Luxe High End Kombucha Sparkles With The Season

When I first heard about Silver Swallow Luxury Kombucha, I was intrigued. I don’t always enjoy kombucha, but certainly have reached for it more often than I formerly would have since beginning this alcohol free journey. I’ve tried various brands and even mixed them with zero proof spirits for a perfectly acceptable and easy cocktail. A luxury kombucha sounded decadent and yummy and honestly, something I couldn't wait to get my hands on.

Silver Swallow is a Canadian-made, Ottawa-based brand by founders Genna Woolston and her partner Andrew Roberts, a food scientist with a background in tea blending.

The duo spent many months researching and really understanding champagne, before attempting to recreate the taste and experience in a kombucha. Their vision was to ‘craft a high-end better-for-you sparkling wine alternative’ that had everything someone would desire in a drink experience but without the alcohol. The results are a beautiful product that could be added to any dinner table, party or celebration.

The Silver Swallow experience starts from the moment you see the elegant champagne-style bottle with its luxe label, and then hear the cork pop just like you would with regular bubbly. What this brand has successfully zeroed in on is that the experience is just as important, and perhaps more important, when offering an alternative to alcoholic drinks. They’ve put a lot of care into building a product that speaks volumes about inclusivity for anyone, whether they’re choosing to drink or not.

“I love that non-alcoholic is pushing the boundary and creating change,” said Woolston who comes from a background in environmental management and creating eco-conscious behaviours.

Their time and dedication to the vision of a high-end kombucha that drinks like a sparkling wine truly shows through in the finished product, made from a rare white tea picked only once a year at elevations up to 5,000 feet above sea level.

I had no idea what to expect when I popped the cork, but I was truly blown away by how elegant and elevated the aroma and the flavour is. As someone who is not a tea connoisseur, even I could identify that there was a deep complexity in flavour that you don’t find in other kombucha.

There are bright notes of a light white tea, clover and a delicate sweetness which doesn’t overpower. The effervescence is airy and soft and doesn’t overwhelm your nose like a typical kombucha.

I’m sure this would be great mixed into a cocktail by someone wiser in the mixology arts than I, but I just couldn’t bear to muddy the simple beauty of the product. Since it’s the holiday season, I experimented with adding a few drops of apple cranberry sparkling juice to give it some colour, but it only subtracted from the flavour. At the end of the day, Silver Swallow is perfect in a champagne flute on its own, chilled and ready to toast any occasion.

The last and final thing that makes this oh so attractive is that my preteen children can drink it and I’m not trying to replicate something alcoholic. Silver Swallow is perfect for a festive family occasion or just a Friday dinner, and the bonus is I’m helping my family to shift their mindset when it comes to the drinking experience.

Although it’s been in limited release since the beginning of the pandemic, you can easily put a Silver Swallow bottle on your own table this weekend, because they’re now available at most Whole Food Market locations across Ontario, Summerhill Markets & Brunos in the Greater Toronto Area, La Fromagerie Hamel in Quebec and and online at silverswallow.co.

Woolston did drop the juicy detail that they’re working on a second recipe right now, playing with ingredients and seeing just how far they can innovate the non alcoholic experience. I know I’m looking forward to seeing whatever they come up with next, because Silver Swallow puts a big smile on my face.