Have you been to Cedar Point in 2015? If you have, you may have noticed a change in the way the park does food. Right before the park opened, Cedar Point hired a new Executive Chef, Philip Bucco, who brings with him years of experience in the sporting and entertainment business. Within a very short period of time, Chef Bucco dove right in to start changing the way we think about the food experience at Cedar Point.

With the introduction of Roagarou, the new floorless roller coaster, came the chance for the park to brand food products. New this year we have already seen the introduction of Roagarou Toft’s ice cream, a new Coca-Cola Freestlye flavor RougaCool, and a signature beer, RougaBrew, made by the local brewery, The Brew Kettle.

The park also completely renovated Lakeside Pavilion on the shores of Lake Erie, making it an excellent outdoor venue for a variety of events.

New for 2015, Cedar Point introduced the Brew & BBQ event. Along with bring in 146 craft beers, the park also took the opportunity to introduce some of Chef Bucco’s experience with Carolina style BBQ.

Featured Breweries and Beer Companies include the following:

5 Rabbit
Abbaye de Leffe S.A.
Artois Brewery
Beck’s Brewery
Boddingtons Brewery
Breckenridge Brewery
Boston Beer Company
The Brew Kettle
Brooklyn Brewery
Cellar Rats Brewery
Deschutes Brewery
Fat Head’s Brewery & Saloon
Goose Island Beer Co.
Great Lakes Brewery
Jackie O’s Pub & Brewery
Harpoon Brewery
Hoegaarden Brewery
Kona Brewing Co.
Leinenkugel’s Brewery
Lexington Brewery and Distilling Company
Magic Hat Brewing Company
McKenzie’s Hard Cider
New Belgium Brewing
Redhook Ale Brewery
Revolution Brewing
Rochester Mills Beer Co.
Vermont Hard Cider Co.
Shock Top Brewery
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
Spaten-Franziskaner-Brau
Spoetzl Brewery
St. Pauli Brauerei
Summit Brewing Co.
Thirsty Dog Brewing Company
Traveler Beer Company
Victory Brewin Company
Widmer Brothers Brewing Company
Yuengling Brewery

Barbeque Food options are as follows:

BBQ Pulled Pork
Southern slaw, jalapeno corn bread

Pulled Chicken Sliders
Root Beer baked beans, candied jalapenos

Smokehouse Ribs
Bacon Parmesan crusted potatoes, grilled watermelon

Lake Erie Catfish Fingers
House pickled; okra, baby carrots & green beans
BBQ remoulade

Barbeque Carnita Nachos
Creamy cheddar, black beans, pickled jalapenos,
Cilantro-sour cream and a sprinkling of queso fresco

Guests can purchase advanced tickets online for $55.99 (includes park admission and event) or $15 for season passholders. You can also buy access at the event, where passholders pay $20 at the gate.

Each member of your party is required to pay admission, regardless if you eat or not. Kids 10 and under are free. Each paying guest receives 15 tickets to use at the event, and you can also repurchase additional tickets at the gate.

The event is billed as 10, 4 oz. beer samples and 5 BBQ small plates; however, in reality you can use your tickets any way you please. One (1) ticket gets you a 4 oz beer sample or small plate, or three (3) tickets a full size beer or plate.

So how was Cedar Point’s Brew and BBQ?

The event was an amazing value for season passholders, regardless of whether you bought your tickets online or at the park. At the $15 online price point, not including the fees, you are in essence only paying $1 per beer or small plate, or $3 for a full size beer or full plate. $15 for 5 full size meals is an amazing value in our books.

While we are not typically beer drinkers at the CPFB, the event also gave us a chance to try some not your typical brewers, creating some fantastic ciders and varieties of other “brews,” with our favorite being the McKenzie’s Hard Cider line of products.

The BBQ food options were great and a refreshing accompaniment to the line of normal food at Cedar Point. The meats all provided an excellent, smokey flavor, and being served Carolina style allowed you to sauce the product on your own from flavors found throughout Cedar Point including Famous Dave’s, Quaker Steak & Lube, and TGI Fridays.

Our kids loved the catfish and little pulled pork and pull chicken sliders. The ribs were super tender and came right off the bone. The grilled watermelon served with the ribs was excellent, and this coming from someone who does not like watermelon.

The nachos, while perfect for kids, could have used a better chip and the standard “cheese sauce.”

Are only negative about the food was that even after arriving towards the opening of the event, the food was being served rather cold, as the hot trays were not keeping the food heated.

Do note, your tasting plate for 1 ticket only includes a sample of the meat from each meal. In order to get the side dishes, one needs to get the full plate for 3 tickets each. We would have liked to see it as an option to get a serving of the sides with 1 ticket, especially for those with vegetarian palates.

Opening weekend of Cedar Point’s Brew & BBQ brought in roughly 1500 people to the event, making it a very good turn out.

Brew & BBQ takes place at Cedar Point May 22-24 and 29-31, 2015 from 5-10:00 pm.

If you attended Brew and BBQ, let us know below in the comments what you thought of the event.

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