Best and Worst Food Items at Bourbon & BBQ Event, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
We visited Busch Gardens Tampa Bay several times for the all-new Bourbon & BBQ event. There, we found the best (and worst) food items.
The first-ever Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Bourbon & BBQ festival runs on select days through Labor Day. These select days are mostly Friday through Sunday, except Monday, September 2, Labor Day in the United States of America. Bourbon & BBQ starts at 2:00 p.m. each day. The original start time was noon, but this changed after opening weekend.
In addition to the food, live entertainment will take over the Coke Stage at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. Guests can enjoy tunes from rising local artists, including Luna and the Warriors, K-Luv & the United Funk Foundation, and more.
The Bourbon & BBQ festival is included with theme park admission at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. The event “will take guests on a tantalizing journey as the park transforms into a haven for barbecue enthusiasts and bourbon connoisseurs,” according to Busch Gardens.
We went to test Busch Gardens Tampa Bay’s claim. We found some solid dining options. Still, we found a few items we recommend you avoid using your theme park money for.
Bourbon & BBQ at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Food Lineup
All food items reflect the barbecue theme in some way. Of course, many alcoholic beverages are available during this event to pair with your food choices. The food menu consists of the following items:
- Glazed Pulled Turkey: Slow-smoked turkey served with sweet potatoes roasted in a brown sugar-butter glaze and BBQ sauce infused with Cherry Coke and black cherry hot sauce
- Smoked Pork Ribs: Smothered in a sweet and tangy Coca-Cola BBQ sauce and served with a side of lima beans and corn-roasted red pepper succotash
- Lamb Ribs: Bourbon-brined lamb ribs slow-smoked with a side of sweet cream cornbread and mustard BBQ sauce
- Smoked Heirloom Tomato Salad: Local heirloom tomatoes cold smoked and placed on a bed of mixed greens, finished with an aged balsamic glaze
- Apple Smoked Pork: Apple-brined pulled pork topped with a sweet and spicy bourbon BBQ sauce and served with brown sugar baked beans
- Slow-Smoked Beef Chuck: Dry-rubbed beef Chuck slow-cooked and tossed in a Florida-style BBQ sauce, served with a peach-infused coleslaw
- Beef Brisket: Chopped brisket tossed in a key lime ketchup BBQ sauce with a hint of habanero, topped with creamy mac and cheese
- Smoked Chicken: Dry-rubbed chicken thighs glazed in mustard BBQ sauce, served with a creamy house-made potato salad
- Lamb Shank: Tender lamb shank slow-cooked with maple wood and placed on top of buttery red mashed potatoes, finished with a rich dark molasses BBQ sauce
- Smoked Salmon: House-smoked salmon over a bed of jasmine rice topped with bulgogi BBQ sauce and sriracha honey drizzle
- Smoked Chicken Sandwich: Pulled smoked chicken topped with peach habanero BBQ sauce on a potato roll
Bourbon & BBQ Sampler Lanyards
For this event, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is offering festival sampler lanyards for purchase. Guests can pre-purchase five samples for $45. Alternatively, they can buy 10 samples for $70. This allows them to sample plenty of food and beverages at this event. Annual passholders may purchase a 12-sample lanyard for $70. Based on most food items costing ten dollars or more, these sampler lanyards offer significant savings.
Smoked Chicken Sandwich and Other Issues
We want to highlight some details that influenced our list. This is before listing the best and worst food items at Bourbon & BBQ. The Smoked Chicken Sandwich at the Springs Taproom could not be purchased with the sampler lanyard. Thus, we chose not to order it.
More importantly, we have visited Bourbon & BBQ at Busch Gardens four times so far. We plan to attend a few more. You can follow our visits on our social media. You can also find a live stream of VacationeersTom’s visit to the food festival on our YouTube channel.
However, we encountered numerous occasions on which food was not available. We understand this happens. In addition, bad weather can cause the food and beverage booths to close, which is not the fault of the Busch Gardens ambassadors. Still, most issues with food not being available did not pertain to bad weather.
The Smoked Heirloom Tomato Salad was the most surprising, which cost $9.99. We visited the “Wood Barrel” food and beverage booth several times for this item, and we knew other guests could order it on the days we visited. Nevertheless, we were told each time we visited that the salad was unavailable. The usual reason the Busch Gardens ambassadors gave was a lack of tomatoes from the central kitchen.
We do not voice this as an attack on Busch Gardens. We desire to inform readers of possible issues during their visits. Also, we ran into similar issues of food being sold out on Sunday evenings and food not being ready on Friday when the festival started. These things happen at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Resort also for their events. Theme park guests should prepare themselves if their desired festival food items are unavailable. Now, we move on to the best and worst Bourbon & BBQ food items.
