Beer & BBQ festival heads south for the summer

Adelaide’s hit Beer & BBQ Festival is now going regional. We tell you where and when.

Pro skater Beau Hinge, centre, with tomahawk steaks held by Gus Love and Jack Winfield from Lovefield Catering for the 2021 Adelaide Beer and BBQ festival. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Mount Gambier will host the first regional version of Adelaide’s Beer & BBQ Festival as a two-day event in March.

The South-East Beer & BBQ Festival at Mt Gambier’s Railway Lands on March 9 and 10 will also feature music acts including The Smith Street Band, Regurgitator, Bad//Dreems, Magic Dirt and SA Music Awards winners DEM MOB.

Big Wolf BBQ’s Sarah Turner and Alana Brabin at the 2022 Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

Barbecue businesses taking part include Melbourne’s Burn City Smokers, Whyalla’s Smokey Uppercuts and Mt Gambier’s own Lumberjack’s BBQ.

Festival co-director Gareth Lewis said the Adelaide version of the event, which has run since 2015 and attracts up to 20,000 people, would also continue to be held in winter.

“South East Beer & BBQ Fest is not a half-baked version of the Adelaide event but kind of like a ‘greatest hits’ of all the things we love,” Mr Lewis said.

“We hope it develops its own unique identity tied to the Limestone Coast and the great producers, bands and people who are lucky enough to call it home.”

The Saturday program will be for people aged 18+ while the Sunday is family and dog-friendly.

Among brewers taking part are Adelaide’s Pirate Life, Big Shed and Mismatch, Melbourne’s The Mill and Sure Brewing, Sydney’s Bracket Brewing and the Limestone Coast’s Woolstore, Loophole and Little Rippa.

The event’s Barossa food curator Alana Brabin from Big Bad Wolf will team with Kirby Shearing from Mt Gambier’s Elementary by Soul Co, while Pirate Life Kitchen’s Rocky Oliveria will partner with the team from boutique beef producer Mayura Station.

Tickets go on sale 9am Tuesday from Moshtix.