4th Annual Hot Q's & Cold Brews BBQ Competition, Oroville CA


 

Chris Allingham

Administrator
Staff member
This was my third visit to Feather Falls Casino and Lodge in Oroville, CA to attend the Hot Q's & Cold Brews BBQ Competition as a barbecue judge. The last two years I sampled the entries, but this year I volunteered as a table captain. It's been a long time since I've been a table captain but I like doing it and will probably do more of it in the future.

Forty-four teams from California, Oregon, and Nevada turned out for a chance to win some of the $25,000 in prize money. Feather Falls Casino is a gracious host and sponsor, and Ben Lobenstein is a contest organizer extraordinaire. Add to that four great KCBS contest reps--Julie Poe, Ian Schmidt, Merrialyce Alvarez, and Steve Alvarez--and you've got a contest that runs like a well-oiled machine that takes care of the teams, the judges, and the visiting public extremely well.

Weather was great, not too hot and not too windy. From what I heard, there was some very high quality barbecue served to the judges. Congrats to Jerry & Lupe Aguilar of Burnin & Lootin BBQ for taking GC and Ridge Route Boys BBQ for taking RC.

Here are a few photos I took on Friday night as the teams were getting things setup. Lots of WSMs at this event, as you'll notice in the photos. Enjoy!

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Here's your GC winner Jerry Aguilar of Burnin & Lootin BBQ, working his garnish on Friday night. I joked with him that this pile of lettuce was not unlike the pile of cash he might be hauling home at the awards ceremony. I guess I was right!

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This is Benny Adauto and his cooking partner, they compete as FunTime BBQ. Benny cooked as a partner with Harry Soo of Slap Yo' Daddy BBQ for quite some time.

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Benny wanted to show me the additional cooking surface he rigged in his 18.5" WSM by adding legs to a 14.5" WSM cooking grate.

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Here's a close-up of Benny's additional cooking surface.

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This is Big O & Mo BBQ. I can't remember if he's O and his wife is Mo or if it's the other way around. In any event, they're cooking all-Weber with two WSMs.

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Here's a better shot of their grills.

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I don't think I've ever seen (or noticed) anyone using 5-gal buckets to keep WSM lids off the ground. Interesting!

Continued...
 
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This is Kicken Ash And Maken Flames from El Dorado Hills, CA. They had a really nice setup in the KOA campground located on the casino grounds, four WSMs and a GMG pellet cooker. They were busy prepping chicken when I dropped by to say hello.

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A big 22.5" WSM in the foreground at RBQ from Gilroy, CA.

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Blaze's BBQ from Bakersfield, CA had a couple of WSMs on duty in Oroville. You'll notice the 22.5" WSM has been retrofitted with what I assume is the LavaLock Quick Coal Door Mod.

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This big red setup is a beaut and belongs to Ridge Route Boys BBQ from Bakersfield, CA. They've been getting lots of calls at recent contests and ended up taking RC here in Oroville.

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Beautiful sunset over Feather Falls Casino in Oroville, CA.

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Another view of the sunset.

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Back in my hotel room, an ad for the contest on a local television station. Five tastings for $10, where do I sign up? :D
 
Enjoy seeing what smokers the teams use. There's a nice lake near there, that I've heard a lot about.
 

 

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