We are excited to announce the return of the Kings Dominion BBQ & Brew Fest! This years event will take place August 6-7, 13-14, 20-21, 2016. See below for our full review of the event.
Food this year for the BBQ & Brew will be set up along Candy Apple Grove and provided by both Executive Chef Paul Maloney and local restaurants. The menu has also been really ramped up for this season with some very exciting offerings.
Separate tickets are not required for admission to the BBQ & Brew Fest, but there is a nominal fee to sample the food and beverages. Food can be purchased by either tickets or cash.
All food items are $5.00 each. You can also purchase a sampler card which is valid for 3 BBQ tasting cards and two sample pour cards for $20.00. You can also purchase watermelon cups for $3.00 and strawberry shortcake parfaits for $4.00.
Sample size pours of beer (5 oz) are $3.00 each. Full size pours (20 oz) are $8.00 each.
The Menu
The Pit
– Moonshine Pulled pork slider with smoky BBQ sauce and spicy pickles
– Beef Brisket Slider with BBQ sauce and spicy pickles
Tastes from the Tower Food Truck
– Redneck Eggroll with “white BBQ sauce”
– Loaded tater tots with pulled pork, cheese sauce, jalapenos and sour cream
BBQ Fiesta
– Loaded moonshine pulled pork “walking taco” bag
– BBQ chicken tacos
BBQ Island
– Hawaiian style grilled teriyaki beef slider with chive mayo and pineapple coleslaw
– Jamaican style jerk BBQ chicken quarter with Jambalaya Cornbread fritter and mango salsa
The Dogs
– Virginia Oinker dog (dog wrapped in ham, topped with BBQ pork and chopped bacon) and BBQ brown sugar baked beans
– Grilled hot dog topped with BBQ pork, coleslaw and jalapenos with BBQ brown sugar baked beans
Mac ‘N Cheesy
– BBQ pork and mashed potato “parfait” with macaroni and cheese
– Candied bacon blt served with BBQ macaroni and cheese
Southern ‘N Sweet
– Moonshine bratwurst with blackberry jam
– Southern style banana pudding
The Halligan Bar and Grill Menus
“Chicken Shack” BBQ
Memphis Style BBQ Chicken Slider
“Wings of Smoke”
“Bird Dog”
Sides: Cole Slaw, Cucumber Salad
Beef Country
Texas Style Beef Brisket Slider
Bacon Wrapped Brisket Bites
“Texas Bull Dog”
Sides: Cole Slaw, Macaroni salad
Photo used with permission from Food, Fun, Family.
Carolina BBQ
North Carolina Style Pulled Pork BBQ Slider
Baby Back Ribs
The “Dog Pound”
Sides: Cole Slaw, BBQ Baked Beans
Fire Truck Smoker with Whole Pig Roasted on Saturdays
Brewers
The park will also feature an impressive list of brewers that will be different each weekend.
August 6 – 7
Bold Rock Hard Cider — Nellysford (Nelson County), VA
Brother’s Craft Brewing — Harrisonburg, VA
Legend Brewing Company — Richmond, VA
O’Connor Brewing Company — Norfolk, VA
Old Bust Head Brewing Company — Faquier County, VA
Strangeways Brewery — Richmond, VA
August 13 – 14
Ardent Craft Ales — Richmond, VA
Devils Backbone — Roseland, VA
Midnight Brewery — Rockville, VA
Chaos Mountain Brewery — Callaway, VA
Center of the Universe — Ashland, VA
Starr Hill Brewery — Crozet, VA
August 20 – 21
Bold Rock Hard Cider — Nellysford (Nelson County), VA
Steam Bell Beer Works — Chesterfield, VA
Isley Brewing Company — Richmond, VA
Hardywood Craft Brewery — Richmond, VA
Kindred Spirits — Richmond, VA
The park will also feature an array of live entertainment each weekend.
Kings Dominion Brew & BBQ Review
To set the mood, the normal upbeat music in the Candy Apple Grove section of the park has been replaced with southern rock and country tunes, while hay bales and floral arrangements have been placed throughout the area. A live band plays in the grassy area beside Delirium (12:30 PM – 2 PM, 4 PM – 6 PM), while a wood carving demonstration from Chainsaw Chix happens between breaks for the band (2:00 PM – 2:45 PM, 3:15 PM – 4 PM, 6:30 PM – 7:15 PM). If you want to try your hand at some cornhole or “beer pong” (a soccer ball and red trash cans), you can do that too for $10 in cash and win a prize.
We smelled BBQ all the way over at the pathway between Dominator and Planet Snoopy at 10:00 AM for morning ERT. Yes, the aroma will make you hungry for BBQ that early in the morning.
Under the vine-covered walkway, local breweries were stationed so you could sample different craft beers (the list changes each weekend). You can still walk through the walkway if you are not drinking beer, so the shady reprieve from the Virginia sun is still available if you chose to be outside.
BBQ booths are set up in Candy Apple Grove surrounding the carousel area. Along with Kings Dominion having their own booths set up, the Halligan Bar and Grill has several booths set up (they use the same token system that Kings Dominion), and on Saturdays they have their Fire Truck Smoker in Candy Apple Grove, where they roast a whole pig.
We started off with the loaded moonshine pulled pork “walking taco” bag from the BBQ Fiesta booth (located beside the carousel facing the Taste of the Tower food truck). This consisted of a bag of Doritos topped with nacho cheese sauce and pulled pork. The cheese sauce was standard nacho cheese sauce that is served at other areas of the park. The BBQ was quite good. We had been looking forward to this as we had seen this at other non-park events, but we were let down at the lack of toppings. Had more meat been added, we would have liked this more given the price.
Next up we tried the Virginia Oinker Dog (hot dog wrapped in ham, topped with BBQ pork and chopped bacon) and BBQ brown sugar baked beans from The Dogs booth (located behind Dinner Bell facing Delirium). This was a better value than the walking taco bag. While the hot dog is not a full-size hot dog, the amount of BBQ and the added baked beans make up for it. I liked the spice of the BBQ. The ham-wrapped hot dog made a great combo. We recommend this one highly.
We finished up the day trying a staple of BBQ restaurants: Southern Style Banana Pudding from the Southern ‘N Sweet booth (located beside the carousel facing Americana). We had nothing bad to say about the banana pudding. It was a cool treat to help you forget the scorching heat of the day. This is also a nice treat that children will like.
Overall, we were impressed with BBQ and Brew Fest. Good food, local brews, games and rides. BBQ and Brew Fest runs Saturdays and Sundays August 6th through August 21st, 11 AM – 8 PM.
Note: Due to a storm the first day, the event was cut short. We will be returning to try some of the other food options.
Reference: 2015 Kings Dominion BBQ & Brew Fest
Cover Photo ©Kings Dominion
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A special thanks to Kings Dominion for helping sponsor our visit
