Time and time again, food and drink never fail to put the spotlight on Adelaide, and South Australia as a global producer of the finer things for the taste buds; and although it’s usually wine and regional dining, beer and barbecue are no exception.
Come Friday 14 through to Sunday 16 July, the annual Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival will be in fully swing at the Adelaide Showgrounds; with schooners all ’round and plates aplenty, as well as three days of live music, niche market stalls, competitions, tattooing, and a whole heap more of whacky goodness.
The hoppy affair has grown to become the biggest festival celebrating all things beer south of the equator – a testament to our love for craft beer Down Under. And since its 2015 inception, the Beer & BQQ festival has only continued to grow.
In 2022, the festival drew in over 21,000 punters, and this year the crowds are expected to flock to the grounds after the thick of Covid in previous years.
In terms of the liquid gold (that’s the beer), thousands of local and national brews will be up for sipping, and although the traders line-up is yet to be announced, we can confirm that almost every beer you can dream of will be on site.
If one thing is certain though, it’s the collaboration beers between international Ukranian brewery, 2085 and Little Bang (SA), Mismatch (SA), Co-Conspirators (VIC), Batch (NSW), and Range (QLD), facilitated by Beer & BBQ Festival.
The partnerships aim to raise much needed funds for providing emergency aid inside Ukraine to the fighters and families affected by the ongoing crisis. The exclusive booze will launch on the festival’s first day, Friday 14 July.
When it comes to Beer & BBQ Festival’s musical offerings, the 2023 line-up is said to be even bigger and better than the last too, with headliners including The Living End, Dune Rats, Dexter (founding member of The Avalanches), Dem Mob, Magic Dirt, Katy Steele, and The Bennies, to name a few.
An additional stage will platform the artists this year, taking the stage count total to five, along with the renaming of the main stage as the Ken West Stage in a tribute to Big Day Out founder’s memory at the Adelaide Showgrounds.
In terms of feeding the hungry mouths, the full BBQ line-up is set to be released in May, but for now, Alana Brabin and Sarah Turner from 2022 standout, Big Bad Wolf have formed a supreme program of Indigenous BBQ from across the globe, accordingly dubbed World’s On Fire.
The brand new BBQ initiative welcomes: Something Wild’s native Australian flavours; Timorese chef Cesar Gaio; Moi An’s Vietnamese Street Food; The African Kitchen Project presented by the African Women’s Federation of SA; and Sicily Up In Smoke by chef Lorena Corso.
Further, NSW big gun Black Iron Smokers are hauling their meat smoker across the border, while local favourite Sneaky Pickle are collaborating with QLD’s Signature Smoke. Local fried chicken connoisseurs Cheekies will be in the biz with BBQ big bosses Fancy Hanks for their third Beer & BBQ appearance. And finally, Penrith’s smashed patty experts, Burger Head.
And if none of the above tickles your fancy, perhaps the new live art shows, fire installations, secret drinking dens, live wrestling, BMX and skateboarding, axe throwing, Beer Bod competition, carnival rides, tattooing, motorbikes, DJs, and the unveiling of the Kevin Bacon Spa & Wellness Retreat will.