By Luke Darnell, MABA President and Pitmaster of Old Virginia Smoke
The BBQ Jamboree was held this year with beautiful weather in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Not only did it feature one of the first SCA Steak Cookoffs in MABA land, but it also started the farewell tour of John Busch, a long time KCBS rep in the area.
John was honored repeatedly throughout the weekend by Jeremy and James, including them giving John his own championship belt, and creating an orange t shirt with John’s likeness on it. We look forward to celebrating John Busch throughout the year and all that he does for BBQ.
The SCA contest was great fun on Friday night, with Rockin Robyn’s winning first place.
Day one of the BBQ Jamboree double was also the Virginia MABA Cup. This year it was won by Old Virginia Smoke, who also finished as Reserve Grand Champion. The title of Grand Champion was won by Smokin’ Hoggz from Massachusetts, captained by two time world champion Bill Gillespie.
Day 2 of the BBQ Jamboree was won by those local yokels Sauce This! BBQ, with reserve being won by 3 Eyz BBQ. Sauce This! BBQ was also the two day total winner, and won the BBQ Jamboree double championship belt.
Comments Off on Business Member Feature – The BBQ Guru
By “BBQ Bob” Trudnak, Director of Sales and Marketing for The BBQ Guru and Pitmaster of The BBQ Guru Competition Team
The BBQ Guru is a leading designer innovative BBQ equipment. The company was first in the marketplace to develop an entire line of high-tech temperature control grill accessories. These include the award-winning PartyQ, DigiQ, and CyberQ Cloud automatic temperature control devices. The BBQ Guru also recently launched the exclusive line of Monolith BBQ Guru Edition grills, creating the most advanced ceramic charcoal grill in the world with built-in temperature control with email and SMS text notifications.
The company is committed to making the world’s finest outdoor cooking products and also offers a wide selection of BBQ tools and accessories. Whether you’re looking for automatic temperature control for your outdoor cooker, or specialty made rubs and sauces, The BBQ Guru has all your outdoor cooking essentials. For the competition cooks, many people may not know that BBQ Guru carries a variety of top, current award winning sauces, rubs and injections as well as disposable gloves, cutting boards, food handling gloves, charcoal and chef’s knives. Check us out and all of our products at www.bbqguru.com
By Luke Darnell, MABA President and Pitmaster of Old Virginia Smoke
BBQ Gives Back was a rousing start to the beginning of the MABA season, and sure didn’t disappoint. The weather wasn’t too bad for the end of March, but was still chilly. Teams from all over MABA-land flocked into Bethpage Campground to try their hand at three different interconnected contests…BBQ Gives Back, The Virginia Grands, and the MABA Cup Championship.
Bill and Mary Jones, and all of their volunteers, have really created a great contest to start off the season in the mid atlantic. Each year this contest gets better and better, and each year generates more and more money for Operation BBQ Relief.
Congrats to the winner of the MABA Cup Championship, Lo-n-Slo BBQ, representing the good state of Pennsylvania!
Congrats to the winner of the Virginia Grands Championship, and the Grand Champion of BBQ Gives Back, Who Cares BBQ!
Also, we’d be remiss if we didn’t give a shout out to Pigheaded BBQ on a hard fought RGC. Great job Ron and team.
Keep your eyes on this event, as it promises to get bigger and better in the next year!
By Luke Darnell, MABA President and Pitmaster of Old Virginia Smoke
The Ironman…where you get to get down and dirty with limited amounts of meat and no electronics. The Ironman…where you can get sun and warmth the first day…but get froze out the second day. The Ironman…where steak contests were born in the Mid-Atlantic.
Traditionally on of the more fun events in the MABA calendar, this year’s Ironman didn’t disappoint. Eric Forrester and his team at Mason Dixon BBQ Supply as per usual did a great job in preparation for the event. On Friday, there was the first ever SCA Steak Cookoff at the Ironman, one of the first steak cookoffs in the Mid-Atlantic. This was great fun for all that participated. Brett from SCA was a joy to be around, and the awards were fun. Congrats to late entrant Mitch on his fantastic steak victory.
