- Matthew Schniper
- From left to right: CoS'bucha's Rich Lemesany; Annapurna Mead's Patrick Dobbins; Nektr. Craft Kombucha's Brooke Stewart and Austin Burt.
Strength in numbers — especially during the Covid pandemic.
That's somewhat the prevailing sentiment as three local businesses have come together to share production space and a common tasting room and retail market.
Annapurna Mead anchors the just-opened Refreshment Lab at 40F Mount View Lane, off N. Nevada Ave., where it has been producing its meads in an adjacent space for the past four years. It's joined by local kombucha makers CoS'bucha and Nektr. Craft Kombucha.
“It makes sense,” says Annapurna owner/meadmaker Patrick Dobbins, “because kombucha and mead have similar acid and flavor profiles, and a similar consumer, often a gluten-free drinker or someone looking for a healthier drink.”
A lot of synergistic elements have come into play for the respective businesses as well, as each struggles in its own way with growth (a good problem to have). Annapurna was self-distributed until February of this year, when it was picked up by New Age Beverages Corporation for statewide sales, increasing demand.
Two-year-old Nektr. (formerly operating out of Metric Brewing's space, available at Beasts and Brews, Storybook and Fossil breweries and Carnelian Coffee and the Old Colorado City farmers market) hopes to increase production at least tenfold and earn its way onto more tap handles in bars and restaurants around the city. And five-year-old CoS'bucha too has outgrown available space elsewhere (most recently Building Three Coffee) as it has reached more locations, including The Burrowing Owl, Third Space Coffee and Radiantly Raw in addition to Building Three.
For Annapurna, The Refreshment Lab offers just one more retail point beyond 180 liquor stores and 45 restaurants, but also a place to showcase special one-off releases for fans. Its products are sold in four packs typically, but here patrons can purchase 750ml swing top releases, six packs or mixed 12 packs. Nektr. is offering 32-ounce howlers and CoS'bucha sells 12-ounce bottles in four packs.
- Matthew Schniper
- The Refreshment Lab acts as a tasting room and retail to-go spot for all three companies' products.
I attended a media preview on Aug. 12 where each entity poured samples paired with various meats, cheeses, fruits and chocolates to showcase different flavor profiles.
Nektr. started with its perky passionfruit-lime, colored a pretty purple by butterfly pea flowers. We also tried their bright blackberry-sage and my favorite, their Orange Hopcicle, a go-to for beer drinkers as it's double dry-hopped with Cascade and Citra hops and flavored by orange peel, coriander and chamomile. The hops lead the nose strongly, clean citrus owns the middle body, and it finishes crisp and refreshing.
"Our goal is to make organic, raw kombucha approachable," says Nektr. co-owner Austin Burt. "Not so vinegary; I'm looking for the middle of the road." Out of around 20 flavors they've so far experimented with, they've settled on seven flagship flavors thus far, which they'll regularly rotate through the Refreshment Lab. Down the line, they may get into fermented foods and offer some classes on how to brew your own at home.
CoS'bucha, by contrast, tends to lean a little more acidic in its kombucha flavors, which I quite like — it's also how I used to brew my own kombucha at home, by letting it ferment longer. The nice thing about having both companies together on site is being able to offer two whole flavor lineups that offer the more sharp or soft renditions. Interestingly for kombucha nerds to know: they both start out by feeding a 50-50 mix of black and green tea to their scobys.
Rich Lemesany, owner of CoS'bucha, poured us his lemon-ginger-cayenne flavor, that's big and spicy on the ginger bite (yes!) with a finale of cayenne back heat. He too serves a hop-laced kombucha that we sampled. His is a single-hop Citra concoction infused with pineapple for a lovely tropical IPA hint.
In addition to kombuchas from Nektr. and CoS'bucha, The Refreshment Lab plans to host a guest tap as well, initially to be filled by Springs Culture Kombucha.
- Matthew Schniper
- Now open in a warehouse district off N. Nevada Ave.
I've written about Annapurna Mead's products before, calling them "pure gold deliciousness."
Dobbins, formerly in the wine barrel business, uses a wildflower honey blend (that's about 65-percent clover) incorporating honey from Colorado, Wyoming, Arizona and Montana. As I formerly wrote, he ferments to a lower alcohol level (around 6 percent ABV) than most meads (up to 14 percent), which accounts for the less-sweet finish, because he doesn’t have to balance booziness with too much back sweetening. His meads land dry and very food friendly.
The only mead we sample from his regular flagship lineup is his Sauvage Mead Blanc, like CoS'bucha's kombucha its recipe calls for pineapple and hops (in this case Simcoe, Cascade and Centennial) — and pairs interestingly with avocado, whose richness coats the tongue with fat and accentuates the hop notes.
We also try a one-off, tart, pomegranate-orange mead, another tart blackberry-fig combo true to those fruits, and the most surprising of the evening, a chipotle-pumpkin mead that has aged on oak. It bears the squash's sweetness and roundness texturally, with a big smoky flavor from the peppers; sweet and heat are always a good match. Dobbins recommends trying it at home with chocolate soufflé; we played with both milk and dark chocolate nibs from Cacao Chemistry to see how added sweetness or bitterness changes the mead's dynamic.
Following all this sampling, I can see how fitting it is to call this spot a "lab" even though for now Covid limits what can be done on site. Hence viewing this as a grab-and-go spot with the chance to at least taste a sip of the products before committing to a bottle or can.
Hours of operation are 3-7 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays and noon to 5 p.m., Saturdays. It is soft open now; look for a grand opening the first week of September.
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August 13, 2020 at 09:45AM
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The Refreshment Lab joins Annapurna Mead, CoS'bucha and Nektr. Craft Kombucha as a shared tasting room and grab-and-go market - Colorado Springs Independent
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