SARASOTA, FL — Florian Trinkwalder didn’t discover kombucha until he quit drinking alcohol about four years ago.
That Christmas, his wife gifted him a home brewing kit to experiment with making the fermented tea.
“I started creating my own flavors and brewing it at home,” he told Patch. “It started as a hobby at first.”
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Today, he owns Flobucha, a raw kombucha brewery and tasting room. There, customers can hang out and enjoy his creations in person, or purchase it by the bottle or growler to bring home with them. The brand is also available in some local small stores and restaurants, including Crop Juice locations, Simon’s Coffee House, Screaming Goat Taqueria and Boo’s Ice House.
Trinkwalder quickly came to appreciate the health benefits of drinking the fermented tea.
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“There’s probiotics, that’s basically the main health benefit. It helps restore a healthy gut if people have problems with digestion and stuff,” he said. “It also has a lot of antioxidants and it has a lot of vitamins in there, too, especially if it’s unpasteurized and untreated, which ours is. You have a lot of living nutrients in there.”
He even lost about 20 pounds when he made the switch from alcohol to kombucha.
As Trinkwalder began experimenting at home, he began taking up more and more space with his brewing.
“At some point, my wife kind of kicked me out of the kitchen and said I’m using up too much space,” he said.
That’s when he decided he should go into business and founded Flobucha, moving into the Gulf Gate neighborhood at 2725 Mall Drive. The tap room opened in October.
In addition to serving his “healthy and delicious” kombucha, Trinkwalder also wanted to create a community around the beverage, which is why he opened a tap room — the only one in Sarasota — rather than focusing on wholesale or direct orders, he said.
This was especially important to him as a social person who enjoyed going out with friends when he was still drinking.
“This is considered a sober venue. It’s kind of like a sober bar,” he said. “When I quit drinking, I was really missing going out with people and hanging out with my friends. But I don’t want to be around people who are drinking, so we provide a safe space where no addictive substance is sold at all. … People can come in, hang out with their friends and socialize without alcohol.”
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