The weather was great for steak, but plummeted over night for BBQ. The competition was hotly contested. The Ironman, for those of you that don’t know, is a contest that features teams only cooking 7 pieces of chicken, 1 rack of ribs, 1 pork butt, and 1 brisket. 59 of the 60 teams cooked this format, and Rockin Robyn’s won the day with a 700+ score and for Grand Champion! Congrats!
Look for more information about next year’s Ironman, and look for more SCA cookoffs in the near future in MABA-land.
Comments Off on Interstate BBQ Festival Hagerstown, Maryland April 20-21, 2018
By Mark Gibbs, Pitmaster of Checkered Flag 500 BBQ
The 3rd year of what has become one of the best competitions on the Mid-Atlantic BBQ circuit is in the books. The Interstate BBQ Festival at the Washington County Agricultural Center in Hagerstown, Maryland stacked up 67 tough teams to compete in the last throws of winter weather. The facilities are top notch for the cook teams. Rob Immer and his staff know how to throw a BBQ party for sure.
The weekend started off on Friday with a couple of ancillary competitions and a Kids Que. In the burger category, Dustin Reed and his sous chef Clint from The Inked Pig BBQ brought home top honors. In the dessert category a last-minute decision to enter by 50 Shades of Pork paid off with a 1st Place win. In the Kids Que, tacos were the dish of choice and Brother-Uncle Barbeque’s youngest member put together a mouthwatering dish that brought home a nice GC!
Todd and Donna Spickler of Bone to Bark BBQ hosted a pot luck chicken dinner for all of the teams on Friday night. It was great to see our MidAtlantic friends back on the BBQ circuit after some back problems kept Todd from the tour for much of 2017. Welcome back B2B!
The results of the Pro BBQ competition started off with the triumphant return of Bone to Bark BBQ and a win in the chicken category. Ribs saw a familiar face at the top of the list with Richmond, VA’s Wolf’s Revenge and Chiles Cridlin taking home 1st place. 3 Eyz BBQ out of Owings Mills, MD took home the big trophy in Pork and Piggin’ Whiskey BBQ Team racked up the win in Brisket.
The top 10 in each category was separated by 6 points or less except chicken. Everyone was guessing who was going to take home the big prize, but it was a tough one to figure out for sure. Smokestack Redemption hailing from Phoenixville, Pennsylvania got the big call for Grand Champion. They had a great cook and put together a 14th place chicken, 5th in Ribs, 12th in Pork and 7th in Brisket for the win. Shortsville Smokers with Rikk Foringer put together a great effort to take home the RGC as well. This year Interstate hosted the MABA Maryland State Cup for the first time. Dan Hixon and 3 Eyz BBQ brought home the top Maryland honors with a 4th Place finish overall.
If you have not done this contest as a cook, judge or BBQ fan, you need to add it to your list of contests in 2019. This one is quickly becoming one of the top early contests in the nation!
Comments Off on The Great Brunswick BBQ Throwdown Brunswick, MD
By Mark Kenney, Pitmaster of Sauce This! BBQ
The 2nd Annual “The Great Brunswick BBQ Throwdown” kicked off the MABA contest season for 2018 on March 2nd and 3rd! A nor’easter decided to greet it on Friday to make load in a bit of a challenge from time to time. Winds gusted well above 60 mph at some points but BBQ Competitors are a hard crowd to scare off. Thankfully the winds died down good bit over Friday night and the weather remained warmer than last year.
The Steadman-KeenanAmericanLegionPost96 hosted the cooks meeting, a breakfast, some dinner activities as well as opened its doors so the judges would have a warm and comfortable place to do what they do!
The contest is located in downtown Brunswick next to the local train station. The Brunswick Heritage Museum was recently renovated and makes for an interesting side jaunt to see railway history as well as a large interactive model train layout.
The awards were hosted in one of the towns local parks and featured custom made trophies from one of the local supporters of the contest. Out of the 29 teams: Uncle Pig’s Barberque Pit scored a first place chicken, Old Virginia Smoke a 1st place Ribs, Poke N Smoke 1st place Pork and Smoke-aholics finished off the individual meats with a 1st place brisket. The final tally ended with Uncle Pig’s Barbecue Pit taking the RGC and Old Virginia Smoke taking the Grand Championship the second year in the row at this contest with a dominant score! This also earned them the first MABA region Jack draw of the year!
