COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHT - Rosie from Mailer McGuire
Hi Rosie, can you share a little bit of your background and what sparked your interest for beverages and particularly kombucha?
My background is a bit of a mix. I spent a good chunk of my career, about 12 years, managing outdoor adventure centres in the UK. Looking for a change I spent a year travelling, ending up in Australia where I got into the world of startups and specialty coffee.
About 9 years ago I cycled from Vancouver to Mexico and came across Kombucha, it was HUGE on the US west coast with a kaleidoscope of styles and flavours. What drew me to it was the social aspect, oddly enough. In the evenings around the campfire, instead of cracking open a beer like most folks, I'd reach for a bottle of kombucha. It was refreshing, interesting and I still felt fresh and energised in the morning. Plus, there was something about sharing it with fellow travellers that made it feel a bit special.
Back in Australia, I started brewing kombucha with dreams of making it a business and that’s where kombucha really started for me.
Can you tell us more about the story of Mailer McGuire and what makes you different from other brands?
Well, the name Mailer McGuire is a homage to my two amazing grandmothers, Mailer and McGuire, who both had a deep appreciation for two things: a quality cup of tea and the occasional drink. We craft all-natural, delicious, and complex kombucha. It's the ultimate non-alcoholic beverage to keep your head clear and your gut happy.
We obsess over the intricate flavours of tea and how they unfold during fermentation (kombucha is essentially fermented tea). Our brews have earned prestigious awards for taste, including gold medals at this year's Sydney Royal Fine Food Show!
We take a hands-on approach, brewing and fermenting traditionally. We never add juices, extracts, or artificial flavourings. You won't find any artificial sweeteners, weird chemicals, pasteurisation, or preservatives in our bottles. This sets us apart from the mass-produced, over carbonated ‘kombucha’ and non-alcoholic drinks dominating supermarket shelves. Taste wise, it's a world of difference you can truly savour. And the best part is our kombucha is packed with all the gut health benefits that come with fermented foods, from helping with digestion to supporting immunity.
What does a typical week at Mailer McGuire look like for you?
Trust me there is no typical! [laughs] I’m pretty hands on with most aspects of the business. I try and spilt my time so I have 2-3 days that are brewery-based and the rest is out in the field or wfh.
I brew in batches of about 300L. Each flavour is brewed separately because the tea is the central flavour ingredient so we’ll have 5 or 6 different flavours / batches fermenting at one time. Most weeks I’ll brew one or two batches. We also bottle ourselves so there’s at least one bottling run. There’s A LOT of cleaning ferment and brewery up-keep and admin. Generally I have a recipe in development for new kombucha flavours so most weeks I’ll be experimenting and testing.
The rest of the time is all the other aspect of a product-based business, including the sales and marketing. We sell through wholesale stockists and our online store so serving and growing both of those amazing communities is a big focus of mine. Building relationships - in person and through socials and newsletters.
What do you most love about your job?
In terms of the day to day, I do love the variety - it’s always interesting. Although wearing so many hats as a business owner can also be challenging. I love the creativity I get to explore in all aspects of the business, from the visual side like the branding to problem solving whatever is thrown up.
From a macro view, I genuinely love we get to bring people a little something that will give them a positive lift, whether its through a delicious experience, health benefits or as a non-alcoholic option!
What's your favourite kombucha in the Mailer McGuire range, and why is it special?
The toughest of questions! Honestly it changes as each batch of has its own character and tastes slightly different. I’m loving the current batch of Jasmine Green Tea Kombucha - refreshing floral citrus notes.
I guess our French Earl Grey Kombucha consistently wins my affection. We use local legends Tea Totaler’s French Earl Grey blend and it’s such a joy to work with - incredible aroma, and just transforms in the ferment. I generally recommend trying this one if you’re new to kombucha. I drank one yesterday with a cheese and kimchi toastie - magic! Kimchi from South Coast KimChi Co whose ferments are outstanding.
Is there fun fact about your kombucha that we might not know about?
Our kombucha is the real deal and Alice with good bacteria and yeast so if you leave about an inch of any of our Kombucha in the bottom of the bottle, cover the opening with a clean cloth, secured with an elastic band, usually a SCOBY (the mother culture that transforms the sweetened tea to kombucha) will develop over a week. Carefully coax it out of the bottle with clean hands, look up a kombucha recipe online, add some of the left over kombucha liquid as starter and you’re away with your first small batch of Buch!
You can eat SCOBY’s too - our French Earl Grey and Spice Chai SCOBY’s are pretty delicious, a bit like super healthy Haribo!
What goal do you hope to achieve for Mailer Mc Guire this year and/or any exciting things to look forward to?
Growing our Mailer McGuire interstate. We want to get our buch into as many bellies as possible. As an authentic kombucha we need to be stored refrigerated which means it’s not the easiest of products to get around long distance. One goal we’re currently working on is for distribution on the east coast and Victoria.
We’ve got some interesting partnerships in the works which I’m excited about - we love teaming up with other like minded businesses. There’s a new special release Kombucha coming out soon too!
When you’re not at Mailer McGuire, what are you up to / how do you like to spend your free time?
Spending time outdoors and in nature has always played a big role in my life and where I recharge best so a lot of ocean swims, trail runs, and camping weekends with my partner Lottie, and our dog Tom. Anything sports and fitness related. I used to play AFL so when the aflw season comes around I watch it obsessively. Add in cooking and reading and I’m a pretty happy chappy.
I’m also a podcast fiend for those long days brewing, always open to recommendations especially ones that will take me out of a true crime spiral.
Finally, where do we find you?
Our brew space is in Marrickville so you’ll find us in a lot of amazing places around Sydney. For our inner west community we’re at places like Goods, Wildflower Brewing Cellar door, P&V and Cherrymoon General Store.
However the best place to find everything we do is at our online store MailerMcGuire.com and follow us on Insta for updates.