Local restaurants bring the heat and compete for the title of 'champion.'
When it comes to food, wings tend to be a fan favorite. “Almost everybody enjoys wings. And what pairs well with wings? Beer.”
This was among the first sentiments expressed by Sean J. Beck, co-owner of Battle Bros LLC, and co-host of the first annual Space Coast Wing Battle.
Beck and his brother-in-law, Jake Schmalenberger, started the business in 2019, though working together has been a long time coming.
“We’ve talked about various business ideas over the years, but he didn’t live here,” said Schmalenberger. “He recently moved here and said, ‘This is what [the Space Coast] is missing – fun events. We both love wings and we both love beer, so, we decided this would be the project to take on.”
Before the full business plan had even come together, Beck thought of the company’s name, Battle Bros. Once it was decided that this would be the name of the company, the rest fell into place, and so they got to work planning the Wing Battle.
“The point with this event is to engage the community with local restaurants,” said Beck. “We want to engage the restaurants in something that will be fun for them, offer the customers a lot of variety and give the restaurants the opportunity to come up with their own flavors.”
In other words, restaurants are being given the chance to be as creative and unique as possible with a dish that everyone loves. And ticket holders get to enjoy wings of all flavors and heat levels, hopefully seeking out their new go-to for wing night or Sunday afternoon football.
Restaurants from across the Space Coast are competing – 16, to be exact – and breweries from around Central Florida will be bringing special brews for customers to enjoy as they try to determine whose wings are the best. Because, that’s what the Space Coast Wing Battle is: a competition to settle, once and for all, which restaurant has the best wings on the Space Coast.
There will be two different awards given. One will be a people’s choice award, which will, of course, be given to the restaurant with the most votes at the end of the event. The second will be the Space Coast Wing Battle Champion, which will be determined by a panel of accredited judges who will be present at the event. The event is all you can eat and drink, but this is in no way a contest to see who can eat or drink the most.
As mentioned, this will be the first annual Space Coast Wing Battle hosted by Battle Bros LLC. Once the Wing Battle is over, Beck and Schmalenberger will take the feedback from both the restaurants and the ticket holders as guidelines to plan their next event.
“All of our events will be food-based, but each time you come to one of our events, you’ll get something different,” said Beck.
The Space Coast Wing Battle is being held on February 8th at Viera Regional Park. The live entertainment will be Coastal Breed. You must have tickets to enter, and you must be 21 or older.
The Space Coast Wing Battle is sponsored by: Carroll Distributing Company, Von Brooke Telecom, Soriano Med, SYSCO, United Rentals and Space Coast Magazines.
The Space Coast Wing Battle is also held in partnership with The Children’s Hunger Project, Inc., so part of the proceeds will be donated to help feed children across the Space Coast.
Visit SpaceCoastWingBattle.com for more information. USE CODE SCL5 for $5 off your tickets!
Competitors:
- The Twisted Birch Sports Bar & Grill
- Buffalo Wild Wings
- Doghouse Pizza
- Gator’s Dockside Melbourne
- Sandbar Sports Grill
- Double Tapp Grill
- Malabar Mo’s Bar & Grill
- Hell ‘n Blazes Brewing Co.
- Chumley’s Depot
- Downtown Produce
- Slow & Low BBQ – Viera
- Haley’s Smokehouse
- 4th Street Fillin Station
- Hemingway’s Tavern
- Long Doggers
- The Shack Riverfront Restaurant and Tiki Bar
Brews and More:
- Florida Beer Company
- Pareidolia Brewing Co.
- Hell ‘n Blazes Brewing Co.
- BeachFly Brewing Company
- Intracoastal Brewing Company
- Ellipsis Brewing
- Golden Road Brewing
- Veza Sur Brewing Co
- Drink Babe
- Cutwater Spirits
- Bud Light Seltzer