Last Drinks for Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival at the Showground, the 2025 edition will be the last as you know it.

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An appeal to you to join us in June.

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A statement from Beer & BBQ Festival founders Gareth Lewis and Aaron Sandow.

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In 2015 three mates thought it a good idea to put together and launch the Beer & BBQ Festival, to support the then burgeoning brewing industry, many of whom were, and still are, our close friends. We wanted to throw a party that brought together our three fields of interest; beer, food and music, in a way that had not been done in a festival format in Australia. It seemed to work, and by 2019 we had supported hundreds of breweries to showcase their brands to tens of thousands of new punters.

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By the end of 2024 we had welcomed about 150,000 punters through the gates and supported about 400 breweries and small businesses in the process.

Whilst the festival never really made us much money, we loved it, it is an extension of our own personalities and we love putting great beers into people’s hands whilst listening to great bands. The festival was always much more than the sum of its parts (although there were so many parts, with thousands of people contributing to the festival each year). It was never about the money, but we always wanted the exhibitors to make the most of the opportunity.

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Covid was a thing, and it hasn’t defined this festival, but it did force us to move from our spiritual home in the Brick Dairy Pavillion, to more event-friendly spaces at the Showground. Whilst we have always been nostalgic for the Brick Dairy, annoying stuff like fire safety capacities meant we couldn’t go back.

Since the enforced Covid break, the festival landscape has been a roller coaster. The initial sugar-hit of demand in 2022 gave everyone a false sense of security, and since then times have been tough, very tough. Festivals all over Australia have collapsed, brewers who have been with us from the start have fallen into administration, many have never recovered, and our hospitality friends are being put through the ringer weekly. Since this year’s festival has been on sale, two more breweries that have been Beer & BBQ Festival regulars have been placed into administration.

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All of this unrest since the beginning of 2023 has been matched with significant consumer downturn. We know festival tickets are a luxury, and we know that it has never been harder for people to manage their budgets and justify spending on luxuries. We get it, we experience the same decisions in our own personal lives.

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The cost of putting on a festival of this scale has increased between 30% and 40% since 2022, and for this reason we can not see a way forward for it in the current landscape, in its current format. From the cost of artists to the venue, cleaners (yes, over $80 per hour for an event cleaner on a Sunday is a thing nowadays), toilets and to the ever-increasing excise on beer leading to higher prices at the tap for punters, there are hundreds of cumulative reasons that have contributed to where we are today. Our punters are loyal and bloody amazing, but we can’t continue to pass the costs on to you, you can’t afford them, and we can’t afford to absorb them.

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In 2024 we abandon charging site fees at the festival for all independent brewers, recognising the huge challenges those businesses face. That measure directly put over $60,000 back into the independent beer industry pockets, but it ultimately came out of ours. Beer & BBQ Festival is able to keep entry prices modest as the festival retains a portion of gross turnover at all outlets within the festival. We have maintained an internal commitment for that portion charged to brewers to be less than the other major beer festivals in Australia, it is why we attract the best brewers from all over the country, and we are proud of that.

Governments of all tiers have recognised, but are still challenged by, systemic issues the festival and brewing industries face.

We want to thank the South Australian Government, particularly the Music Development Office, who have supported the festival for the past few years. It’s with the MDO’s support we are proud to have delivered programs such as the ‘Untapped’ regional battle of the bands competition in over a dozen regional areas and established the Limestone Coast Beer & BBQ Festival in Mount Gambier.

The state government is very supportive of the events industry. It’s true that there are more major publicly funded events than ever before in SA and it’s hard for independent festival brands to compete on a level playing field with them, but we hope to continue to work with Government for years to come to produce events that add value to the state culturally and economically.

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So, we have come to the realisation that our 10th birthday edition of Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival will indeed be the last of its kind, definitely the last of its scale.

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The festival is looking down the barrel of a significant financial loss that, when combined with previous year’s losses, means that it just isn’t sustainable.

So we need you! We need you to come and support the festival, support the brewers, catch a band in the Atrium, one last time with us. We want to see as many faces as possible, faces that we haven’t seen in years and potentially faces that we’ve never seen, and of course faces we see year-in, year-out. If you’ve never been to a Beer & BBQ Festival, this is your last chance for the full-tilt experience of one of Australia’s most loved and unique festivals.

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Tell your mates, bring your mum, invite your co-worker. Come one, come all. We want to put on the biggest and best party of the past decade, and we want all of our brewers to walk away with great memories and a couple of bucks in their pockets.

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This isn’t a marketing stunt, and we are sure we will be back to present some version of the festival, somewhere, sometime in the future. But this is not a John Farnham tour, it will be The Last Time . . . as you know it.

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In the meantime, support your independent festivals, your local pub and at the bottle shop choose something made by someone you know. It really does make a difference.

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See you in June for a beer!

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Cheers,

Gareth and Aaron