Several of the South’s favorite indulgences—barbecue, beer and bluegrass— are coming together at a new festival this month.
On Saturday, April 23, North Carolina-based company Acme Food & Beverage will bring its traveling festival of the South to Tin Roof Brewing Company in Baton Rouge.
Dubbed Salt & Smoke Festival, the event’s name is fitting. The team, led by Acme chef and frontman Kevin Callaghan, smokes whole hogs onsite at festival locations and divvies out half a dozen raw Hog Island oysters—which reside in some of the clearest cold waters on the East Coast—to each attendee.
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As per the festival’s website, Salt & Smoke is a taste of the South, “circa right now.” Callaghan and his team select local farmers, musicians, brewers and cooks to create an event specific to each city and extra enjoyable to the residents. At the upcoming Baton Rouge festival, Tin Roof Brewery will provide the beer and bluegrass band The Fugitive Poets will provide the tunes.
Tin Roof marketing director Rivers Hughey says the brewery was looking for a way to partner with Acme Food & Beverage after co-founder William McGehee learned about them during a “makers” retreat in October 2015. Hughey says it was a no-brainer to bring the festival to Baton Rouge.
“Plus,” she adds, “we know people in Louisiana don’t need a major reason to eat food and drink beer.”
Salt & Smoke began as a small get-together between Callaghan and his friends in Carrboro, North Carolina. Callaghan says they “just wanted to have a party outside,” but something felt right about the pot of collards, the cornbread and the chatter between sips of beer.
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It was something he felt he should experience again and again, he says, so he made it a tradition. Except he added whole-hog roasted pork and local music to the agenda.
Besides Durham, North Carolina, Baton Rouge is the first stop for the traveling “food circus” before Callaghan takes it to Birmingham, Alabama, and then up the East Coast. Callaghan says he selected cities based on the importance of traditional and slow food to their cultures, but college towns were also a consideration.
“I know food is 85 percent of everything people do in Louisiana, so we’re bringing our A-game,” Callaghan says, adding that they aren’t traveling the 13-plus hours from Carrboro down here to put on anything but a great time.
The festival kicks off at 4 p.m. Saturday, April 23, and lasts until 7 p.m., but Hughey says post-partiers are welcome until 10 p.m. when Tin Roof closes. The event is open to the public, but a wristband comes with access to the barbecue, half a dozen oysters, and a Salt & Smoke beer glass. Tickets are $45 online or $50 at the door.