Long Beach’s BBQ community will unite once again on Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, for Smoke & Oak: A Fall BBQ & Whiskey Affair, a seasonal celebration of smoked meats, craft whiskey, and local hospitality.
Running from noon to 4PM at Mosaic in DTLB, where 3rd Street meets The Promenade, you will use a tasting passport to get down on 15 curated tastings from 15 pitmasters. On top of that, six whiskey distilleries will be pouring tastings. Live music will paint the air. And a warm fall-inspired lounge atmosphere will be accessible to every guest because there is only one ticket—not different levels offering different amenities. This all the while benefiting NoahS’s Arc Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting individuals and families experiencing tragedy, rough times, or in simple need of help.
Presented by nonprofit NoahS’s Arc Foundation, Axiom Kitchen BBQ owners Qiana and Ian Mafnas, and the team behind the popular Long Beach BBQ Festival, Smoke & Oak: A Fall BBQ & Whiskey Affair aims to blend culinary excellence with community impact, offering one of the most ambitious BBQ-and-whiskey pairings the city has ever seen.
Wait—what is this NoahS’s Arc Foundation that the event is benefitting? A local nonprofit built on compassion.
Founded in memory of Noah Memry Sekona, Qiana’s son, who tragically died at 18, this Long Beach-based nonprofit has many foci: homeless assistance. Food and clothing provisions. Job placement support. Coaching. Specialized aid for women and men with children…
NoahS’s Arc Foundation (spelled exactly that way) has become a vital grassroots organization dedicated to uplifting unhoused or struggling families and individuals. The foundation began with simple acts of service—meal drives, clothing donations, and direct outreach—and grew into a structured nonprofit offering transitional support, resource navigation, job-readiness guidance, and emergency assistance.
Their mission is rooted in dignity and consistency: showing up for those who are often overlooked. Events like Smoke & Oak help fund year-round programming, ensuring that Long Beach’s most vulnerable residents have access to the essentials, along with a path toward stability.
Meet Axiom Kitchen BBQ, the folks leading Long Beach’s barbecue events
Qiana and Ian Mafnas are two of the key players in Long Beach’s bourgeoning barbecue scene, harnessing their love of the pit with their community connections to create events across the year focused on the art of using smoke and meats.
People perpetually lined up for Ian’s array of smoked beef rib hunks, thickly sliced’n’barked brisket, and strips of tri-tip get slathered in herbed clarified butter under their banner of Axiom. And then they would follow through with an assortment of Qiana’s masterful sides and sauces, like her two barbecue sauces, one with smoked Ancho chiles and the other honoring Kansas City-style. Then there was her famed corn, fried in butter and then tossed with onion, green peppers, and bacon. Her rightfully adored mac’n’cheese. Bourbon baked beans. Coconut milk-lined coleslaw…
People love Axiom—and rightfully so.
The culinary force behind Smoke & Oak is this pair.
What to expect from Smoke & Oak:
One can expect 15 pitmasters, each offering a curated taste to guests. Those barbecue joints include:
- Chaudown Kitchen
- Midway City BBQ
- Vinegar & Smoke
- Califas BBQ
- Nova’s Craft BBQ
- Fresh Off The Yacht
- Casey Family BBQ
- Just Wright BBQ
- Mussels & Pearls
- White Oak BBQ
- Bully’s Craft BBQ
- Broken Spirits BBQ & Distillery
- Black Pork
- Smoked & Blazed BBQ
- Axiom Kitchen BBQ
And for the drinkers, your parched palate will be happily accommodated with these distilleries:
- Shelter Distilling
- Broken Spirits
- Bardstown Bourbon
- Redwood Empire
- Spirit Works Distillery
- Doc Swinson
How much? $95 per person. Unlimited barbecue tastings. Eight whiskey pours. Boom.
Smoke & Oak: A Fall BBQ & Whiskey Affair takes place on Saturday, Dec. 6, from noon to 4PM at Mosaic, located at 300 The Promenade N. For tickets, click here.
