This weekend will see barbecue teams slave over slabs of chicken, beef and ribs for hours while others watch on sipping craft beer at the city’s inaugural Crafted Live festival.

MacCabe Park will host the Illawarra’s first major barbecue, craft beer and cider festival with live music, masterclasses and workshops.

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Kirrily Waldhorn, or the Beer Diva as she’s otherwise known, will be holding a Q&A with brewers and will also educate patrons on which beers pair well with cheese.

“Most people think wine is the only partner to cheese but it’s really fun to see how well beer can go with cheese,” she said.

“We’ve got over 400 breweries in Australia now … which shows there’s an apetite for craft beer.”

She said 17 years ago most beers on tap were generic lager styles but today there’s a beer for every occaision.

“Beer was something that was drunk at the footy, around the barbecue, pre-dinner. Whereas now it spans so many different occaisions; beer and cheese is one example of a food match but I’m running beer dinners all the time and matching beer to five different courses,” Ms Waldhorn said.

Brewers exhibiting include Five Barrel Brewing, Illawarra Brewing Company, Shark Island, Small Acres Cyder [sic], Stockade Brew, Nomad and Pirate Life, to name a few.

Some of Ms Waldhorn’s favourite matches include: a fresh goats cheese with a Belgium wheat beer; white mould creamy brie with an amber ale; matured cheddar with a hop driven IPA; and one of her favourites, a blue with a dark beer.

“A lot of people don’t like blue cheese and a lot of people don’t like dark beer, so I bring them both together and convert [people] with the rich chocolately coffee notes that tones down some of the intensity of the blue cheese,” she said.

Linda Zammit, 40, is part of the Pit’s Perfect all-female barbecue team with partner Sam Witchard and friend Rachael Flannagan.

The women only began cooking in Australian Barbecue Alliance competitions last October but have already have received gold, silver and bronze.

Crafted Live will be their fifth event and hope to keep riding the wave of success.

“I didn’t expect it to be such a community but it really is,” Ms Zammit said.

“We all hang out, the kids hang out, and everybody helps each other even though you’re competiting.”

Tony Gimellaro, 31, and his team The Beard and The BBQ has been competing for about 18 months and finished in the nation’s top 10 last year.

The electrician discovered the American slow-cooked barbecue style from watching the television show Man Vs Food and now finds himself up at 4am on weekends to start cooking dinner.

“This type of barbecue is not like grilling steaks or sausages, it takes a long time to cook – low and slow,” Mr Gimellaro said.

“It’s an American tradition but it’s taking off here.”

Beef brisket and pulled lamb are his favourite meat to cook. With lamb he usually uses an craft IPA or a stout to “wrap” (or coat) the meat to “speed it along” and add an extra layer of flavour.

Mr Gimellaro and his team will also compete this weekend against teams from all over Australia in the hope of being judged best beef.

“A tropy’s always good but it’s getting harder and harder to win one [too many people like to BBQ now],” he said, noting more and more people are giving it a go.

Crafted Live Wollongong, April 15 and 16, MacCabe Park.

Live music includes Tex Perkins & The Ape and Ash Grunwald.