A special thanks to all those involved in pulling off a contest with less than perfect weather. It’s part of what the BBQ cooks expect but we appreciate the hard work and dedication of all those involved in powering through during it. All in all, it was a great kick off to the 2018 MABA season and we can’t wait for next years Brunswick Throwdown!
Comments Off on Sonny’s Smokin Showdown, Orlando, FL
By Brian Walrath, Pitmaster of Brown Liquor BBQ
I was honored to be asked by champion pitmaster Mark Gibbs of Checkered Flag 500 BBQ to tag along and help him cook the prestigious Sonny’s Invitational event in Orlando, Florida. Along with fellow pitmaster Don Wallace of Life if Good But BBQ is Better, we headed down for the event on Wednesday night. Our first destination of the weekend was just outside Atlanta to pick up Mark’s trailer that had been resting there since a recent cooking class at the Deep South Smoker’s headquarters in Cumming, Georgia. Sitting in a pick-up truck with two fellow pitmasters for several hours on the road can lead to some interesting discussion. From rules, to smokers, to the best gas stations to stop at led the initial discussion during this first part of the trek. Throw in several movie quotes from Caddy Shack, Stripes, The Hangover, Animal House, etc…and you can imagine the direction we were headed!
Thursday morning brought us to the trailer and all was well to hook up and go…well, all except one minor detail of Mark forgetting the key. With the handy work “Deep South McGyver,” and a wire, we were hooked up shortly thereafter and on our way for the open road from Atlanta to Orlando. Well, except that Atlanta has quite possibly the worst traffic ever…and I’m from DC!
Our seven hour drive on Thursday took about 12 or 13 but we finally arrived around midnight at Camping World Stadium, site of the event! Many teams were already there. We quickly dropped the trailer, grabbed a beer and walked around a bit to get a lay of the land. It was pretty quiet so Don and I headed over to the hotel…but not before catching Llama Gratis on TV!!!
Friday morning we arrived at the site and got settled in. Two ancillary categories were happening this weekend and Mark turned over the keys to Don and I to do them. First off was one of the new SCA Steak competitions. We had a good time cooking on Sharon Gibb’s new Deep South Mailbox and cooked a might tasty steak. We didn’t fare well in the results, but we had fun trying! Fast forward here briefly to the mystery meat category on Saturday and again we didn’t fare well in the results but our tri tip street taco with cilantro lime slaw topped with queso fresco we thought was amazing!
Mark’s cook went well and we turned everything in on time despite Don figuring out our comp clock was six minutes off!! (Those who know Don well can imagine the anxiety this may have caused!). Everything was solid but the brisket was incredible. The judges agreed and awarded CF500 its sole walk of the day, 10th place brisket. The team finished 27th out of 49 teams with a 690…yes, a 690!! In this field of all past champions, that’s not too shabby! Congratulations to Iowa’s Smokey D’s on GC and Shake ‘N Bake BBQ on reserve.
Special thanks to Mark and Don for a great weekend. I do have note the amazing feat by Mark on the way home. We pulled out of Sonny’s Saturday night around 7pm. Mark drove all night and had us home by early Sunday morning…amazing…perhaps a little foolish, but we made it safe!
Click here for the full results from the Sonny’s Invitational.
Comments Off on MABA Annual Meeting a Huge Success!
