Middletown's Ross Brewing Hosts First-Ever Chili Cookoff Contest

BELFORD, NJ — Think you've got a great chili recipe?

Enter it next weekend at the first-ever wintertime Chili Cook-off Contest, held Feb. 3 at Ross Brewing in Belford. To register your chili, enter here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/r...

It's not only free to enter; it's free to come and taste the chilis; for the first time, they will have a People's Choice award.

This is the same brewery — with stunning views of Sandy Hook Bay — that had the apple pie contest back in November, right before Thanksgiving. Fourteen people entered pies in that contest, and first-place winner was Lauren DeSanti, a Belford resident and owner of the home-based baking business Whisky Business, which has a cult following for her baked goods.

It's free to enter. There will be some big-name local judges judging the chili submissions, and they are: Middletown Mayor Tony Perry, state Sen. Declan O'Scanlon, Nick Ditri of the band Disco Fries, Jen Lampert, co-owner of Half Moon restaurant in Keansburg and Monmouth County Commissioner Ross Licitra, plus Ross Brewing Co. owner John Ross Cocozza. Oh, and local celeb chef David Burke (he owns GOAT, Red Horse) is also a judge — so make sure your chili knocks 'em dead!

What Middletown's Newest Brewery, Ross Brewing, Is Like (from the day they first opened, in April 2023)

1st, 2nd And 3rd Place Winners In Middletown Apple Pie Contest (Nov. 19, 2023)