Happy Birthday to George A. Stephen!

[Chris Allingham]

Happy Birthday to George A. Stephen, founder of Weber-Stephen Products and inventor of the Weber kettle! He was born 100 years ago today, February 26, 1921.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Huzzah, huzzah, huzzah!

 

[Bruce]

Really should have a Genesis grill in that photo.

Happy B-Day.

 

[Chris Allingham]

Really should have a Genesis grill in that photo.

Happy B-Day.

I think it's pre-Genesis.

 

[Joan]

WOW!!!!!!!! He sure looks great for being 100 years old.

Happy Birthday George, and thank you for inventing our grill. DH is having a great time with it.

 

[Bruce]

Ahhh, probably so. I guess I just thought it was a computer generated background.

 

[Larry D.]

I wonder how many smiles he has put on people's faces over the years.

 

[J Grotz]

I wonder how many smiles he has put on people's faces over the years.

That would be like the old McDonald's signs. It would certainly be in the billions.

 

[Jon Tofte]

That's so cool. I often wish George was still at the helm. Even though he was mostly a kettle guy, he did also give the go-ahead for the Genesis. I wonder what he would think of the SmokeFire? Hopefully more positively than I think he would feel towards the private equity group that runs Weber now.

 

[PDay]

I think we’re starting to see some real price differences here in the UK. I know that we were always dearer but in anticipation of Spring it’s looking pretty hefty. One business that markets itself as the UK’s largest Weber showroom in now listing a charcoal grate for a 22” kettle for £31.49. Weber.com us retails at £14.99. Standard prices raise by 10% every year which in turn is the default reduction but quality is not proportional to price. I had an interesting conversation with the bbq guy at an independent garden centre today who told me that a container from Vietnam last year was £2400 but this year is £11,000.

 

[MSBoersma]

The same here in the Netherlands. $ 240 for an Original weber 18 inch. That's $ 89 in the US.

BBQ Grills | Weber Charcoal & Gas Grills

The world's premiere manufacturer of charcoal, gas and electric grills and accessories, Weber also features the best grilling recipes and maintenance tips.

www.weber.com

 

[Bruno]

Very cool, MIL’s birthday is the 26th and Wife’s 27th, now I have even more of a reason to BBQ.

 

[Bruno]

I

That's so cool. I often wish George was still at the helm. Even though he was mostly a kettle guy, he did also give the go-ahead for the Genesis. I wonder what he would think of the SmokeFire?

I think old George would have made sure the SF was ready to go before release, but I know he’d be proud of it.
I fired mine up today and cranked out a nice tri-tip, so easy and fast. It’s been a long time since I had an issue of any kind. The one piece auger is the only upgraded hardware I have installed.

 

[Jon Tofte]

I think you are right on both counts, Bruno. I bet, too, he would have beat out those guys with the pellet attachment for the kettle grill by coming out with a pellet kettle first. On a Performer frame that would be really sweet. I have seen a couple examples where someone took the Recteq Bullseye kettle pellet grill and took it off its small stand and installed it on a Performer frame.