The Jack Daniel?s World Championship in Lynchburg, TN ? what an honor to be a part of it.? I think our entire team understood the prestige behind this event as much as we could before heading out, but I?m not sure we had any idea just how big and awesome this event actually is.? It was simply the coolest experience of our team?s history, hands down.
We left Omaha on Wednesday, October 19th ? before the sun came up and we arrived in Lynchburg after the sun had gone down that evening.? The first two nights we stayed in a cabin on Tim?s Ford Lake, just outside of Lynchburg (thanks to Phat Jack?s for the recommendation) and it was an awesome place to stay.? The lake was huge, the cabin was clean and roomy.? Perfect for the team to rest up before the contest.
On Thursday, we toured the distillery.? Wow.? What an operation!? The history behind the place and how much that history is still leveraged in the current operation is simply astounding.? There are some new technological aspects to it, such as computer monitoring of the processes, but it is still quite manually intensive.? Very impressive and neat to see an entire town run off the success of one business.
The contest itself was incredible.? Everyone was so friendly.? 91 total teams and we?re pretty sure we got to meet every single one of them and treat several of them to a flabongo.? The interaction between all the teams was like nothing we?ve seen before.? Everyone sharing stories about their season and travels into Lynchburg, sharing a beverage together and just general shooting the breeze was the theme.? The weather was great ? in the high 60s during the days with no rain and chilly in the evenings.? Onsite Friday into Saturday, we stayed, like normal, at our campsite and slept in our lawn chairs with the canopy walls up and a small propane heater which was just enough to take the bite out.? In general, everything went as we planned, the cooker ran great and our food turned out like we intended, even though we wished for better results.? We finished 69th out of the 91 teams, but it still didn?t take the wind out of us.? The experience was just too awesome.
We became friends with our next door neighbors, the Jack Daniel?s Champion:? Smokin Hoggz BBQ, from Massachusetts .? Pretty neat deal to be right next to them and we even sampled lots of their food.? Great stuff ? as I?m sure every other team turned in.? What a great bunch of guys and a win well deserved.? We are proud that we were neighbors with them and have asked them to come to Omaha for a contest.? Turns out they have family in NE and IA ? so we think it?ll happen.? Good article about the win and the event here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2011/10/24/does-massachusetts-really-have-the-nations-best-bbq-tennessee-says-yes/
The team Motley Q Crew was there and actually stayed next to us on the lake the first two nights.? They are some party animals and fit in well (and made themselves at home in our cabin into the wee hours!).? Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive Inns and Dives cooked with them and turned their cook spot into a zoo.? They actually had to buckle down the entire area and keep everyone out.
Nicole Davenport from T?aint the Sauce was there hanging out, who was right next to us on the BBQ Pitmaster?s show.? It was nice catching up with her and neat to see her and so many other teams just come to hang out, even if they weren?t cooking.
All in all, it was a wonderful experience and we hope to do it again next year.? While our finishing place could have been better ? we feel that we represented the state and GOBS in high fashion and definitely did everything we could to spread the word about BBQ in our area.
Here?s to a great 2011 season and best of luck to everyone in 2012!? We?d like to thank everyone at GOBS and all the other teams we?ve been lucky to spend time with and for all the support in our travels.? We couldn?t have done it without you.
Cheers!
Ryan, Matt, Logan and Chris
Hot Grill on Grill Action BBQ Team
Omaha, NE
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