Now in its 16th year, the South Beach Wine & Food Festival begins today and runs through Sunday at venues throughout South Florida. With 11 new events in this year's lineup, including more intimate, seated dinners than any year before and the expansion of seven events through the Taste Fort Lauderdale Series, the five-day festival has programming for patrons of all ages.
This year, however, there are a number of events crafted to cater to a younger clientele. Here’s a preview of what festival founder and director Lee Brian Schrager and his team are cooking up for the millennial market.
1. More Cocktail-Influenced Events
Over the past few years, Schrager has added more cocktail-influenced events and parties. While the festival still remains true to its food-and-wine core with a dozen wine seminars and a diverse slate of food events, the younger crowd has responded to cocktail-based events. This year, there are several cocktail-centric events, including the return of last year’s successful The Art of Tiki: A Cocktail Showdown, along with the addition of Craft-y Happy Hour, Drink Fort Lauderdale: Cocktail Time Machine Experience, and the new event Bacardi on the Beach with Beats By Rev Run and DJ Ruckus.
2. A New Signature Event
Formerly the slot of meat-based extravaganzas such as The Q and Meatopia, the Saturday-night signature slot is transitioning to a later party, Bacardi on the Beach. Bacardi will handle the event production. “This is our first year working with Bacardi,” Schrager says. “We have always wanted to throw a late-night, blowout spirit event, and we decided to try it with them.”
This is the first big-scale, late-night cocktail event at the festival, with plans to welcome a few thousand guests under the north venue tent. “The emphasis is not on food,” Schrager says. “It is cocktail-driven with great spirits, great music, and some great late-night food.” Foodies fret not—there are still 19 food vendors lined up for the event.
3. DJ-based Programming at the Grand Tastings
The Grand Tasting is the festival’s “nucleus,” according to Schrager, and it unfolds over the course of three days (Friday remains Wine Spectator Trade Day, while Saturday and Sunday are open to all ticketed patrons). This year, there are two new additions to the Grand Tasting Village. Snoop Dogg—whose fame now extends to the culinary world thanks to his show with Martha Stewart “Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party”—will partner with Food Network star Guy Fieri for a cooking demonstration. “We just thought about people who would be fun together; it was a natural pairing,” Schrager says.
On Sunday afternoon, the world-renowned DJ Ingrosso (formerly Sebastian Ingrosso of Swedish House Mafia) will take to the decks in the Goya Foods’ Grand Tasting Village as part of the David Grutman Experience. Grutman, the LIV Nightclub founder and local tastemaker, will curate a beachside day club, alongside partner Jimmy Vargas, with N1CE Cocktails spiking the bash. “When you align with partners like David Grutman, you know they are going to deliver,” Schrager says. With many visitors departing on Sunday, the event is designed specifically to attract locals.
4. More Late-Night Events at Affordable Price Points
“There is a big emphasis on late-night,” says Schrager. “We want to do more late-night events that are less expensive to bring in the younger crowd.” The thinking is that younger attendees would rather attend one or more events at lower prices—the new Bacardi event is priced at just $100 a ticket—compared to higher-priced events such as Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best, which tops out at $350 a ticket.
Including Bacardi on the Beach, there are 10 late-night events scheduled, spanning a wide geographic reach from South Beach to the Design District to Fort Lauderdale. Two notable late-night additions include Salty Sweet & Savory Treats: A Late-Night Party featuring Bar Lab, the Salty Donut, and Sarsaparilla Club (at $95 a ticket), and Food Fight hosted by Guy Fieri, a late-night trivia game with bar bites and night caps (also $95 a ticket).
