Had a great weekend at the 2nd annual Barbecue and Brews Canton Festival. Promoter and organizer, Gary Lamb knows how to put on an event. His lives by his mantra, “promote it and they will come.”
Over 15,000 people attended the two-day festival which included music, craft vendors, plenty of food and a Georgia Barbecue Association’s sanctioned competition.
The weather cleared out on Friday afternoon to a beautiful, although unusually warm May event.
Friends, Family and Barbecue
Doug and I want to truly thank our friends and family for visiting us throughout the event. Although Smokin J’s Barbeque did not compete in this event, we enjoyed judging the great samples the teams cooked up.
The judging was not easy. Teams competed in pork loin, pork shoulder, pork ribs, brisket and whole hog. Doug and I judged multiple categories this weekend, even whole hog.
For the whole hog competition, teams must include three distinct types of meat from the hog – the ham, loin and shoulder, in each turn in box. Plus, they must include enough meat to feed 4 judges to a table. Each judge must sample a portion of each type of meat. If a team includes sauce, they must sample each type of meat with each sauce. I counted over 20 bites I tried, just from the whole hog box itself.
That is alot of meat.
Whole Hog is a Different Kind of Monster
Fifteen teams competed in the whole hog category on Saturday. Not only did each team build a “blind” turn in box (which means the judges did not know which team turned in which box), but also, each team was visited by three individual judges at their cook-site.
Teams had to greet each judge and explain their method of smoking their hog. Each judge had to see the hog on the smoker and taste different samples from the hog. Only certified Memphis Style Judges were allow to do the onsite judging.
Doug cooked up some delicious chicken wings Saturday night, while our friends were worrying about their whole hog cook.
It was such a great weekend of fellowship.
“And the winner is…”
I cannot explain how difficult it is to win a Georgia Barbecue Association event. It truly is an incredible feat.
Reserve Grand Champion – received the highest cumulative score in all three categories (loin, pork, ribs) during the preliminary round.
Grand Champion – received the best overall score of any three categories in the final round.
Champions for the day….
Grand Champions – We Want Que
Reserve Grand Champions – Jack’s Old South
Whole Hog Champions – Rub Shakers Que
| Pork Loin | Pork | Ribs | Whole Hog | |
| 1 | We Want Que | Bubba Grills | Hold Your Horses | Rub Shakers Que |
| 2 | Jack’s Old South | Diamond D Cooking Team | Lang BBQ Smokers | Diamond D Cooking Team |
| 3 | Rub Shakers Que | Jack’s Old South | Southern Hogs | Rescue Smokers |
| 4 | Southern Hogs | Lang BB Smokers | Captain Jacks Freedom BBQ | Bubba Grills |
| 5 | Hootie Que | Hold Your Horses BBQ | We Want Que | Vienna Volunteer Fire Dept. |
