Kombucha Cowboys

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. In Montana, the glass recycling has been difficult to establish. With articles criticizing the effectiveness of our recycling infrastructure and more and more pressure on governments to institute environmental change, one Missoula business has taken it upon themselves to create as green a system as you can get. 

Kombucha is a living food, meaning that the vinegary alcohol-tea like drink comes from an organism ‘digesting’ the food. 

Drew Holman tests the alcohol content and acidity of a batch of unflavored kombucha. Each batch must be tested individually to make sure it doesn’t have too much alcohol in it. According to Holman, this usually isn’t a problem because the digestive nature of the scoby means it’s already filtered most of the alcohol out of the product.s interest in the science and process of fermented foods lead him to found Back to the Mother in 2013.

Meet Drew Holman, co-founder of Back to the Mother Kombucha. A non-profit, worker-owned cooperative business. 

The process came about at a social gathering for environmentally-minded activists at a commune right here in Missoula. Holman approached Good Food Store coworkers Justin Drucker and ben Herak.

“I met them, pitched the idea, and they were in.”