Good Times at Wine Country Big Q
If you read my trip report from the
Silicon Valley BBQ Championship, you know that I had a cold and couldn't taste barbecue that day. I'm happy to inform you that my taster and sniffer were in great shape on Saturday, July 12 and I tasted lots of barbecue as a judge at the Wine Country Big Q in Rohnert Park, CA.
This is the fourth year for this event in Sonoma County, and the first year at this particular venue in Rohnert Park. The event was held at Sonoma Mountain Village, an old Hewlett-Packard site turned Agilent Technologies site turned into a mixed-use business/residential community. It's just a stone's throw from where my parents live, so it was a great opportunity to judge and visit family in a single trip.
This contest had 44 teams cooking the standard KCBS meats, plus 19 teams cooking optional entries of boneless leg of lamb and something called a velvet steak, which is a muscle cut from the round. I think it's one of those new steaks like the Vegas Strip Steak and the Flat Iron Steak where ingenious meat cutters figure out how to carve out a new steak from a beef primal like the chuck or the round.
You can't say much about what goes on during judging, but I can say we had some amazing entries and some not-so-amazing ones. As a new judge, it's interesting to hear the comments around the table after each round of judging. It's absolutely clear to everyone which entry was the best and which was the worst. For a new guy like me, it's reassuring to hear that you're in sync with the other five judges at the table.
I will say that judging six meats is kind of overwhelming...but I powered through it and enjoyed the entire experience. The lamb and steak entries were interesting because they were not confined to the standard 9"x9" Styrofoam box and garnish rules. Looking around the room I saw lamb burgers and sliders, steak tacos, entries served in bowls, on platters...all sorts of creative approaches!
Saw some of the usual suspects after the judging was over...Ric's Righteous Ribs, Slap Yo Daddy, Too Ashamed To Name just to name a few. It was a glorious day, great weather for a competition, and the beer and wine and 'que were flowing freely throughout the afternoon.
Here are some photos I took of the venue. I didn't stick around for the awards, I left to visit my parents later in the afternoon, so I missed getting photos of that.
Event card side 1.
Event card side 2.
Signage at the venue. Wrong date and wrong venue listed...sign is from a previous year's event!
Venue around 8:45am. Contestants are working hard, vendors are getting set up.
Another view across the venue.
Not yet setup for the public visitors coming later in the morning.
Overcast skies will give way to blue in a few hours.
Umbrellas are up, tasting booths for beer and wine and other tasty treats are up and running.
Big crowds gathered at this vendor's booth getting People's Choice barbecue samples.
Got me a souvenir. Anyone recognize the pig?