February 10th brought the annual meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Barbecue Association. Our venue was Addy’s in Manassas, Virginia and the support from the membership was strong, selling out the event. MABA President Luke Darnell had a full slate on the agenda and got started promptly at noon. After opening remarks, it was right into Tier I and the new Tier II awards. Congratulations to all who heard their name called and received awards and money! Here’s how the top ten. in each category ended up:
TIER I
CHICKEN:
10th place – Checkered Flag 500
9th place – 3N1 Q
8th place – Shortsville Smokers
7th place – Redneck Scientific
6th place – Wolfs Revenge
5th place – Sauce This! BBQ
4th place – 420Q
3rd place – 3Eyz BBQ
2nd place – Rockin Robyn’s
1st place, 2017 Bill Allen Memorial Chicken Team of the Year- Old Virginia Smoke
RIBS:
10th place – Sauce This! BBQ
9th place – Drillin and Grillin
8th place – Checkered Flag 500
7th place – 3N1 Q
6th place – Rockin Robyn’s
5th place – Lo -n -Slow
4th place – Muttley Crew
3rd place – Wolf’s Revenge
2nd place – Aporkalypse Now
1st place – 3 Eyz BBQ
PORK:
10th place – Checkered Flag 500
9th place – Old Virginia Smoke
8th place – 420Q
7th place – The Smokehouse Mafia
6th place – Lo – n – Slo BBQ
5th place – Redneck Scientific
4th place – Rockin Robyn’s
3rd place… – Wolf’s Revenge
2nd place – Shortsville Smokers
1st place – Aporkalypse Now
BRISKET:
10th place – Aporkalypse Now
9th place – Rockin Robyn’s
8th place – 3N1 Q
7th place – Sauce This! BBQ
6th place – Lo -N- Slo
5th place – Old Virginia Smoke
4th place – Rhode Hog
3rd place – 420Q
2nd place – Wolf’s Revenge
1st place – Checkered Flag 500 BBQ
OVERALL:
10th place – Drilling and Grilling
9th place – Muttley Crew
8th place – Redneck Scientific
7th place – Shortsville Smokers
6th place – Lo -n -Slo
5th place – Aporkalypse Now
4th place – Checkered Flag 500
3rd place – Rockin Robyns
2nd place – Old Virginia Smoke
1st place – Wolf’s Revenge
TIER II
CHICKEN:
10th place – Butt Up or Shut Up
9th place – Smokin’ Aint Easy
8th place – Smokin’ Foolz
7th place – Smokopolis
6th place – Smoke N BArrels BBQ
5th place – The BBQ Guru
4th place – Red Valley BBQ
3rd Place – Crimson Q
2nd place – Black Hart BBQ
1st place – 2 Rhodies
RIBS:
10th place – 2 Rhodies
9th place – Little Luke’s BBQ
8th place – The BBQ Guru
7th place – Holdin’ My BBQ
6th place – Lil Will’s Southern Que
5th place – The Bearded One BBQ
4th place – Black Hart BBQ
3rd place – Butt Up or Shut Up
2nd place – Dante’s Inferno
1st place – Smokey Dog
PORK
10th place – Ribs Within
9th place – Fireside Alchemy
8th place – Funny Bones BBQ
7th place – All Fired Up BBQ
6th place – Old Town Smokers
5th place – Hoos Smokin’
4th place – Black Hart BBQ
3rd place – Smokin Hoggz BBQ
2nd place – Christmas City BBQ
1st place – Dr. Pearl’s Medicinal Smoke BBQ Team
BRISKET:
10th place – Little Luke’s BBQ
9th place – Crimson Q
8th place – BBQ Guru
7th place – Game On BBQ
6th place – 2 Rhodies BBQ
5th place – Christmas City BBQ
4th place – Shady Crew
3rd place – Dr. Pearl’s Medicinal Smoke BBQ Team
2nd place – Smokin HOggz BBQ
1st place – Dante’s Inferno
OVERALL
10th place – Big D’s BBQ
9th place – Slower Lower BBQ
8th place – Nice Racks
7th place – Butt Up or Shut Up
6th place – Funny Bones BBQ
5th place – Christmas City BBQ
4th place – The BBQ Guru
3rd place – Black Hart BBQ
2nd place – Dante’s Inferno
1st place – Dr. Pearls Medicinal Smoke BBQ Team
MABA Rookie Team of the Year for 2017 – Love N Smoke
After the awards, a special President’s award was presented to Sauce This BBQ. Then it was onto the raffle for the three smokers and Grizzy Coolers. Special thanks to BBQ Guru for the Monolith Ceramic Grill, Deep South Smokers for the Mailbox Smoker, and Traeger for the Pro Series 34. Also, thanks to Eric Forrester of Mason Dixon BBQ Services for donating two Grizzly coolers. Here are the winners of these items:
Monolith Ceramic Grill – Tex Loudenslager
Deep South Mailbox Smoker – Todd Johnston
Traeger Pro Series 34 – Jason Bradfield
Grizzly Cooler – Rolfe Garrett
Grizzly Cooler – Chris Safley
Finally, perhaps the best part of the meeting, the raffle for nearly 40 contests and dozens of barbecue related prizes! All in all, the MABA Annual Banquet was a tremendous success. Thanks to all of our sponsors and generous companies that donated product for the raffles pictured below. Congratulations to everyone who won awards and raffle prizes, we can’t wait to see everyone in 2018 on the competition trail.