Best Food Items Bourbon & BBQ Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
Though we considered including more items, we narrowed the list of Bourbon & BBQ’s best food items to two. United Parks & Resorts does a good job with festival rib entrees. We have experienced this on many occasions at SeaWorld Orlando.
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay usually follows suit with an above-average rib-style festival food choice or two. For Bourbon & BBQ, Busch Gardens had Smoked Pork Ribs and Lamb Ribs. Both were good but a level below our top two choices. Each suffered from being served with a lower quality side dish than the top two. Many people feel the sides are just as important as the main protein in rating barbecue meals. The Beef Brisket might have been at the top of our list. However, the macaroni & cheese lacked more than a basic quick-service flavor.
Now that we have made as many disclaimers as possible, we should unveil the top two best food items at Bourbon & BBQ at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. Of course, this will be followed by our thoughts on the worst food at Bourbon & BBQ.
Apple Smoked Pork
At one of the first food locations guests will encounter at Bourbon & BBQ, we found an item fitting the event theme well. The Whiskey Rye food and beverage location sells an Apple Smoked Pork entrée.
Each time we tried it, the flavors exceeded other Busch Gardens food festival options. The menu description reads, “Apple Brined Pulled Pork topped with a sweet & spicy bourbon BBQ sauce and served with brown sugar baked beans.”
We acknowledge that some barbecue fans prefer other styles. The United States of America offers several barbecue styles. However, the pulled pork and baked beans match very well with a Bourbon & BBQ festival. The use of bourbon BBQ sauce stands as an obvious connection between barbecue styles and the theme. In addition, the brown sugar baked beans enhance this dish and overall barbecue theme nicely. We would have preferred a slightly more robust flavor from the pulled pork. Nonetheless, this entrée followed the teacher’s assignment. It delivered a tasty dish to earn high marks from us.
Slow Smoked Beef Chuck
Though I referred to this as “Beef Chunks” in social media posts (My bad!), this non-descript-looking menu item surprised us. The beef chuck and cole slaw combination also fulfilled the assignment of being a barbecue meal.
Based on our visits, we suggest visiting the Whiskey Rye Bourbon & BBQ booth often. Like the pulled pork, the beef chuck also came from the Whiskey Rye food and beverage location.
The menu description for this item reads, “Dry Rubbed Beef Chuck that’s slow cooked and tossed in a Florida-style BBQ sauce and served with a peach-infused cole slaw.” As the description reflects, this item leans into a Florida-style barbecue. It does that reasonably well for a quick service item at a theme park in Florida.
Like the pork, we would have appreciated a more robust flavor from the meat. Still, we understand the palate of most theme park guests might not support that. Nevertheless, we found the more significant portion size to be the best part of this dish. At $9.99, this beef chuck entrée does not make a great deal. However, with the sampler lanyard, this basically costs $7 or less for annual passholders. Based on that and the unique flavor of the cole slaw, we are comfortable naming this one of the best Bourbon & BBQ food items at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay for this first-ever food festival.
Worst Food Item
We debated including a second item on the worst list. That item would have been the Smoked Salmon served with jasmine rice. However, the salmon was prepared well for quick service, and the rice offered a reasonable balance. Our issue was the inconsistent flavor of the barbecue sauce on the salmon. In fairness, we only had this once, so maybe when you visit, the sauce issue will not exist.
Nonetheless, one Bourbon & BBQ food item earned the worst food item title. The Glazed Pulled Turkey sounded good in principle but failed in execution. The menu description reads, “Slow-smoked turkey served with sweet potatoes roasted in a brown sugar-butter glaze and BBQ sauce infused with Cherry Coke® and black cherry hot sauce.
Unlike the salmon, we had this item several times. Each time, we thought our concerns from earlier attempts would be solved. Nevertheless, this did not occur.
This festival food item promises a lot from the menu description. The sweet potato-style hash side sounded like a winner. Yet, each time we ordered it, the presentation failed to look appetizing. Also, the flavor was disappointing. The BBQ sauce with some sugary soda and hot sauce infused promised a powerful experience. We received a runny sauce that did not pair well with the turkey or sweet potato. Maybe next year, if Busch Gardens Tampa Bay tries this again, the kinks will be worked out with this style item. However, this year, we suggest ordering something else.
Bourbon & BBQ at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
We love it when theme parks add new, interesting food items. So many theme park visitors settle for standard burgers, chicken fingers, and pizza. We applaud the summer food festivals this year. These events offer something more for the locals and those who want more from food than chicken tenders and fries.
This event provides a good chance to sample barbecue and listen to live music at the Coke Stage. Based on our visits, the music enhanced the event nicely and created a pleasant backdrop for guests to relax and have some bourbon and barbecue. As always, eat like you mean it!
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