Last Drinks Called for Adelaide Beer & BBQ Fest
After ten incredible years, Adelaide Beer & BBQ Fest is calling it a day with one final blowout this King’s Birthday June Long Weekend.
Image Nick Astanei
After unveiling another awesome lineup of beers, BBQ, and bands, organisers behind Adelaide Beer & BBQ Fest have sadly announced that this year’s tenth anniversary celebration will be the festival’s last for the foreseeable future.
Taking place over the King’s Birthday Long Weekend (June 6-8) at Adelaide Showgrounds, the beloved independent festival will say goodbye with five huge sessions.
The brainchild of three good mates who shared a passion for beer, food and music, the first Adelaide Beer & BBQ Fest was held way back in 2015. The past decade has seen the national institution host over 400 breweries, food trucks and small businesses and welcome more than 150,000 punters through the gates.
Despite its success over the years, ABBF founders Gareth Lewis and Aaron Sandow have decided to call time on the festival and are urging anyone with a taste for beer, BBQ and loud music to get along to the last ABBF next month.
“We want to put on the biggest and best party of the past decade, and we need your help to do it,” says Festival Co-Director Aaron Sandow. “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.”
The 10th edition of ABBF features an incredible musical lineup headlined by Aussie rockers Wolfmother, pub punk ratbags The Chats and iconic singer-songwriter Neil Finn. Also on the bill are the likes of Custard, Rocket Science, Gooch Palms, Haystacks Calhoon, Dick Move and more.
When it comes to brewers, this year’s festival features the biggest selection in the festival’s history, with a mix of emerging newcomers and old-time favourites. Up and comers including Queensland’s Range Brewing, Tassie’s Fox Friday, Western Australia’s Deep Elite, Victoria’s Muffy Malone and SA’s own ill-intentions and Jump Ship Brewing are mixing it up with the big boys like Pirate Life, Copers, Mismatch and Prancing Pony.
It’s not just tasty IPAs and Pale Ales, with Adelaide Beer & BBQ Fest also catering for those who aren’t fans of the amber liquid with the Not-Beer lineup, offering cocktails from Kombi Crew (making their ABBF debut), fine drops from Somos Wines, and small-batch spirits by 23rd Street Distillery, El Toro Tequila, Heaps Good Spirits, Vino Cellars Distillery (ABBF debut) and more.
READ MORE: Adelaide Guitar Festival 2025 First Shows Announced
Sadly, like so many other festivals around the country, the post-COVID economic climate has greatly impacted ABBF, with costs rising by 30-40% since 2022, making it unsustainable to continue the festival.
“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,” says Co-Director Gareth Lewis.
“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.
“We want to thank the South Australian Government, especially the Music Development Office, who have supported the festival for the past few years. 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.”
While this is the last ABBF as we know it, both Lewis and Sandow are confident of the festival returning in some shape or form in the future.
“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,” say Lewis and Sandow.
Beer & BBQ Fest 2025 takes place over the King’s Birthday Long Weekend from Friday, June 6 to Sunday, June 8. Tickets are on sale now via the Mostix website. Check out the full music, brewer and BBQ lineup below.
Beer & BBQ Fest 2025 Musical Lineup
FRIDAY NIGHT
Wolfmother, Custard, Rocket Science, The Tarantinos, Caitlin Harnett & The Pony Boys
Joined by South Australia’s Cosmo Thundercat, Free Golf, Haystacks Calhoon, I Can’t Believe It’s Not The Hives, JPH x The Dangerous Animals, Sticky Beak & The Briar Patch Band
SATURDAY NIGHT
The Chats, The Gooch Palms, Dick Move (NZ), Mulga Bore Hard Rock, Batpiss, Andy Golledge, Slim Krusty
And Fluorescent Adolescents, Halftime Oranges, My Cherie & Pelvis
SUNDAY NIGHT
Tim Finn (NZ), CASH: The American Recordings starring Henry Wagons & The Tennessee Studs, Mondo Psycho
Plus, Captain Hellfire & The Wretched Brethren, Free Drinks, Kelly’s Wake, King of Spain, Nocturnal Animals, The Dead Regulars & The Public Servants
Full Brewer Lineup (*ABBF debut)
Balter Brewing Co (QLD), Bells Beach Brewing (Vic), Big Shed Brewing, Bowden Brewing, Bridge Road Brewers (Vic), Brightstar Brewing, Chubby Unicorn Brewing, Coopers Brewery, Crafty Robot Brewing, Deep Elite Brewing* (WA), Eclectic Brewing, Fox Friday (Tas), Fox Hat Brewing, ill-intentions.*, Island Beer (Vic), Jump Ship Brewing*, KAIJU! Beer (Vic), King River Brewing (Vic), Lady Burra Brewhouse, Little Bang Brewing Co, Loophole Brewing Co, Ministry of Beer, Mismatch Brewing Company, Mountain Goat (Vic), Muffy Malone Brewing*, No Eye Deer Brewing*, Noodledoof (Vic), Penny Red Beer Co, Pikes Beer Company, Pirate Life Brewing, Prancing Pony Brewery, Range Brewing (QLD), Rehn Bier, Shapeshifter Brewing Co, SixTwelve Brewing, South Coast Brewing, Spinifex Brewing Co* (WA), SURE BREWING (Vic), TAFE SA Campus Brewery, The Suburban Brew, The Uraidla Brewery, The Zythologist Brewery (Vic), Tiny Fish Brew Co, Tops Beer, Vale Brewing, Woolstore Brewery, Yellow Matter*
Full BBQ Lineup
Baltic Fine Food, Belles Hot Chicken, Blammo, Bread & Bone Wood Grill, Deep Fried Sweet Treats, Fancy Hank's, Jamaican Mi Eat, Just Sticks, Lions Roar BBQ, Ninin's Indo Street Food, NOLA & Friends feat Anchovy Bandit + La Louisiane, O.G SMASH BURGERS, Smokey Uppercuts, Smokin Grillers, Sneaky Pickle, Snob Catering & Toly Vietnamese.
