This past Saturday I judged the Cape BBQ Fest in Cape Girardeau, MO. It’s only three hours north of Memphis, but it’s the most northern competition I’ve judged yet.

Something I noticed across most entries was a completely different flavor profile from what I’ve become accustomed. I’ve judged all of six competitions (Cape included), so it’s not like my experience is anything great to draw upon, but still, it was noticeable. Most competitions I’ve judged in the Memphis area and within and hour or so drive have featured entries with very strong flavors, sometimes overpoweringly so. By comparison, I found my entries in the Cape contest to be pretty bland – and not just by competition standards. Everything except for the pulled pork was rather blah.

Perhaps it was my table, but I am curious, for those of you who have been judging a while or competitors who travel to different regions, do you find that the flavor profiles vary greatly by region?

I wouldn’t have expected much difference between here and Cape, but doing a quick comparison between the competitor’s lists of the competitions I’ve judged, I don’t see many (if any) teams at Cape that competed in the other events I’ve been to.

Just curious if y’all have observed the same or if this might have been an isolated thing.

Yeah, I've noticed the same thing. I've tried some of the other competitors Q in south Florida and some in central Georgia/Alabama. Very different.

The stuff up north is MUCH sweeter while the stuff down south usually has a mild fruit based flavor.

Both are extremely good, just different.

Russ

I agree with Russ. I am told that honey & sugars are the dominant flavors used "north" but not by me. Yuck.

I think sweet is in all over the place right now but that can change by the competition as we all know. Winning comes down to the taste buds of the judges in the end.