This was published in the final issue of The Wine Zine 08 Summer 2023: I guess you can say I was an early adopter of kombucha. I was there at ground zero. As a kid in Arizona my mom would often take me to the health food stores. Not the vitamin, GNC-variety but something else—a place that smelled like dirt and gelatin capsules, with poor lighting and scuffed floors that sold hundreds of tiny products with bad graphic design. Like a grey-haired sunned man or woman placed them in the containers individually and applied a label from a home printer. Mom was buying chlorophyll concentrate and colloidal silver, and for my confidence in this errand I’d get a treat which was usually a vegan nut bar or a fizzy canned drink or a medically-branded diet shake. I have my mother to thank for my desultory palate.
GT Dave's chardonnay booch sounds so GD good. Where can I procure this sexy elixir on the east side??
This was a proustian delight. Thank you for writing.