What: The 5th Annual SoHum Beer Fest & BBQ Smoke-Off Contest
When: Saturday, August 31st, 2013 / Time TBA
Where: Mateel Community Center
Tickets: To be announced

SoHum Beer Fest & BBQ Smoke Off Celebrates 5 Years On August 31, 2013....

~ The 2012 Winners Circle ~ Pictured (from left to right) are the winners of the barbeque competition at the 2012 event-John Yeend, Shamus Jennings, Melinda Unbehaun, Justin Bixby, Stan Shafer and Dutch Sullivan. 1st place went to Grateful Swine, 2nd place to Jonny Yeend and Melinda Unbehaun, and 3rd place to Shamus Jennings.  Beer winners were all homebrews, with 1st place honors going to Jimmie Ray Austin for his “Irie Dark IPA,” 2nd place was a “Smoked IPA” entered by Dutch Sullivan, and 3rd place went to Skip McFarling for his “Fat Bastard Brewing- Obese Double IPA.”

Celebrating its 5th anniversary on Saturday, August 31st, the SoHum Beer Fest & BBQ Smoke Off is becoming one of southern Humboldt’s favorite summertime events. Offering local grill masters an opportunity to put their best recipes to the test in a BBQ showdown, while regional breweries and local homebrewers face off in a tasters choice competition, its no wonder why this is becoming a wildly popular event.

Amidst wafts of BBQ smoke, the afternoon event will take place at the Mateel Community Center in Redway and will feature unlimited micro/ homebrew tastings in a free commemorative tasting glass, a smorgasbord of BBQ samplers from the competing contestants (augmented by several Mateel staff grillmasters), and the chance to help decide the competition’s winners by voting for your favorite BBQ dishes and beers.

To sign up for the BBQ competition or to enter your homebrew call the Mateel office at 923-3368.

Please note that BBQ contestants must provide their own ingredients, serving utensils, and grill (if needed) plus make enough of their dish to serve bite size samplers to a crowd of about 200 people.

Two free admissions are offered to each BBQ contestant or homebrewer who enters. Prizes and bragging rights go home with the top 3 winners in both the beer and BBQ categories, plus a limited cash reimbursement on expenses for the winning BBQ or homebrew contestants.

Stay tuned to www.mateel.org for more info on participating breweries, pricing, prizes, entertainment, and other event info soon. Admission is at the door with both an all-inclusive beer tasting ticket and a food/ music only option.