The first BBQ Gives Back challenge was held in Urbanna, Virginia. Bill and Mary Jones and their team put together a really nice first year event at the Bethpage Camping Resort. Each team had a full site with hookups abound. The weekend weather was exceptional for March, and 64 teams were signed up for what is probably the earliest MABA contest ever held. The contest made a nice donation to Operation BBQ Relief and packed up food and canned goods for a local food bank as well. Nice job BBQ Gives Back!
BBQ Gives Back was unique in that it was a standard KCBS contest with two other contests within the main contest. Confused? Yeah, so were some competitors, but Bill and the team were able to sort out everything and keep the contest flowing nicely. The two “sub” contests were the MABA State Cup Champions Cookoff (Sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic BBQ Association) and the Virginia Grands Championship. The MABA State Cup winners competed against each other using their position in the overall standings and Forest Hill, Maryland’s Rockin’ Robyn’s BBQ came out on top of a tough group of State Cup winners! In the Virginia Grands contest, Wolf’s Revenge BBQ took home top honors.
On the KCBS side of the field Old Virginia Smoke won the Chicken category. Richmond’s own Wolf’s Revenge with Chiles Cridlin took home the big trophy in Ribs. K&D Smokers with Kevin and Debbie Gary out of Winston Salem, NC took home top honors in Pork while Chris and Joan Clegg of Rhode Hog BBQ from where else but Rhode Island took 1st in Brisket. Nice job to all that were called in each category.
The Grand Champion on the KCBS side was Wolf’s Revenge BBQ and Reserve Grand went to Brian and Shannon Turner of Muttley Crew BBQ. Great job in a really stacked field of competitors itching to get their BBQ season started!
Individual meat winners:
Chicken – Old Virginia Smoke
Ribs – Wolf’s Revenge
Pork – K & D Smokers
Brisket – Rhode Hog BBQ
Grand Champion – Wolf’s Revenge
Reserve – Muttley Crew BBQ
Comments Off on MABA Annual Meeting a Huge SuccessAs is tradition, the annual meeting starts with the “MABA Good Luck Shot!”
On March 11 in Frederick, MD, the Mid-Atlantic Barbecue Association had its annual meeting of the membership. Despite chilly temperatures outside, the conditions inside were top notch! The Frederick Moose Lodge was the site and it fit MABA’s marquee event perfectly. A robust buffet line of good eats was served along with offerings from a full bar and full menu for ordering from our hosts.
MABA President Luke Darnell got the program kicked off right on time at 1:00pm and highlighted the associations challenges and success in 2016. The next order of business had MABA Secretary Brian Walrath announce the newly elected board members who will serve two year terms. Congratulations to Megan Ferguson, Chris Hall, Mark Kenney, Mark Gibbs, and Amy Overbey. Thank you to all nine candidates that ran. The election results were very tight and MABA members set a new high water mark with over 50% of the membership voting.
New MABA Board of Directors, Chris Hall, Megan Ferguson, Mark Kenney, Amy Overbey, and Mark Gibbs
The next item on the agenda was the Team of the Year awards for each of the four meats and overall. Congratulations to the four meat winners and overall winner:
Congratulations to Tracy, Dan, and Rick for winning 2016 Team of the Year.
The entire MABA Team of the Year results can be seen here.
The meeting ended with funnest part of the day and that’s the raffles for the contributed prizes, 29 contest entries, and three awesome cookers!
In all this was another amazing event, perhaps the best yet according to much of the early feedback. Thanks to everyone who participated and good luck to everyone in 2017!
Comments Off on The Great Brunswick BBQ Throwdown Brunswick, MD
by Mark Gibbs, Pitmaster of The Checkered Flag 500 BBQ
The 2017 Mid Atlantic BBQ region kicked off in cold style in Brunswick, Maryland with the first annual Great Brunswick Throwdown. Beth Johnson and her team did a great job under some tough conditions to make this first year event a good one. There were a few logistical hiccups, which we find at most first year contests, but Beth was there to do her best to make us all comfortable! The small town of Brunswick was very welcoming to teams and we all did our part to help add to the local economy too. A couple of the local eateries were pretty packed when we visited them!
The weather was the story of the weekend. The high for the event may have been in the upper 30’s. I know that the thermometer on the big blue trailer was reading about 17 degrees at 2:30am on Saturday. Despite the chill in the air, the smokers were rolling and the 50 teams all were able to get turn in’s done and on time! Well done teams!