Comments Off on Amazing Prizes to be Given Away at the MABA Annual Meeting
Over 30 contests, 3 competition quality smokers, 2 world class coolers, and dozens of other top-notch barbecue equipment and products to be raffled off at the MABA Annual Meeting February 10th in Manassas, Virginia!
Check out this list of leading contests who have graciously donated entries (must be present to win):
The Great Brunswick BBQ Throwdown, Brunswick, MD
BBQ Gives Back, Urbanna, VA
The Ironman Greencastle, PA
Interstate BBQ Festival Hagerstown, MD
Naptown barBAYq Cooking Contest Crownsville, MD
Jiggy With the Piggy Kannapolis, NC
BBQ Jamboree- Double (no power) Fredericksburg, VA
Kings of Q BBQ cook off and Festival Ayden, NC
Salt City BBQ Festival Syracuse, NY
Chesapeake Jubilee BBQ Cook-Off Chesapeake, VA
Que for the Troops Levittown, PA (must not be already registered)
Historic New Castle Colonial BBQ New Castle, DE
Beltway BBQ Showdown Upper Marlboro, MD
Almost Heaven BBQ Bash Weston, WV
Covington Cork & Pork Festival Covington, VA
Chillin & Grillin In The Glades Wise, VA
Rotary Ribs and Rhythm & Blues Auburn, NY
Smoke on the mountain BBQ championship Galax, VA
Smoke in the Grove Spring Grove, PA
13th Annual Recovery Fest Richmond, VA
Currituck Heritage Festival Powells Point, NC
Tilley Harley-Davidson Biker Blues BBQ Salisbury, NC
Butts and Beans BBQ Challenge Newton, NC
Smoke in the Park Lemoyne, PA
Que by the Sea Seaside Heights, NJ
Grillin & chillin BBQ cook-off Waxhaw, NC
Giant National BBQ Battle – Washington, DC
Sun BBQ Fest – Uncasville, CT
York County BBQ Festival – Delta, PA
Que & Cruz Louisa, VA (half entry)
I love Barbecue & Music Festival Lake Placid, NY
Also being raffled off for those attending the MABA Annual Meeting (must be present to win):
Snake River Farms Gift Basket
Tee Shirts from Threadzone
BBQ Bob’s Hav’n a BBQ Rubs and Sauces
BBQ Bob’s Hav’n a BBQ Sponsorship for 2018
Four BBQData.com one year memberships
Old Virginia Smoke competition class free entry
Aporkalypse Now competition class free entry
Flame Boss 300-WiFi Universal Smoker Controller with Universal Adapter
Two Flame Boss turn-in box carriers
Tub O’ Towels all purpose and stainless steel wipes
And much more!
The first cooker is a Monolith Classic with DigiQ DX2 donated by .
The second cooker is a Deep South Mailbox Smoker donated by .
The third cooker is a Traeger Pro Series 34 Grill donated by .
And last, but certainly not least, we are raffling off two 40 quart Grizzly Coolers donated by .
Tickets are $5 each or 5 tickets for $20.
Tickets will be sold on the web until Thursday, February 8, 2018 and in person at the Annual Meeting. You DO NOT need to be present to win.
Your ticket numbers will be generated at random. Your tickets will be input into the drawing which will be held during the annual meeting on February 10, 2018 in Manassas, VA.
If not present, arrangements can be made with the supplier for pickup/shipping. Any costs for customization or upgrades to the models donated, taxes, shipping costs, and/or other crating costs are the sole responsibility of the winner. Limit one win per person.
Again, you DO NOT need to be present to win this drawing.
Day one of the BBQ Jamboree double was also the Virginia MABA Cup. This year it was won by Old Virginia Smoke, who also finished as Reserve Grand Champion. The title of Grand Champion was won by Smokin’ Hoggz from Massachusetts, captained by two time world champion Bill Gillespie.
