Judging at Hot Q's & Cold Brews, Feather Falls Casino, Oroville CA Sep 17

I'll be judging barbecue at the 2nd Annual Hot Q's & Cold Brews BBQ at Feather Falls Casino in Oroville, CA on Saturday, September 17.

This will be a new event for me...in fact I've never been to Oroville, located 70 miles north of Sacramento. All I know about Oroville is that it's home to Lake Oroville, the second largest reservoir in California, capable of holding 3,537,577 cubic acre-feet of water: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Oroville

I heard from the folks who judged the inaugural event last year that it was a really nice contest, organized by Ben Lobenstein...he always puts on a good event...so despite the 3 hr 15 min drive one-way from my house in San Jose, I've decided to make the trek this year to check it out.

It's obvious where the "Hot Q's" part of the name comes from...the "Cold Brews" part comes from the onsite Feather Falls Casino Brewing Co. and brewmaster Roland Allen, formerly of Sierra Nevada, with his award-winning beers. So if nothing else, we know there will be plenty of beer to enjoy after the judging has been completed.

This contest has a big $31,000 CASH payout. It will be a Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue (2017 draw) and a 2017 American Royal Invitational Qualifier, as well as a Team of the Year (ToY) event for both KCBS and the California BBQ Association (CBBQA).

Should be fun...if you live within a 3 hr 15 min radius like me, you should stop by, drink some beer, sample some of the People's Choice barbecue, and maybe drop a few $$$ in the casino!

September is a beautiful time for Northern California. Nice calm weather, you'll have a great time Chris

The 2nd Annual Hot Q's & Cold Brews BBQ Championship was a great event! Organizer Ben Lobenstein and the Feather Falls Casino & Lodge took VERY good care of all of the competitors and judges. The casino upped the prize purse to $31,000 this year and 61 teams showed up to compete, making this the second largest BBQ contest in California so far in 2016. They paid down to 15th place in each meat category, which is unusual, and finishing 10th in any category covered your entry fee. Those payouts, along with the swag given to each team, made for a happy bunch of competitors.

And the 60 judges + table captains and volunteers were treated to a tour of the award-winning Feather Falls Brewing Co. and received swag in the form of a free event t-shirt, a BBQ apron, coupons for food and play in the casino, and other trinkets. So everyone was happy and in a great frame of mind to enjoy judging BBQ on a warm, sunny day in Oroville. Congratulations to Ben for organizing a quality event, and thanks to the management & staff of Feather Falls for being such generous, gracious hosts.

Of course, getting to Oroville took some effort...about 4 hours from San Jose, including a short stop along the way. The drive takes you to Sacramento, then straight north along freeways that become highways that become downtown streets in Marysville, then agricultural highways until you arrive in the foothills just outside of Oroville where the Feather Falls Casino is located.

Turn-ins started at 11am, an hour earlier than usual, and by the time judging was finished at 1pm the public was starting to show-up to enjoy People's Choice barbecue and lots of cold brews and music. There were people coming and going on motorcycle tours through the scenic roadways around Lake Oroville, the KOA campground at the casino was full of campers...it was just a great mix of people having a great time! If you're in the mood to compete in or judge a top-notch contest in 2017, you should put Hot Q's & Cold Brews on your calendar.

I showed up on Friday afternoon in time to catch the team meeting at 5pm and to visit with some of the teams on Friday evening. People raved about the quality of the beer and food at the brewery, the high quality food at the buffet, and the musical entertainment in the casino. I spent some time on Friday night playing slots and came away a winner, so that made me happy! But by the time we were done judging on Saturday, I was ready to hit the road for the long drive back home, so I missed the awards ceremony at 4pm.

Congratulations to Grand Champion Loot N' Booty BBQ and Reserve Champion Porterhouse BBQ...also friends Too Ashamed to Name for 1st in Chicken, RBQ 4th in Chicken, and Rhythm 'N Que 4th in Brisket.

But before leaving the area, I checked out Foothill Meat Co. and Wagon Wheel Market, both in Oroville, to see their meat selections and to pick-up some of their bacon. I heard about both from fellow judge Paul Brown, aka Chilebrown, who has a passion for bacon and all things meat, and blogs about it frequently on his Mad Meat Genius blog. I got some sliced bacon, some slab bacon, and some sweet & spicy pig candy...very tasty!

Here are some photos I took on Friday afternoon before the competition got started, plus some pics of the two meat markets I visited. What a fun weekend, what a nice event!


Team meeting breaking up.




Lots of shiny smoking machines to look at. Teams came from as far as Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon. It's amazing how $31,000 in prize money will motivate!


Some not-so shiny smoking machines to look at. This thing was as big as a steam locomotive.




WSMs were well represented at this contest.


RBQ from Gilroy, a WSM team, was in the house and ready for action.


I'm always interested in the signs and banners that teams display...





Continued...

One of these things is not like the others.


My friends Lord of the Ribs from San Jose were vending and competing.


Cool old flatbed Ford truck.




The beer garden will be packed on Saturday with thirsty patrons on a 90*F+ day.


More WSMs ready for action. Maybe an exterior wipe-down is in order.


Very nice trailer rig.


A beautiful Jambo pit. Love the retro California license plate team logo!


Split logs piled up at Cecil's BBQ.


Nice Hunsaker barrel smokers, sitting on the back of a cook trailer attached to a big Class C motorhome...an impressive setup.

Continued...

I like the team name, but the photo indicates they need a lesson in porcine myology.


Another WSM setup.


No doubt what this guy is into.


Foothill Meat Co, just a few miles from the casino.




Cured and fresh meat on display, some USDA Prime.


Some marinated meat and frozen specialty items also available. Not sure if bear meat is available...look closely at the photo. Interestingly, there are portions of smoked brisket to-go in the hot cabinet on the right.


I came for the sliced bacon...


...and the pig candy...


And how it looked when I got it home. I sliced each piece in half and warmed gently in the microwave. One half slice appears to be missing...good stuff!

Continued...

Here's the Wagon Wheel Market, just a few miles away from Foothill Meat Co. It's a small full-service grocery store...small being the operative word.


Again, I came for the bacon. It's available sliced and slab...I'll have some of each, please.


They make lots of varieties of sausage in-house...all looked good!


A big variety of marinated meats were available...very profitable for a market like this.


Fresh beef on display, including some USDA Prime cuts. The pork and poultry were around the corner...the meat part of the market probably took up 1/3 of the entire market, thus their reputation for meat.


Last photo...out of order...here's the event logo on the Feather Falls sign as I left the venue on Saturday afternoon. No, you don't need to get your eyes checked...the text is unreadable in this distant photo that I zoomed and cropped.

Almost like being there, almost, but not quite.
Thanks for taking us there Chris.
Now get busy making your own bacon!

so cool Chris! Thanks for the tour!

This smoker ▼ BLOWS MY MIND!

Thanks for sharing your adventure, great pictures, that had to be a fun time. Boy would I love to have a meat market like those two were I live!