It was great catching up with old friends and meeting some new friends this weekend. The social scene was a little off because of the cold weather, but everyone seemed happy to be back out on the BBQ trail again in 2017. I know that the consensus among the teams that I spoke to was a resounding yes to a 2nd Annual Throwdown in 2018!
Congrats to Luke and Kim Darnell from Old Virginia Smoke on the Grand Championship and to Chiles Cridlin and the Wolf’s Revenge team on the Reserve Grand! OVS took home top Chicken honors with a 180 score, Beer Meets Grill brought home the big Ribs trophy, Wolf’s Revenge tore up pork with a perfect 180 and Lo’ & Slo’ won the Brisket category. A shout out goes to all of the teams that were called and we are looking forward to Urbanna, Virginia and BBQ Gives Back for the next stop on the Mid-Atlantic BBQ Association schedule!
First place winners:
Chicken – Old Virginia Smoke (perfect 180!)
Ribs –Beer Meets Grill
Pork –Wolf’s Revenge (perfect 180!)
Brisket –Lo ‘N’ Slo BBQ
Grand Champion –Old Virginia Smoke
Reserve Grand Champion –Wolf’s Revenge
Comments Off on Mid-Atlantic Teams Do Well at “The Jack”
by Mark Gibbs, Pitmaster of The Checkered Flag 500 BBQ
The Jack Daniel’s World BBQ Championships is in the books for 2017. This was the Checkered Flag 500 BBQ’s first trip to the hollow and it was a great experience. This contest is a huge event with a lot of ancillary competitions and side events for the competitors to do. 96 teams from around the world came together to compete and name the World Champion.
Tuffy Stone and Cool Smoke took home the Grand Champion honors for the 3rd time in the last 4 years. He has the mojo at this contest for sure! On a side note, why isn’t our friend from Richmond, Virginia a member of the Mid-Atlantic BBQ Association? The next time you see Tuffy make sure you ask him and hand him an application!
MABA was very well represented this year at this prestigious contest. MABA members took some walks to the stage and gathered up some trophies for the mantel.
Sauce This – 4th Overall
Wolf’s Revenge BBQ – 12th Overall
Chix, Swine & Bovine, bbq – 14th Overall
BEERBQUE – 22nd Overall
Checkered Flag 500 BBQ – 28th Overall
Redneck Scientific – 29th Overall
Aporkalypse Now – 49th Overall
Smokin’ Hoggz BBQ – 63rd Overall
Game On BBQ – 72nd Overall
Finn’s Finest BBQ – 83rd Overall
Until this year, I did not realize how big this contest really was for folks that have been there. This contest has the addictive properties of crack. The first thing that you think about on the trip home (no matter where you finished in the standings) is how am going to get back next year? Here is to the competitors of the 2016 Jack and to everyone with hopes of making a trip to Lynchburg in 2017!
by Stephanie West, “The Neck” Pitmaster with 270 SMOKERS
Fifty-six pro BBQ teams arrived in Shelby for the 25th Annual (and final…) Hog Happnin’. That’s right, Jerry & Joyce have decided to go out on a high note, while the Hog Happnin’ event has emerged to be one of North Carolina (and MABA-land) favorites! This year’s event was a true celebration of their team’s tremendous work to raise over $250,000 for the local children’s home charity. (Please note, if you’d like to purchase a commemorative item, contact the Hog Happnin’ organization thru their Facebook page – they recently published a cookbook ($12) and also have sweatshirts, pins, hats, etc. – all proceeds go to the children’s home.)
One of the more popular activities during Hog Happnin’ is the Simply Samplin’ competition where participating teams engage with the judges on Friday evening for on-site judging of their desserts, gumbo/stew, seafood, pizza, vegetables, and meat. Whew! This year, the crowd favorite proved to be 7-year old Kenzie Fink of team House of Smoke who captured 1st Place in Dessert with her Salted Caramel Apple Mini Cheesecakes! She is now completely hooked on competitive cooking and will surely become a staple on the ancillary circuit!
Grand Champion: Rocky Top Barbecue
Reserve GC: Sauced! Barbecue Team (who also won People’s Choice Pork!)
1st Place Chicken: Wolf’s Revenge
1st Place Ribs: Rocky Top Barbeque
1st Place Pork: Smoking Butt Heads
1st Place Brisket: Sauced! Barbecue Team
Comments Off on Interview With the Champs – Wolf’s Revenge
by Brian Walrath, MABA Board Member and Pitmaster for Brown Liquor BBQ
Pitmaster Chiles Cridlin and Randy Grigg of Wolf’s Revenge from Richmond, Virginia have been on the competition trail for a while now. Chiles takes a more analytical approach to barbecue and puts in a lot of time practicing, researching, and learning his craft from a wide variety of resources. Wolf’s Revenge has become a marquee team in the Mid-Atlantic over the last few years and they have a legitimate shot to win anytime they pull up the trailer and light the smoker. Chiles agreed to answer a few questions about their team, approach, and recent HUGE win at the Sam’s Club Regional event in Charleston, South Carolina.
