Knott's Boysenberry Festival 2023: Tasting Preview
Knott’s Berry Farm, Buena Park, CA
Ladies and gentlemen, the tastiest event of Knott’s Berry Farm’s Seasons of Fun is nearly upon us, as the Boysenberry Festival kicks of this Friday, March 10, with five weeks and six weekends of gourmet gluttony celebrating the little berry that started it all, the boysenberry!
As Knott’s fans know, the boysenberry—a mix of the loganberry, dewberry, raspberry, and blackberry—was invented by Rudolph Boysen but brought to fame when Walter Knott started experimenting with growing it in his farm in Buena Park, resulting in a successful crop of large, sweet and tart berries that quickly gained local popularity, putting his little roadside berry stand on Beach Blvd on the Southern California map. From there, Knott’s Berry Farm slowly grew, as Walter’s wife, Cordelia, gained a following serving her famous fried chicken on site, which grew into a full fledged chicken dinner restaurant that brought long lines to the Knott’s property. To entertain guests, Walter Knott’s imported a genuine ghost town from various real ghost towns in California —creating America’s first theme park. And from there, the park grew and grew into the the top tier theme park that millions of visitors enjoy today.
Nowadays, Knott’s Boysenberry Festival is a spring time food and beverage celebration of the fruit that allowed all of this to happen, and last Thursday, Westcoaster was invited to be part of a media preview to see the new dishes (75 in all) that will be featured this year throughout the park, check out the new merchandise and souvenirs available for guests and fans, and sample some of the delicious creations that await this year’s Festival patrons!
Merchandise
Knott’s has learned from its neighbor over in Anaheim over the years that seasonal events can beget some great, limited-time shopping opportunities for seasonal apparel and collectibles. And the Boysenberry Festival features probably Knott’s most extensive seasonal merchandise line-up!
Boysenberry purple is dominant color scheme among the apparel and merchandise at the Boysenberry Festival.
The Boysenberry Love Pearl is a new jewelry item for festival collectors. There are also sauces, baking mixes, jams and preserves, boysenberry juice concentrate, and more for sale.
There are also plenty of snacks and sweets and other wearables for fans too.
Much of the wares are understandably geared toward the culinary minded, as a variety of sauces, snacks, beverages, preserves, and baked goods ingredients line the shelves. There are also a variety of souvenirs guests can enjoy, from spirit jerseys to mugs and tumblers to parasols. This year, a boysenberry purse might be the most adorable fashion accessory (retailing for $36.99). There’s also a boysenberry bubble wand that the kids are sure to love. It lights up and spins and is the type of silly toy that many families will undoubtedly purchase.
Just like in past years, expect to see these items featured prominently in stores throughout the park as well as in the California Marketplace. For boysenberry lovers, this is the perfect opportunity to bring a piece of the Boysenberry Festival home to enjoy year-round!
A Preview of Tied Up in Knott’s
This year’s Boynsenberry Festival will once again feature the Tied Up in Knott’s art show, featuring a variety of new paintings and prints and three dimension artwork dedicated to the charm and lore and history of Knott’s Berry Farm. Our preview event featured a modest sampling of what to expect—just four art pieces out of the dozens that will be showcased. But this is always a great gallery to feature the creative talents of artists and fans who love Knott’s Berry Farm. Tied Up in Knott’s will be featured at the Factory Store next to the Berry Tales attraction over by Memory Lane, just beyond Charleston Circle.
The Tied Up in Knott’s art show will return this year.
Paintings like these will be part of the art gallery.
And other creative forms of two dimensional (or in some cases, almost two and a half dimensional) media will be on display at the Factory Store at the back of the park.
The Boysenberry Festival Preview Tasting
Of course, the main attraction of the Boysenberry Festival will all the delicious and amazing food in which guests can engorge themselves. Similar to in previous years, some of the items will be offered at small food stands that will accept the Boysenberry Festival Tasting Card, which will offer the ability to sample 6 items from a line-up of over 30 dishes for $55. Guests who want to know what they can get from the tasting card can click here for this year’s Tasting Card roster. Other items will be offered ala carte at one of Knott’s many quick serve dining spots throughout the park. A full listing of all the delectable offerings throughout the park can be found on page 2 of the 2023 Boysenberry Festival Guide.
Take a look at this ridiculous food spread that might kill Dan just by sight.
There are lots of savories at the Boysenberry Festival this year too.
And a good assortment of beverages—both alcoholic and non-alcoholic—too!
During last Thursday’s tasting preview, we had the chance to sample four beverage, six savory, and two sweet items that will be part of this year’s Boysenberry Festival culinary line-up. Every year, Knott’s seems to improve in quality at the Boysenberry Festival, with a greater distribution of delicious and gourmet items. We were pretty impressed with most of the items we tried for this year, and we hope the taste of the rest will be as good as they looked on the big spread that was featured center stage at the tasting event!
