Why Lenny Boy is getting rid of their amber kombucha bottles -- and why fans are into it

Lenny Boy Brewing Co. is rolling out new kombucha bottles for purchase in the taproom starting this Thursday, May 31. The taproom is located at 3000 S. Tryon St.

I’ll be a little bummed to see the signature, 12-oz. amber beer bottles replaced with 14-oz. clear, cylinder-shaped glass bottles with resealable gold caps. It was always nice to be able to spot the Lenny Boy kombucha bottles from across the produce at Harris Teeter, and now they resemble GT bottles.

As Lenny Boy posted on Instagram: “The beer bottles were ‘cool’ but so much feedback from people about bad looks in the office and not being able to drink half the Booch now, and half later. Cheers.”

Luckily, the flavors of kombucha (a fermented, non-alcoholic tea) are remaining the same (everyone loves an Elite Beet and Good Ol’ Ginger) and social media comments about the announcement are widely full of praise for the switch.

Instagram user @rosanne_prim commented: “LOVE THIS!!! I always wanted to bring it to work but feared judgment for the beer bottle look haha.”

Another Instagram user, @explorewhiskedaway, added: “This is great, no more funny looks when I’m drinking my Lenny Boy in the car on the way to work!”

Lenny Boy shared that their distributors have begun to pick up the new bottles and the clear containers will start to appear on shelves around Charlotte.

“We received a lot of feedback from our kombucha fans and decided it was time to make the change. This decision was not made overnight – we have been working on this change for the past year,” founder Townes Mozer and owner Nathan Villaume wrote in a press release.

They added that they invested $300k to buy a new bottling line and new fermenters to bring on large-scale package changes and faster production.

“This is going to make us nationally competitive,” Mozer told Charlotte Business Journal. “From here, we really start to talk to some of the bigger chains.”

Thirsty yet? You’ll be able to find the seven flagship flavors (from Wake Up Call to Lavenderade) in single bottles, cases and mixed cases with a customizable assortment of flavors. Lenny Boy bottles are available for purchase across the East Coast.

Photos: Courtesy of Lenny Boy Brewing Co.

This story was originally published May 28, 2018 at 10:26 PM with the headline "Why Lenny Boy is getting rid of their amber kombucha bottles -- and why fans are into it."