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...