In the world of food and drink the hunt for the next big thing is always in earnest and West Cork is a fertile hunting ground, excelling as it does in blending heritage and tradition with innovative and trend-setting creativity.
This article was featured in our West Fork 2025 magazine – you can read the full supplement here!
BY KATE RYAN
It’s the perfect location for Ireland’s first ‘hard’ kombucha, Kombeara, where it has been quietly brewing for the past two years in the West Cork Gaeltacht of Ballingeary.
Kombeara – Kombucha with a Kick! - is the brainchild of tech entrepreneurs Feargal Harrington and his wife Rena Maycock, kombucha brewer Ding Prud’homme, and founder of Beara Distillery, John Power.
It’s the first of its kind made in Ireland, but a growing trend out of California and across Europe.
But first: What is it? Kombucha, or booch for short, is a drink brewed from tea, black or green, and fermented with a SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast) to unlock micronutrients in ingredients beneficial to gut health. Flavours are added from fruits, spices and herbs.
Yeast is added to kick off a second fermentation – just like the process for making beer – by eating the sugar and fermenting it into alcohol and creating a drink that has all the funky flavour of regular kombucha with the buzz of alcohol, i.e hard kombucha.
I spoke with Kombeara co-founder, Feargal Harrington, to find out more about brewing boozy booch in Ballingeary.
‘My wife and I have a couple of businesses and often travel to the US. The last few years, we saw a massive surge in RTD (Ready To Drink) better-for-you hard booch consumption. It’s everywhere, especially in California, and realised we’re missing a bit of a trick in Ireland.
‘Ireland is a hub for people from all over the world who are more health conscious than ever before. They’re far more into active lifestyles, so what’s the point of doing pilates, yoga, or going to the gym five times a week and then destroying it with a pint of Guinness or a glass of wine?
‘Ireland is about one to two years behind the trends in America, so we wanted to get this going – there’s a massive opportunity here.’
It’s not a coincidence that Kombeara calls West Cork it’s home. Castletownbere is a place very close to Feargal’s heart; he has family here and spent his childhood in the town relishing the wide-open spaces and fresh sea air.
‘I love spending as much time as possible there, and the freshness and authenticity of West Cork really drew me to the ethos of what kombucha was.’ says Feargal.
‘I love kombucha, always have, although it can be a polarising drink! I loved the idea of creating a drink that is better for you but also tastes special.
‘There’s a market here for people who want to have social gatherings like a barbecue, a cycle, or a trek up Hungry Hill, want to have a little beverage after but not something that’ll make them feel bad. Hard kombucha is the perfect fit.’
Feargal partnered with John Power of Beara Distillery, a man who knows the ins and outs of the drinks business and equally as passionate about Castletownbere as he was.
‘We approached John, and he immediately was up for it.’ says Feargal.
‘We wanted to do this in an area that would support local business, where we could hire locally and keep it as authentically West Cork as possible. So, we bought a brewery and found a premises in Ballingeary through Údarás na Gaeltachta.’
But of all the drinks to make, why choose to make something few people will have heard of?
‘All over the world, beer, wine and spirit consumption is going down year on year, and there’s too much competition.’ explains Feargal.
‘Pubs are dying because the average 20 to 30-something nowadays isn’t interested in going to the pub and drinking several pints of beer for the sake of it or getting drunk. Instead, they want something flavoursome, and they just want to have a couple.
‘Pub culture is changing, and for pubs to survive, they have to offer something intriguing and different that stands out. The focus is shifting to the better-for-you alcohol alternatives. Kombeara is for people who are conscious of their health and well-being but want more choice than a zero-zero beer. They want to have a little bit of a buzz and not feeling like they’re undoing the workouts.
‘That market is very clearly here, and people are crying out for something to drink that feels alive.’ says Feargal.
“The demand is there for something different, but no-one in Ireland had done it yet. This is going to be enormous, and I don’t say that lightly!’
Kombeara comes in three fresh flavours: grapefruit, blood orange and yuzu, mango & passionfruit, and Sicilian lemon & blueberry. The ideal serve depends on how you like your booch – super-chilled with ice or room temperature. Kombeara is lightly carbonated and alive with cultures to feed your gut and deliver a refreshing buzz.
‘Ding is our amazing booch brewer, originally from America where he has been brewing beer and creative styles of drinks for years and loves the science behind creating drinks that are tasty, fresh and zesty. He’s been a godsend!’
That knowledge is important because Kombeara isn’t infused with alcohol, it is brewed from scratch to reach. Having control over the whole process allowed Feargal and Ding to look at making Kombeara a leader in the ‘better-for-you’ drinks category.
‘We needed to be gluten-free, vegan and low calorie. The booch is brewed using Sencha tea and seaweed harvested from Castletownbere. We add our SCOBY to ferment the tea, then add yeast to begin the second round of fermentation – that’s when the kick comes into the booch! We finish by adding our natural flavourings to create a balanced flavour. At 4.2% ABV, it’s a nice level for people to feel it’s not crazy.’
Feargal says there is a huge sense of pride in bringing this new product back to Castletownbere.
‘I’m very proud of it. My mum passed away when I was quite young, so I spent a lot of my formative years in Castletownbere. It’s my go-to place, so it makes me happy to create Kombeara here, and I can see local people are excited about it. It has been a two-year journey to get to this point, but we’re confident that now we are ready to rock!”
Kombeara 330ml RRPs at €4.50 per can, available in Carry Out off-licences locally. www.kombeara.com
This article was featured in our West Fork 2025 magazine – you can read the full supplement here!
