Boston JerkFest Caribbean Rum & Brew Tasting/ Boston JerkFest Food & Music Festival July 12-13

Start: Friday, July 12, 2024 5:30PM
End: Saturday, July 13, 2024 8:00PM

Bring your lawn chairs and your blankets and join us for the 11th Boston JerkFest Caribbean Foodie Festival, July 12-13, 2024 at the Harvard Athletic Complex. Friday night the festivities kick off with a Rum & Brew Tasting with more than 75 tastings of spirits, cocktails, craft brews, cider and mead. The spicy festival continues on Saturday with more than a dozen of New England's best Caribbean restaurants offering Jerk spiced BBQ and Caribbean food. There'll be a Jerk Cook-off and Seafood Throwdown competition featuring local day boat seafood. Jam with us for our live music stage that will feature a headliner. Bring your children to enjoy our massive Kids & Culture Zone so they can play with our steel pans and have tons of hands-on interactive activities. Check out the VIP Reggae Lounge so you can chill under the cool shade. There will be lots of rum punch, fresh coconuts, rum cakes, and even fresh sugarcane for sale. Eat. Drink. Be Irie. For info visit www.bostonjerkfest.com Boston JerkFest was recognized as Boston’s Best Food Festival in 2022 by Boston Magazine. The festival was also hailed by Zagat as one of Boston's top 10 Summer Food Festivals. This outdoor family-friendly, Caribbean-style food festival features local Jamaican jerk spiced food, an array of beverages, craft vendors and live performances. The festival kicks off with a Rum & Brew Tasting on Friday July 12, 2024, 5:30 - 8:30 PM (5pm for VIP) featuring New England's best breweries, distilleries, cideries, and we even have local mead. The festivities get spicier with the Boston JerkFest Food Festival Saturday, July 13, 2024, 11 AM - 8 PM with our sustainable food Chef Demos, including a Seafood Throwdown featuring local seafood and a Jerk Cook-Off accompanied by local culturally connected and harvested crops from the region. Jerk is the specialty cuisine of Jamaica that is not only mouth-burning hot, but also includes delicious blends of aromatic spices to wake up all your senses. Key ingredients include Jamaican Scotch Bonnet peppers (which can be grown locally in New England), thyme, and allspice. Billed as a Caribbean foodie festival celebrating all things hot, Boston JerkFest will feature the best local Caribbean Chefs cooking up authentic Caribbean, jerk style meals, international and local spicy foods, spicy specialty foods, and homemade Caribbean drinks for sale. Rum & Brew Tasting: Friday, July 12, 2024, 5-8:30 PM The Rum & Brew Tasting will be held on Friday night for 21+ year old festival attendees. The evening will feature live music and tastings of craft beer, hard cider, wine, artisan beverages and a variety of Caribbean themed libations. The Rum & Brew Tasting will include Cocktail Demos and a Caribbean Cocktail Throwdown, featuring Boston’s hottest Mixologists stirring up the best “Irie” drinks made from products featured at the Rum & Brew Tasting. A panel of judges, including festival attendees will vote for their favorite drink and help select the winner, who will own bragging rights for the 2024 Boston’s Best Caribbean Cocktail. Boston JerkFest: Saturday, July 13, 2024, 11:00 AM-8 PM On Saturday, the spicy fest continues as top local and regional Caribbean restaurants and caterers cook up jerk-inspired creations for sale to eager fans. The festival offers authentic Caribbean, international, and local spicy food for sale, including spicy meals, desserts, and drinks. Festival attendees will get a chance to taste and judge alongside a Boston-based panel of foodies for our Seafood Throwdown and Jerk Cook-off.