Rude Brew Kombucha: Garden to Glass

Rude produces 200 to 300 gallons per week of kombucha, a fermented beverage made with tea, sugar, and healthy yeasts and bacterias from a SCOBY (or symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeasts). Her hopes for the future in the new space include producing an additional 200 gallons per week, offering more brewing classes, hosting community events and adding additional flavors to her already robust lineup.

Rude Brew Kombucha has about a dozen flavors. Half are flagship flavors, which include Elderberry Cherry, Blueberry Basil and Reishi Root Beer, and the other half are seasonal flavors that rotate every two to three months. Rude also started a line of raw honey kombuchas, or juns, and THC-infused jun made from local honey, which have quickly become fan favorites.

“I don’t make any flavors that don’t have some form of fruit or herb that are from or grown here,” says Rude. Her focus is utilizing local produce, spending the summer season picking berries and growing herbs. Blueberries come from The Berry Farmer in Baraboo; cherries from farms in Door County, Mukwonago or even a friend’s yard in Madison; peaches and strawberries are from Creek Bed Farmacy in Poynette; and rishi and chaga mushrooms are sourced from Andrew Griffin of MicroMyco Growers. But Rude’s favorite local ingredient is elderberry. “It’s just beautiful and bright and so good for you, packed with antioxidants.”

What she doesn’t source from Purple Haze Orchard in Randolph, Rude forages herself. “I’ll go out during the season for quite a few days and harvest tons of elderberries,” says Rude. “Then I juice them and can the juice or freeze it depending on what I’m going to do with it. I can use that throughout the year until next season.”

Foraging and preserving the bounty of the season was something Rude grew up practicing in the small town of Millston. Her father was a big outdoor and kitchen hobbyist. “I remember him lugging me into the woods for hours in hip waders, through the swamp to do all this ridiculous stuff,” says Rude. “When I was a kid I hated it...now I do all the same things pretty much.”

Rude remembers her father brewing kombucha in their kitchen in the ’90s, which is what helped inspire her to start brewing for fun years later. Kombucha became her outlet to spread health and happiness during a time when Rude found herself feeling quite the opposite in her professional career.

“I was burned out working in the mental health and addiction field for 10 years,” shares Rude. “I was pursuing my graduate degree and I was just feeling like, ‘I don’t know if I can keep doing this.’ My parents were struggling with addiction issues at that time that had gotten really bad. I was feeling super overwhelmed. It was just too much.” In 2017, after Rude’s father passed away, she made the big decision to start brewing for more than just her friends and family and founded Rude Brew Kombucha. “It felt right and I just did it,” said Rude.

Since then Rude Brew has gained a loyal following thanks to the unique kombucha flavors and Rude’s focus on local products and community- building. In addition to its delivery, pickup and subscription programs, Rude Brew beverages can be found at grocery stores, restaurants and cafes across Madison and southern Wisconsin.

A beverage that helped change the course of Rude’s life–rooted in family, mental health relief and nature–is now offering a delicious way to drink healthy and local. “Rude Brew’s whole focus is community, bringing people together, nourishing the earth, gut, brain connection,” says Rude. “All of that is so important...everything is connected.”