Meet at the market: fermented, with a twist

Written by
The winning cocktail will be showcased at the Santa Barbara Fermentation Festival.

Each week we meet up with Katie Hershfelt of Cultivate Events as she chats with farmers, chefs and shoppers at the Santa Barbara Certified Farmers’ Market.

This week, she took a field trip up State Street to the Good Lion‘s Screaming Pickle Fermented Cocktail Competition. To kick off the upcoming Santa Barbara Fermentation Festival, six amateur bartenders went neck and neck to create the best cocktail using Cutler’s Artisan Spirits and at least one fermented product.

Capture1
Joyce Chung’s “Pickled Pink” cocktail blends together gin, beet kombucha and pickle juice. (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

The winners:

  • First Place: Jilli Spear of Jilli Vanilli with her “Jilli Vanillitini.”
  • Second Place: Michelle Lopez-Dohrn of Wild at Hearth Ojai with her “Ginger Bur”
  • Third Place: Forrest Evans with his “Braggin’ Fig”

The Fermentation Festival is on Sunday, September 20th in Goleta. The Good Lion will host a SBFF kickoff party on Tuesday, September 15th from 5:30 to 9:30, complete with fermented cocktails.

To check out all our past farmers market segments, click here.