Thoughts from the lab: Symbiotic intelligence

At Grugg & Makk, we often find ourselves reflecting on the unseen forces at work in our brewhouse — the microbes. It's easy to imagine that these tiny organisms exist merely to serve us, helping create bread, beer, and kombucha. But what if the opposite is true? What if we are part of their grand design — multicellular vessels crafted to gather, nurture, and spread microbial life?

When we brew our wild ales, we’re not just fermenting — we’re collaborating with an entire ecosystem of yeast and bacteria. These microbes communicate, compete, and build their own microbial cities, shaping the world around them in ways that mirror our own. It’s a humbling reminder that intelligence takes many forms — some too small for the eye to see.