Profile: AMA Brewery, Irun, Spain

Ama Brewery produces a pét-nat tea brewed using local spring water from the Izarraitz Massif in the Basque Country, and high-quality tea and herbs. Pét-nat, an ancient method of making sparkling wine, is short for pétillant naturel, where the wine is bottled while it’s still undergoing its first fermentation, capturing the carbonation from the remaining yeast and sugar that creates bubbles and the structure inside the bottle–a process generally thought to have originated in Limoux, in France’s Languedoc, as far back as the 16th century.

The brewery team of fine dining chefs, artisan wine makers, scientists, craftsmen, and tea expert Henrietta Lovell, is proud of producing sophisticated, low-alcohol drinks. At 1.5 and 2.7ABV, it’s high enough to be taxed as an alcoholic drink. The current research scientist, Curro Polo, who we interviewed in March, works with co-founder and chef Ramón Perisé Moré of Mugaritz Restaurant, San Sebastian.

I met co-founder, Chef Ramón Perisé Moré at the recent Stanford Fermented Food Conference, where he updated me on developments at Ama Brewery.

Ramón runs the R&D department of Mugaritz and is passionate about natural yeasts and spontaneous fermentation. When a German kombucha enthusiast sent him his first SCOBY through the mail, he started exploring the possibilities. Some of his early bottles exploded after he inadvertently left them to age for several weeks, and he realized that aging was the key. Those that remained had reached the point of excellence he was looking for.

We believe the future of drink pairings in restaurants will challenge the status quo. Low and non-alcoholic alternatives have become part of traditional wine pairings and have given mixologists more to play with. Our bottle-aged kombucha is as complete a drinking experience as any fine wine, beer, or sake. Less alcohol – more experience.

Method

What began as a guerrilla group of friends brewing new-wave, aged kombucha in a garage lock-up on a San Sebastian back street, evolved into a fully-fledged R&D facility. Using high-quality tea and herbs, Ama pét-nat tea is brewed with pure Basque mountain water. Its exceptionally low minerality highlights the complex flavors developed during fermentation.

Depending on the composition of these infusions and the action of the SCOBYs, the micro-batches are ready for bottling between one and three weeks later, when simple sugars, yeasts, and bacteria have achieved the right balance. The closed environment of the bottle means the bacteria are starved of air and are unable to acidify the drink excessively. The yeasts, meanwhile, continue turning simple sugars into bubbles.

As the bubbles mature they decrease in size, becoming more integrated into the liquid. Aromas intensify, flavors harmonize, and the mouthfeel becomes silky. The micro-batch kombucha is released to market after a minimum of six months of bottle-aging at room temperature, when it has become more rounded and each infusion has developed a distinct character, resulting in an exceptional drinking experience.

The resulting Amas are lightly sparkling, richly flavored, and elegant – an expression of the terroir and craftsmanship that go into them.It is an ambient beverage that doesn’t need to be kept cool, as it is filtered to delay fermentation.

Water is key

Ama Brewery emphasizes that water is a key ingredient.

We believe in a terroir of water consisting of an environment, a geology, a climate, a culture and ways of doing things that only happen in this place and time and have been gradually moulded over the centuries. The plants we use to create our drinks express the regionality of the places