Ferment & Fire plans Saturday grand opening, with company slogan being ‘Basics Done Best’

After months of construction, fine tuning beer and pizza offerings, and customizing an inviting new space near downtown Central Point, Ferment & Fire will open its doors on Saturday along the railroad tracks adjacent to the landmark Grange Co-Op grain elevator.

The valley’s newest brewery will focus on top-tier pizza and beer in keeping with its slogan, “Basics Done Best.”

Ferment & Fire will hold its grand opening from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday.

With a lineup of artisan pizza and cold, crisp beer, among a slew of other menu items, the origin of the brewery, which has four owners, traces back more than a decade to longtime friends. 

Alvarez Construction owner Tim Alvarez has a history with brewer-owner Kyle Secciani. Alvarez coached Secciani for the Medford Rogues summer collegiate baseball team in 2010 and 2012. 

When Secciani developed a business plan for a brewery for his senior project during his days at Cal State San Marcos in Southern California, the friends figured maybe they’d open a brewery one day.

More than a decade after sketching out those early business plans, Secciani later picked up brewing as a hobby and eventually went to school to become a brewmaster and operated a small nano brewery at Hummingbird Estate’s tasting room in rural Central Point.

“It ended up becoming like a 20-hour a week hobby … just making beers, selling it by the keg to pay for more grain. He eventually was like, ‘I’ve probably got to shut this down over the next year or two,” Alvarez recounted.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, it makes sense. … Have to go big or go home, right?’”

Alvarez added, “We sort of had kind of this dream, that if we ever won the lottery, maybe we’d finally open our brewery.”

A half-dozen years ago, Alvarez noted the future site for Ferment & Fire, at 410 South Front Street, available for sale adjacent to the landmark Grange Co-Op grain elevator.

“I almost bought it for Alvarez (Construction), because we needed to build a shop. They wanted too much money for land at the time, so we passed,” Alvarez said recently.

A couple years ago, washing his wife’s car at the adjacent GO Car Wash, Alvarez said the neighboring property was listed once more, and timing for the long-talked-about brewery felt right.

Breaking ground in November 2024, after two years’ worth of planning for the 5,600-square-foot custom-built brewery, plumbed to deliver beer from a 15-barrel system of lagering tanks, Alvarez notes, “We obviously didn’t win the lottery. … but here we are!”

With all four owners having ties to Central Point, Alvarez said they wanted the brewery to be there, and to be on a main roadway, noting, “So many breweries are tucked away and under.”

Across the street, the still vacant, decades-old Yellow Basket drive-up remains empty, though plans were announced in 2023 to transform the old eatery into a second location for Ashland-based Skout Taphouse and Provisions in Ashland.

Nearby, the Palm Cafe maintains a busy lunch crowd just south of the Yellow Basket.

Alvarez said Ferment & Fire will have space for at least three food trucks outside, further expanding food options for the immediate area even more.

Pizza offerings inside Ferment & Fire, which will be served up with appetizers, salads and other menu offerings, come with their own story.

Alvarez’s longtime best friend and owner-pizza boss Eric Goergen has been perfecting his pizza making skills for a half-dozen years, culminating with a travel mishap after visiting Aruba with family just over two years ago.

“We took a trip when my oldest son, who is about to turn 17, was turning 15. He’s a pizza guy, his entire diet is, like, pizza,” Georgen said.

“So, we were flying home and there were some severe storms. … A few hours layover in New York turned into us being there for 10 days. Nobody could fly out. … So we got a hotel, and me and my oldest decided, for every lunch and dinner, we did pizza. It was like a tour of pizza places.”

Upon return, Georgen said an opportunity presented itself to run a food truck selling pizza, eventually expanding  in late 2023 to open the Ollie’s Brooklyn Slices Pizza downtown Medford location with his son, a brother who owns a coffee business in Medford and other family members.

The pizzeria is located across from the Medford library inside the former home of Noonie’s Noodles.

Fine tuning a special recipe for Ferment & Fire, Georgen spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours prefecting the crust and sauce, using a state-of-the art oven and a dough recipe that takes five days to make and ferment before finally baking.

Alvarez describes Georgen’s pizza recipe as brilliant, and an artisan/New York style hybrid.

“Pizza is one of those that’s like… it’s always okay. I mean, it’s pizza,” he said last week.

“But when it’s good, it’s really GOOD.”

Alvarez said quality equipment and a consistent process is key, noting, “With a lot of restaurants, you really don’t get the same meal every time, right? Even your favorite restaurants, you’ll go and sometimes feel like, ‘Oh. They were a little off tonight. … we want it to be the same awesome quality every time.”

Sitting inside the brewery on a recent afternoon, testing out Georgen’s final rendition of “the best pizza ever,” Alvarez surveyed the custom-built space with a long plant wall, from plants propagated and gathered by owner and brew-helper Mike McGrath, a retired teacher and a friend of all three co-owners.

Open ceilings and a wood gazebo-style seating area outside will provide expanded seating and give families a place to hang out and play games.

Alvarez said he could hardly wait to see community members try pizza and beer and pick their own menu favorites.

“We’re really excited to open,” he said.

“This was either the best idea or the worst idea ever. … I guess we’ll see.”

For more information, visit the Ferment & Fire webpage at fermentnfire.com or on social media.

Reach reporter Buffy Pollock at 458-488-2029 or buffy.pollock@rv-times.com. Follow her on Twitter @orwritergal.