Sisters launch Gut Instinct kombucha products
By Tom Gillespie
SISTERS Laura and Gillian Healy always wanted to start a food venture to coincide with their healthy lifestyle.
After a trip to Copenhagen, eating in fermented-focused restaurants, the idea of bringing these gut-friendly products home was a no-brainer.
They were inspired to create a delicious range of kombucha - a low calorie, naturally carbonated and unpasteurised, raw drink, making it a healthy alternative to feed your gut.
Quickly enough, their kitchen at home became a fermentation lab, brewing kombucha and fermenting kimchi to start.
Under the brand name Gut Instinct, their kombucha products include Rose and Rhubarb, and Tea, and they are now available from outlets in Mayo, the ancestral home of their father, Liam, from Glenamoy, the founder of Healy Mac’s pub in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.
Gut Instinct was set up by the Healy sisters in 2018 but the story behind the brand began long before that.
Said Laura: “After fermenting a range of food and drinks in our home and quickly noticing the health benefits, as well as the interest from friends and family, we launched Gut Instinct, an alternative healthy naturally carbonated drink that gives you all the gut-health benefits of a probiotic.
“Gut Instinct kombucha is a delicious low calorie, low sugar, double-fermented, unpasteurised, naturally carbonated drink. It is raw, undiluted and vegan.”
Gillian (24) added: “Kombucha originated in China around 200 BC and later spread across Asia and into Europe. It has been quite a big trend in America and Australia for a number of years and it is just hitting Ireland now.
“People are becoming more healthy conscious today, and kombucha is very good for your gut. It is made using a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast, known as a ‘scoby’, which gives you an amazing bacteria.
“Seventy per cent of the body’s serotonin, for example, sometimes called the ‘happy chemical’ because it contributes to well-being and happiness, is made in your gut.
“The gut and its role in your overall health is finally being recognised - a healthy gut means a healthy mind and body. Look after your gut - feed it well.
“Scoby growth is a natural by-product of the fermentation process. It’s a real, raw, living product. And scoby growth is part of that, so if you see growth in your bottles it means it’s working! Without it your kombucha wouldn’t be kombucha.
“We do not pasteurise our kombucha or use concentrated processed fruit juices to reduce scoby growth in our bottles as this, in our ideology, wouldn't be real kombucha.”
Gillian continued: “We are passionate about engaging with authentic Irish brands, and this is a large part of our ethos. We source our tea from the wonderful Wall & Keogh.
“At the core of what Gut Instinct does is a sustainability pledge. This means using reusable or recyclable material, supporting local Irish businesses and producing no waste in our process.”
Laura and Gillian are active sea swimmers, hiking enthusiasts and healthy eating advocates, so setting up a food business was a natural next step for the two women.
Laura added: “Gillian and I have a huge affiliation with Mayo, dad being from there. We spent most of our summers in Glenamoy, outside Bellmullet, on our grandparents farm. It is like a second home to us and we'd hope to expand our kombucha in that area but of course it is difficult to get our kombucha down there as Mayo can be so isolated!
“We hope to spend a good bit of this summer there if things open up again.”
The sisters come from a family where entrepreneurial spirit is encouraged and supported.
Healy Mac’s in Kuala Lumpur was named Best Irish Pub in the World (outside Ireland).
The pub won the title for its commitment to Irish food, its promotion of Irish sport abroad and its welcome for people of all nations.
Liam Healy emigrated from Belmullet as a teenager and has lived in the US, UK and Indonesia.
Liam said: “I left for New York in the late 1970s, aged 15. But in all my travels I never found a good bar where I could just have a pint and feel at home.”
The Gut Instinct’s products are stocked at the following Mayo outlets: Slainte/O'Donoghue's Bakery, Main Street, Bellmullet, Tia, Westport Road, Clooncarrabaun, Louisburgh, Wild Rocket, Tolan Street, Carrowcushlaun West, Ballina.
Gut Instinct Probiotics can be contacted on (086) 3198826 or email gutinstinctprobiotics@gmail.com or Instagram @gutinstinctprobiotics.