Fermented festival brewing in Ashland
Jan. 4—In January, the month of new beginnings, Ashland Hills Hotel & Suites will host a festival celebrating age-old practices to enhance flavor, nutrition and longevity in food and drink.
The Brine, Brew and Barrel Festival will be held Jan. 13-15 — for the first time since the pandemic shut everything down — at Ashland Hills, 2525 Ashland St.
The festival will celebrate all things fermented: pickles, cheese, kraut, cider, beer, kombucha, sourdough and more. Through vendor exhibitions, workshops, demonstrations and a variety of tasting opportunities, enthusiasts of brine can revel in their favorite flavors. Events include a BrewBash dinner Friday night and a Bloody Mary brunch stretching into Sunday afternoon.
"For me, what's important is to educate people about microbiomes. Fermented foods are so powerful for people's health. So many foods are fermented and get their amazing flavors from the fermentation process," said Karolina Lavagnino, director of sales and marketing for the Neuman Hotel Group and coordinator for the festival.
A $20 pass is the ticket for Saturday's daylong celebration of all things pickled, including entrance to every workshop and demonstration. Children 12 and younger attend free.
The BrewBash — a multicourse feast paired with Rogue Ales — already is sold out. But there's still room for the Hot Sauce & Bloody Mary Brunch Buffet Sunday morning.
Fermented hot sauces and Bayfront vodka star on a make-your-own Bloody Mary bar alongside a brunch buffet menu celebrating fermentation from sourdough cinnamon rolls to "kim-cheesy" potatoes. Tickets include one Bloody Mary.
Lavagnino said she hopes the workshops and demonstrations can show how simple it is to make microbiologically diverse foods at home. The hands-on workshops start Saturday morning with "Make Your Own Brined Whole Kimchi and Beet Kvass." At 1 p.m., a course titled "Discover Fermented Vegetables for Gut Health and Out of This World Flavor" promises to demystify the ancient practice with ultramodern techniques.
A variety of demonstrations will be held Saturday, some overlapping and forcing attendees to make hard choices between a how-to crash course on crocks, water locks and weights, exploring the uses of miso or how chocolate, cheese and wine are fermented and best paired together.
In 2019, Lavagnino and her colleagues at Neuman Hotel Group were reflecting on the success of their Oregon Chocolate Festival when they devised the Fermentation Festival as a new way to celebrate the agricultural abundance of the Rogue Valley.
"We were talking, and we said, 'There's so much talent here.' We have the winemaking industry; Rogue Creamery is here; there's just so much to celebrate," Lavagnino said.
The event was intended to become an annual fete, like the Oregon Chocolate Festival, but COVID-19 put it on the back burner. Now, the festival is expected to celebrate all things fermented every year.
"It's something that crosses through generations," she said of fermentation.
Older generations pickled and made preserves out of necessity and habit while younger generations have pursued the artisan, DIY aspects of cider, beer and kombucha brewing, as well as making miso, kimchi and other ferments traditional in cultures around the world.
For festival tickets and more information, see oregonfermentationfest.com/
Reach Mail Tribune reporter Morgan Rothborne at mrothborne@rosebudmedia.com or 541-776-4487. Follow her on Twitter @MRothborne.
