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 BBQ Jamboree – Virginia Two-Step, Fredericksburg, VA – May 12-14
by Brian Walrath, MABA Board Member and Pitmaster for Brown Liquor BBQ
James and Jeremy always put on a great contest and their BBQ Jamboree event is one of the marquee events on the east coast. This year they decided to remove the festival parts of the weekend and just concentrate on putting on a great barbecue event. AND, this year they decided to take the leap and do a double contest back-to-back. Power, water, and all of the things pitmasters rely on are always top notch right down to the free ice for teams. Fifty-four teams competed on day one and 43 teams fired it up for day two. Two additional awards would be given out on this special weekend in the Mid-Atlantic. First, the two-day winner would be awarded for the most overall points over the two-day cook. This prize would bring additional money and a WWE-style kick-ass belt! Also up for the grabs for all Virginia teams on day one was the MABA Virginia State Cup, additional money, and cool knife set by Gunter Wilhelm.
James and Jeremy also invited everyone to a pot luck dinner on Saturday night and supplied the beer! Teams brought amazing dishes and it was so nice to sit and relax with fellow teams, judges, reps, and organizers under one roof and enjoy some live music as well!
Sharon Gibbs of Checkered Flag 500 celebrates her birthday with a tasty brew! (Sharon, you can blame Luke for this pic!)
The results for Day 1:
GC – Who Cares BBQ
RGC – Uncle Toad’s Competition BBQ
Chicken: Pork Barrel BBQ
Ribs: Mudville BBQ
Pork: Old Virginia Smoke
Brisket: Uncle Toad’s Competition BBQ
Comments Off on Contest Review, BBQ Jamboree – Fredericksburg, VA
By Brian Walrath, MABA Secretary and Pitmaster for Brown Liquor BBQ
Fredericksburg has quickly grown into one of the marquee events on the east coast for KCBS competition barbecue. Contest organizers, James Sharon and Jeremy Bullock do a great job for the teams and have grown this event every year since their first in 2010. This year would again be the most teams for this event as 72 top notch teams would battle it out for the $12,500 purse! And, this event is the official MABA state cup for the state of Virginia – extra incentive for teams from the Commonwealth!
The weather forecasts for Friday and Saturday were to be laced with periods of thunderstorms and some rain. Friday afternoon was mostly a beautiful day with mild temps, but the storm we were promised by weather forecasters came to fruition and about 2pm or so, we were hit with a big thunderstorm and a good soaking of rain for about a half hour. Teams dried out from the rain blast and settled in.
MABA “El Presidente” Luke Darnell, Pitmaster of Old Virginia Smoke!
The cooks meeting went as most do, but this one would be interrupted by a special presentation. Jerry and Roxanne from Redneck Scientific presented newly minted MABA President Luke Darnell with the new president’s jacket and sash bearing the title, “El Presidente.” Thanks to previous President Mike Fay, for several years of service building and running MABA into the great organization it is today!
Speaking of Mike Fay, he spearheaded a couple of noteworthy events and cooking challenges. The “Cheesy Beer Challenge” was first – teams wanting to participate, brought a case of inexpensive, or “cheesy” beer (under $20) and the winner of the chicken category would be awarded all the beer! Second was the Whiskey-A-Go-Go – this would be for the highest brisket entry and entry into that was a bottle of good whiskey. Congratulations to Aporkalypse Now for winning all the beer and to 270 Smokers for winning all the whiskey! One last thanks to Mike for also organizing a MABA potluck dinner after the cook’s meeting. Many delicious offerings were brought and shared and the group had a nice time eating and drinking together!
One last thunderstorm after turn-ins and before awards would pass through and wreak havoc on teams who didn’t quite finish their packing. Awards came and saw 3 Eyz BBQ taking the grand champion position, congrats to Dan and Rick for a great cook. Don and Sandy Wallace from Life is Good But BBQ is Better would land their best finish to date with an impressive reserve grand champion AND the Virginia State Cup…way to go everyone who heard their name on this day in a deep and tough field!
GC winners 3 Eyz BBQ and RGC winners Life is Good But BBQ is Better!
First place winners:
Chicken – 3 Eyz BBQ
Ribs – 270 Smokers
Pork – Life is Good But BBQ is Better
Brisket – 3 Eyz BBQ
Grand Champion – 3 Eyz BBQ
Reserve Grand Champion – Life is Good But BBQ is Better
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.