Here are our thoughts on what we tried…
The Boysenberry Margarita (left) is exactly what you’d expect—margarita with the tart sweetness of boysenberry juice. This was tasty and refreshing.
The X Brewery Boysenberry Hazy IPA is also new this year and is not very hoppy for an IPA, with the boysenberry fruity flavor being pretty predominant. As a person who doesn’t enjoy the flavor of hops and normally shies away from Indian Pale Ales, I enjoyed it a lot!
The Boysenberry BBQ Beef Tips over Parmesan Grits with Green Onions was hands down the best thing we had Thursday Night. Tender beef, delicious flavor, and the grits were delicious too! We hope that during the event, the food can stay freshly made so that the meat was as tender and warm as when we tried it, since this dish would lessen in quality if left out for a while. Find this by Spurs Chophouse.
The Chicken Wings with Boysenberry and Sweet Chili Glaze was fantastic. Tangy, slightly spicy, and piping hot, these were second favorite. The boysenberry flavor is not as overt, and these are different than the boysenberry wings that Knott’s has featured in the past (and which will be featured ala carte at Boardwalk BBQ), but as a big fan of sweet and spicy, I enjoyed this dish! Find this at the stand by Spurs Chophouse or the stand by Wilderness Dance Hall.
The Buffalo Chicken over White Mac and Cheese and Boysenberry Ranch was also scrumptious. An easy top three. Hopefully, they keep the mac n cheese fresh during the event, as lukewarm mac n cheese can also be pretty disappointing. In the past, we’ve had mac n cheese dishes from Knott’s that are sometimes a little bland in flavor, but that’s definitely not the case here! This can be found at the Chow House booth near Calico Park.
They've had the Sausage with Boysenberry Mustard before, but Knott's always does sausage well, and this is a regular favorite. The stand by Wilderness Broiler will offer this one.
The Sweet Corn Nuggets with Boysenberry Honey were nothing to write home about. I wish the nuggets were crisper. The honey was nice but not super boysenberry-y. However, this would probably be a pretty good pairing with the wings noted above. Find this at the booth by Ghost Town Grub.
The Vegan Tofu, Wild Rice, and Kale Bowl with Apricot and Boysenberry Glaze sounded good in paper, but unfortunately, the vegan tofu was hardly edible, with a cardboard consistency not unlike the fried mac n cheese balls at the Peanuts Celebration. it’s great to have vegan and vegetarian options, but sorry to say that I did not enjoy this and cannot recommend it. If you’re interested, though, you can find it at by the Gold Mine Trail booth near the station of Ghostrider.
They also had a Boysenberry Panna Cotta with Shortbread Cookie that was surprisingly not overly sweet and let the boysenberry flavor shine through and a Boysenberry Blondie that was pretty delectable too! Like a non-chocolate brownie! Some of Knott’s dessert options in the past can be over-the-top sweet and overwhelm the palate, but this is not the case with either dessert here! The Panna Cotta is at the Gold Mine Trail booth and the Ghost Town Bakery booth that’s nearby, while the Blondie can be found at the Ghost Town Bakery booth also.
Beyond the aforementioned items, there were also certain dishes that caught our eye because of how ostentatious and outrageous they were—in all the best (and possibly diabetic or artery-clogging) ways. Some of these items had us thinking that Knott’s might have struck inspiration from fairground foods that make waves for being so over-the-top, but they definitely looked pretty amazing.
The Boysenberry Donut Shake and the Boysenberry Donut Funnel scream sugar mania, but they also look pretty incredible. The shake can be found at Coasters Diner, while the Funnel can be found at Cable Car Kitchen and Log Ride Funnel. Both are ala carte items excluded from the Tasting Card.
The Double Stuffed Baked Potato with Fried Chicken, Boysenberry Mashed Potatoes, Country Gravy, and Corn is an exclusive to Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant.
The Double Stuffed Baked Potato with Boysenberry Breaded Chicken Tenders, Corn, Country Gravy, and Shredded Cheese is also an exclusive to Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant.
The Pancake Cheeseburger with Sausage and Egg Patties and a Boysenberry Maple Syrup is ala carte and can be ordered at the Grizzly Creek Lodge in Camp Snoopy.
Here are close-up’s of the rest of the food we got a first look at over our Thursday evening, in between all the calories we were ingesting!
The Boysenberry Festival will also feature an entertainment line-up of three stage shows, a boysenberry exhibit, and various live activities and games. And of course, the park’s extensive line-up of roller coasters, thrill rides, and family attractions are all part of park admission. Southern California’s theme park food festival season is in full swing, and the Boysenberry Festival is certainly a can’t-miss among them! Make your visit March 10 - April 16!
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