TTB has section on Kombucha

Yakima 728
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K16. What if my kombucha is intended to be kept refrigerated, but it is stored by the retailer in an unrefrigerated area, and the alcohol content increases to 0.5 percent alcohol by volume. Am I held responsible for the taxes?

A. Yes. Refrigeration of the product is not an adequate method of ensuring that the alcohol content will not increase while in the original container after removal, because you cannot control whether the product will be refrigerated after removal. To avoid possible tax liability, you must use a method of manufacture (such as pasteurization) that will ensure that the alcohol content of the beverage will not increase while in the original container after removal.
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Well that's lame.
 
I know, the pasteurization point concerned me. Was waiting for someone to see that. So there is pasteurized KT on the market, doesn't that defeat the purpose of having 'live' beverage?
 
Most commercial KT is pasteurized & the probiotic effects are wiped out. It's crazy, isn't it? We all know that even if fruit juice is refrigerated it will eventually ferment but it's not treated as an alcoholic beverage because of that property. The TTB doesn't treat fruit juice as a potentially alcoholic beverage, but does treat Kombucha that way.
 
Zapped said:
Most commercial KT is pasteurized & the probiotic effects are wiped out. It's crazy, isn't it? We all know that even if fruit juice is refrigerated it will eventually ferment but it's not treated as an alcoholic beverage because of that property. The TTB doesn't treat fruit juice as a potentially alcoholic beverage, but does treat Kombucha that way.
Click to expand...

I know, the cider I buy at the grocery store in the fall will eventually get a little fizzy if I leave it in the fridge too long.

I did manage to culture up a decent scoby using commercial KT, curious to see if it tastes right when I bottle. A lot of info was saying that you can't do it from the reformulated bottles, but this was going after a week.
 
Zapped said:
Most commercial KT is pasteurized & the probiotic effects are wiped out. It's crazy, isn't it? We all know that even if fruit juice is refrigerated it will eventually ferment but it's not treated as an alcoholic beverage because of that property. The TTB doesn't treat fruit juice as a potentially alcoholic beverage, but does treat Kombucha that way.
Click to expand...

The sad thing is people are spending big bucks on their pasteurized KT. It bothers me even more that it is being made and marketed. I wonder if there have been any comparative studies on pasteurized vs unpasteurized? Bothersome.
 

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