Question: Congrats on winning the Sam’s Club regional in Charleston, SC. How did you qualify for the regional contest?
Chiles Cridlin, Wolf’s Revenge:
Wolf’s Revenge takes GC!
Thank you and it’s still a bit much to believe. After all, we were competing against friends and mentors who consistently turn in award winning BBQ. We qualified at the Harrisburg, PA SAM’s Club back in June. We were fortunate enough to finish Reserve Grand behind that winning machine of a team Checkered Flag 500. Have you heard of them? 🙂 We also competed at our local home SAM’s qualifier in Richmond, VA. It’s a good thing we Reserved in Harrisburg because we landed 8th in Richmond and would not have made it to the regionals otherwise.
Q: Tell me about going all the way down to Charleston to compete.
CC, WR:
It’s a solid seven hour drive from Richmond with pulling a trailer and fuel stops and a trip we were not looking forward to. We competed in the SAM’s local there back in 2014 and were beaten up pretty bad with our recipes and swore we’d never go back (famous last words). We were over 6 hours into the trip when we realized the generator on the trailer had broken a weld on the muffler and had to be shut down. SAM’s club contests only offer a single 20 amp power outlet so having a generator is a must if you have a trailer when it’s hot – and boy was it HOT. We were anticipating not having ours to use but a trip to Lowes after dinner and some pipe clamps kept us up and going. It’s a good thing too because around 9AM, the SAM’s generator blew a radiator hose and the entire competition was without power. I’m thinking we may need add a spare to our spare.
Q: Did you feel like you had a good cook and were confident going to awards?
CC, WR:
It was a very good cook for us, at least better than our average anyway. Our chicken was a bit overdone for our liking (I’m blaming the North Charleston heat on that one) and we were a surprised that we received a call. Our ribs were some of our best ever but no call (it happens) and we tried something very different with the pork box which paid off. Pork has not been a strong category for us this year. We definitely had some table luck on our side for that competition. The best part of the cook was when Tuffy Stone shared the North Charleston / South Carolina mustard secret with both us and Jimmy Richardson from Smoke-Aholics. I’d like to say it kept is in the running but we will never really know for sure.
Q: Let’s talk about Wolf’s Revenge…tell me about your team name, your team, and your competition set up.
CC, WR: My godson came up with the name back in 2011. I was competing as Big C’s Stew-n-Q prior but only doing one or two competitions per year. I had added a few friends to the team and it wasn’t just Big C’s any more. Everyone knows the story of the Three Little Pigs. Our version of the story has a different ending where the brick house gets turned into a smoke house and the wolf gets his revenge! Another friend did the artwork, T-Shirts were made and Wolf’s Revenge BBQ was up and running. Randy Grigg is our primary team mate and we have a few other friends that help out as their time permits. Randy’s schedule allows for the twenty plus competitions per year and he does most of the driving. We have a 34′ Custom Concessions BBQ vending trailer and I am thankful Randy does not mind doing the long hauls like down to North Charleston. By the way, I would recommend Custom Concessions to anyone looking for a commercial vending trailer. Their customer service and quality are amazing and I feel very good about the money invested in that purchase. If we are going to continue with this kind of schedule, we will need a 5th wheel with living quarters. The only other thing that would make us unique is our smoker. We designed it, built it with the help of Chase Architectural Metals here in Richmond and is the smallest, portable rotisserie that can fit all the competition meats and has its own built in temperature control system. I have three months of nights and weekends into grinding, welding and electrical work. Our first competition with it back in 2012 earned us a Reserve Grand right behind 3-eyze in Palmyra, VA. Its part water cooker, part Ole Hickory, part… well, it looks like a hotel ice maker so I am told. Anyway, it works great and we can’t afford to make another one any time soon.
Q: So, will you make the trek to Bentonville, Arkansas for the Sam’s Club finals?
CC, WR:
You better believe it! Hotel reservations and vacation requests have already been made so it’s just a matter of waiting for the date to get here. We have two more competitions between now and then. (Tilly’s Harley Davidson in Salisbury, NC and then Sunset Beach BBQ in Cape Charles, VA). We’re taking advantage of every opportunity to tweak our timelines and recipes.
