Meet Michael McMaster of Symbiotik Kombucha in Ruby Hill

Today we’d like to introduce you to Michael McMaster.

Michael, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I began brewing kombucha 8-9 years ago and instantly fell in love with it. I was gifted a SCOBY (Symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) from a friend and started experimenting with different methods and flavors. Through a lot of trial and error, I started increasing my batch sizes and then began bottling soon afterwards. A few of my first few flavors included pineapple, spirulina, raspberry and chai. A couple of years ago, I started to think about the possibility of selling the kombucha I was making. Batch sizes had continued to grow (SCOBYs replicate every couple of weeks, growing new ones that can be used to start new batches) and friends and co-workers were providing good feedback. I started business planning and coming up with the design, branding and flavors in early 2017. We had our first sale in 2018, to American Cultures followed by Beet Box and then Nooch Vegan Market, who soon began carrying our product. In 2020 I quit my day job to focus more on Symbiotik Kombucha in hopes of increasing production, expand our shelf space in Denver, and eventually open our kombucha brewhouse.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
We have benefited from some good timing and good fortune over the past few years, but it has been anything from smooth or easy. One of the biggest struggles I’ve had is starting up Symbiotik Kombucha, in my spare time as I worked a restaurant management position that had a minimum commitment of 55 hours each week. My wife and I also found out we were expecting in 2017 and gave birth to a beautiful son in the summer of 2018. Although I’ve spent over 20 years in the hospitality industry, none of it included anything regarding kombucha. We honestly started brewing, one gallon at the beginning, with a SCOBY provided from a friend and then figured things out along the way. One gallon turned into two, two turned into five and then five turned into twenty. We are now producing up to 200 gallons a month, during our peak summer months. We haven’t taken any money from investors yet, including friends and family. This has made our growth slow, but steady, as we’ve invested all of our profits back into the company to buy more equipment, test and develop new flavors, and increase our production little by little. The past few years have been filled with everything from branding, product development, figuring out the right fermentation equipment, finding commercial space for brewing, and meeting with local business owners to try our kombucha. It hasn’t been easy by any stretch of the imagination, and there have been more times we can count where we have wanted to give up and shut down our small operation. Every time we’re ready to quit, the universe pushes us forward, with either a sign or some help in one way or another. We’re excited about what the future holds, through the good times and the bad times.

Symbiotik Kombucha – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We’re a beverage company producing some of the best kombucha around Denver, and maybe more! These days there is no shortage of kombucha brands on the shelves, so when we started thinking about what we wanted to do, we knew we had to do a few different things. We wanted our brand and flavors to have as little sugar as possible, while still maintaining great flavor and balance. We only use the natural sugar from organic fruits to flavor our kombucha. There is organic sugar used in our beverage, but like all kombucha, most of it is consumed in the fermentation process. We don’t add any additional raw sugar or fruit juices to our kombucha. We also utilize organic teas, ginger, produce and herbs. We source high quality ingredients, focusing on organic ingredients and seasonal produce. Our intention was to create not only a delicious, flavorful kombucha, but a kombucha that was beneficial for your mind and body as well. We crafted each flavor carefully to ensure there are intentional herbs and adaptogens to assist the body and mind. Herbs like Tulsi can help reduce stress and assist the respiratory system. Lemon balm and Chamomile can help the body and mind cope with anxiety and sleeplessness. Dark berries and green tea are full of antioxidants. Ginger and Turmeric are herbal roots with a variety of health benefits. We’re proud to produce unique flavors that combine delicious and nutritious ingredients to create a wonderfully satisfying brew. We spend a good amount of our time on flavor development and are working towards our goal of rolling out two new seasonal flavors each year. One of our new flavors will be a Colorado inspired peach, that we hope will hit shelves in early Summer. Stay tuned for our other seasonal flavor!

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Our first commercial sale, with American Cultures in early 2018, was pretty special. We had been a frequent guest of their establishment so when they gave me the opportunity to sample some of our flavors, we jumped at the opportunity! The sampling went well and we’ve been on tap there since early 2018. A lot of work, a lot of failure, a lot of pushing forward and figuring things went into that first commercial sale. I never worked as hard as I have the past few years, on everything in my life, from Symbiotik Kombucha to my family. I’m proud of what we’ve created and I’m going to continue to work as hard as I can to grow our small kombucha company into a major player in the kombucha market.

Contact Info:

• Address: 1449 S Dale Ct
  Denver, CO 80219
• Website: Symbiotikombucha.com
• Phone: 7204997076
• Email: Michael@symbiotikombucha.com
• Instagram: Symbiotikombucha

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