, Ginger Tangerine, Hibiscus Lime, and Pink Grapefruit. KYLA also released a Sunbreak Series, available in Coconut Crush, Lavender Lemonade, Pineapple Ginger Colada, and Sunset Trio.

Each variety contains live cultures, two grams of sugar (or less), and is gluten-free and vegan. KYLA flavors range from 4.5 to 6.5 percent ABV, making it the ideal beverage to “hang without the over.” Because it is made from fermented green tea kombucha does contain trace amounts of caffeine, but it is less than a cup of decaf coffee.

In the state of Oregon, brewery sales have decreased by 28 percent since last year according to the OLCC. The Commission also noted that 25 fewer breweries reported sales, or about 10 percent of the state’s brewers.

While other Oregon brewers are struggling, Full Sail’s business has increased. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) reported on Nov. 20 that Full Sail is the state’s largest producer of alcoholic beverages taxed as wine.

According to Oregon law, any non-grain alcoholic beverage with less than 21 percent alcohol is taxed at the same level of wine, which categorically included KYLA. Thanks to the booch, Full Sail now produces more gallons than the five largest Oregon wineries combined.

The brewery’s marketing director, Sandra Evans, attributed the company’s growth to the runaway success of KYLA. “”Of Full Sail’s volume taxed as wine,” Evans said, “the bulk is fermented alcohol products.”

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