Q: Ok, I always ask our winning pit masters this…what’s the one tip you have for those teams to help them break through and win their first GC or up their game in competition BBQ?
CC, WR:
Take a class. Take another class after that. There are a few teams that pick on me for taking as many classes as I do but here’s my philosophy…
Taking a class is cheaper than a contest by the time you add the cost of your meats, entry fees, etc.
Classes are usually full of really cool people that have the same interest as you such as learning and winning and there is more social interaction at a class.
There is no stress in taking a BBQ class like there can be at a BBQ competition.
There is always something to learn from an accomplished BBQ instructor.
You get more sleep at a BBQ class because most likely, the big meats will be on while you’re snoozing away.
BBQ almost always tastes better when it’s cooked by someone else and you didn’t have to stand in the smoke for hours.
You get free stuff like rubs and t-shirts and discounts with the major suppliers. The list goes on…
I can honestly say I have enjoyed some classes way more than some competitions. It’s just a win-win and I always take something away from a class that I can use. Also, don’t be afraid to try something new. Our biggest breakthroughs has happened because we ventured out of our comfort zone during a competition, but we only change ONE THING AT A TIME. You have to keep some control over your cook to learn from it.
Q: Tell our MABA audience about the special thing you serve at the traditional MABA good luck shot on competition Saturday morning.
CC, WR:
First, let’s be politically correct and call it the MABA Toast. MABA Shot just does not sound good coming back from the Recovery Fest.
Randy is our resident Barista. Coffee drinks are his specialty but right now he is making something he calls the “Peppermint Patty” He always has a cooler filled with chocolate, coffee cordials and schnapps’. What he makes is full flavor, not full alcohol though. We all still have to cook and be on our game.
Q: What’s in store for the rest of the year for Wolf’s Revenge?
CC, WR:
They say be careful what you wish for and there is some truth to that. I cooked my first contest back in 2008 and dreamed of getting to the American Royal Invitational or the Jack Daniels. We’ve been blessed (truly) to be invited to participate in both this year which means a lot of driving, logistics, time away from work and families. As much as we are looking forward to the experience, we also know that we are the small fish in a very big pond. We still have a lot of work ahead of us to get where we want to be. Oh yeah, and let’s try not to forget Rule #1 of BBQ… Have fun!
Q: Anything else to add before we sign off?
CC, WR:
Wow, there are so many folks that I want to say thank you to for helping us to get this far. Let’s start with KCBS and MABA for providing the framework for the hobby that we have all fallen for. The other teams for some great camaraderie and of course our friends and families that support us while we pursue BBQ perfection. Oh… and the Tuffy Stone North Charleston BBQ Mustard secret? Tuffy walked over to our trailer with a bottle of French’s and waived it over our smoker like he was blessing it. He said that’s all we ever need to know about using mustard in North Charleston.
Comments Off on Sam’s Club National BBQ Tour (Regional) N. Charleston, SC
by Mike Fay, MABA Past President and Pitmaster for Aporkalypse Now
On August 26 top finishers in the Sam’s Club locals converged on Charleston, South Carolina to fight it out for the right to be one of the 10 finishers going to the $150,000 Sam’s Club final in Bentonville, Arkansas. For some teams it was an arduous journey having competed the week before in Connecticut than having to pack up and drive the 900+ miles to Charleston.
While it wasn’t as hot in Charleston as it had been the past two weeks in Laurel and Richmond it was still quite warm with temperatures in the 90s and humidity hovering around 90% but barbecue folks are resilient and innovative so everybody made the best of it.
As expected with this being a regional championship the competition was fierce and the scores were tight, less than 1.7 points separated first from fourth place with two 180s being awarded.
Chiles and Randy from Wolf’s Revenge take GC!
First place winners:
Chicken – Aporkalypse Now (with a perfect 180!)
Ribs –Slaughterhouse Five
Pork –Poke N Smoke
Brisket –Wolf’s Revenge (with a perfect 180!)
Grand Champion –Wolf’s Revenge
Reserve Grand Champion –Sauced! BBQ Team
BBQ Gives Back was unique in that it was a standard KCBS contest with two other contests within the main contest. Confused? Yeah, so were some competitors, but Bill and the team were able to sort out everything and keep the contest flowing nicely. The two “sub” contests were the MABA State Cup Champions Cookoff (Sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic BBQ Association) and the Virginia Grands Championship. The MABA State Cup winners competed against each other using their position in the overall standings and Forest Hill, Maryland’s Rockin’ Robyn’s BBQ came out on top of a tough group of State Cup winners! In the Virginia Grands contest, Wolf’s Revenge BBQ took home top honors.
