Jason was born and raised in the small, rural farming community of Carroll, Ohio and graduated from Bloom-Carroll High School. He graduated from Ohio University with a bachelor’s in Fine Arts and Graphic Design. Following college, Jason worked at an advertising agency in Ohio, before moving to Florida while his wife attended graduate school. They moved to Athens in 2013, which is around when Jason got interested in beer brewing. He took a job at the 5 Points Bottle Shop in the homebrew shop, where he learned about brewing and cultivated relationships with vendors and distributors.
Jason eventually took over the shop’s kombucha brewing program which kick started his love for kombucha. In 2018, he opened Figment Kombucha with the help of his wife Jessica and fellow 5 Points employee Erika Galloway. Initially they brewed and sold their kombucha at the Athens Farmers Market, a venture which expanded into selling kombucha to restaurants, and finally into their own tap room. In addition to his work at Figment, Jason also collaborates with the nonprofit Concrete Jungle, an organization dedicated to urban foraging and food access.
In 2020, just as the Figment Tap Room was opening, the pandemic forced them to close their doors. Jason and Jessica pivoted to transform into a gourmet specialty food shop, in addition to selling their kombucha for curbside pick-up. The People’s Pantry sells gourmet food items from local and regional producers. Jason and Jessica live in Watkinsville with their dog, Marlo.
What is your favorite part of your work?
Probably the creative challenge. It’s nice to wake up in the morning and have a new challenge every day and be thinking about the next flavor, what I’m going to call it, and how I’m going to design the label. There’s never a dull moment, there’s always something new.
When you’re not working, what are your favorite things to do in and around Athens?
Eating is definitely my wife and my favorite hobby. We love going to a number of different Athens restaurants, especially when the weather is nice sitting outside with a snack and a glass of wine and just watching people walk by. We’re both really into food and are always trying to find new things and new places around Athens. Also, heading up to the mountains to hike is a big thing for me. I can clear my mind and get some exercise at the same time as being able to kind of zone out.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
Definitely Japan. That’s always been at the top of the list. It’s just such a far trip, such a big commitment that I haven’t been able to make yet. But one day soon it’s definitely in the plans. It just seems like a totally different world that’s still on Earth but about as alien as you can get from where I’ve grown up and what I’ve known. I like being in those kinds of situations where you feel like you’re just on another planet and have zero knowledge of what’s going on or how to do things.
If you could see any band or musician, anywhere, who would it be and where?
I’ve really been into hip hop since I was a child. This is dating myself I guess but being of an age where “rap” was kind of a brand new thing, I would love to see and be there in the Bronx when it was forming and go to those parties and see the break dancers and the graffiti writers and DJs. It was just a totally different environment from where it is today. I’d also love to see someone like Otis Redding in one of those little juke joints on the Chitlin’ Circuit; that would be unbelievable. I’ve always said that if I had the money one day and became a billionaire somehow, that I would hire Tom Petty to do a backyard concert for my wife and her friends because he’s her all-time favorite artist. That’s obviously not going to happen but that would’ve been amazing. So any of those three options.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Definitely to stop worrying about what everybody else thinks or does. It would be tough to get this through to my younger self, but definitely also to work on your emotional intelligence. That was not something that was important in my family growing up so it was something I had to work very hard on in my adult life. I would definitely recommend that to my younger self.
Do you have a favorite book, or one you often reference, reread or gift?
I’m currently obsessed with Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia. There’s just so much in that book about how you can do business in a different way, from someone who has successfully done it and provides that example. It’s been really influential for me. But as far as writer-writers go, I’ve read everything by Jim Harrison, at least that I can find and I will repeatedly read it for the rest of my life. The way he speaks about the Midwest really resonates with me.
Do you have a favorite movie?
It would have to be something very nostalgic and kind of silly. Something like The Goonies or Stand By Me, something from my childhood that was very important at the time that I could watch a million times.
If you could put any message on a billboard, what would it be?
Probably something like, “Ask yourself why.” I think a lot of people live their lives without being introspective or thinking about why they do the things they do or how they affect other people. I think that would be something a lot of people could benefit from.
If you could have lunch with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and where?
I think about this one all the time. This, and that question about what your death row meal would be, because my wife and I are so into food that it comes up a lot and changes all the time. But I think dinner with a very eclectic group of people, in a setting like a classic steakhouse where you know everything’s going to be good, so you can just focus on conversation. Somewhere like Keens in New York City or Slaters in Athens. It would be with a really eclectic group, like maybe Anthony Bourdain, Andre 3000 and Margaret Cho. A bunch of really big personalities that are all really different.
What three words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word “home”?
Soft green grass, childhood friends and summer country drives.
