Local pitmasters Reyan Fernando and Mark Kuch will once again hit the road with the Meatstock Circuit, one of Australia’s biggest barbecue and music festivals, beginning this weekend in Melbourne.
Fernando and Kuch, two mates from Geelong, have been invited to host the Meet the Pitmasters and the Meat and Greet segments live at Meatstock in Melbourne, Toowoomba and Sydney over the next three months.
The pair’s BBQs & Brews Show, which began in 2020 as an Instagram Live stream as the friends tried to fill the days of lockdown, is a live, unedited show which features both backyard and well-known guests from the barbecuing community.
While it started as a way for Fernando and Kuch to occupy their time, explore the world of barbecue and connect with the meat-loving community, the show has amassed over 12,000 subscribers since launching on YouTube last year.
Fernando, who was in a managerial IT position when COVID-19 hit, has since gone to a part-time role in that field and is now earning more from content creation.
He said hosting BBQs & Brews, which was the start of his transition to content creation, was a dream come true.
“It’s still kind of a passion project, not really an income stream as such, but I just love it,” Fernando said.
“I just love talking to people and hearing their stories. When we started in 2020 we had no real direction, we were just having a chat to someone once a week or so.
“And the barbie community comes together for these things, which is really, really awesome, and we’ve had some great success in the last six months.
“We still talk to your regular backyard pitmasters, but now we’re also talking to the likes of Jess Pyle, who is a Texas-based, massive barbecue person that’s from Australia. It’s been a really cool, fulfilling journey.”
