The Local Tap – Hogs and Hops 2013

Well this is a first here at tDoB.  I posted a preview of Hogs and Hops on Friday, attended the event on Saturday and here I am today posting the rundown only a few days later.  Usually I’m no where near this on the ball.  Oh, and as a TOTAL aside, this is my 200th post.  Anyway, as I said in my preview, a lot has changed since the inaugural event last year.

First, let me say that although it is a little bit more of a drive for us, the new digs at Harrington were awesome.  Plenty of room for the competitors, the food/beverage trucks and the vendors; plus a huge open field in front of a good sized bandstand.  We got there a little bit before they could start serving/pouring so after we surveyed the area, we decided to take a moment to walk down the BBQ truck line and see what everyone had to offer.

The whole hog that was part of the VIP food plate from Mr. BAR-B-CUE. I’ll be seeing this guy later.

A great selection of food on the grill at Big Fat Daddy’s BBQ

Soon it was time for the event to start so we checked out the three beer trucks to see who had what on tap.  I started with an Old Dominion Monk Czech and Tracey started with a Fordham Wisteria Wheat.

With beer in hand we strolled around the venue and checked out the vendors.  We finally got the chance to meet Cindy Small of the Kent County & Greater Dover, Delaware Convention and Visitors Bureau, who were there promoting their up coming Delaware Wine and Beer Festival.  I’ve done some promoting for Cindy, but this is the first time we’d met.  It was great to relax a bit and get to talk about the up coming festival.  But soon it was time for lunch.  VIP ticket holders were served a BBQ platter from Mr. BAR-B-CUE which consisted of two out of three choices: brisket, whole hog pork or ribs.  I told you I’d see that hog later.

BBQ platter from Mr. BAR-B-CUE, beers by Fordham/Old Dominion

It wasn’t long before the bandstand got rocking, as Tyler Toliver and perennial local favorites Love, Seed, Mamma, Jump supplied the music for the afternoon and early evening.  Entertainment was also provided by the folks from Cowboy Up Saloon, who not only set up a fine tent, but got some of the crowd up for country line dance lessons and demonstrations in between sets.

Volunteers towards the end of the event take a break and catch a bit of Tyler Toliver’s set

The ladies from the Cowboy Up Saloon get the crowd involved in some line dancing.

“Pit row” as I like to call it was fun as always.  As first all we could do was enjoy the smell of smoke wood in the air, and drool over all the different equipment that the teams brought (we were asked not to bother the teams until turn-ins were done).   I always enjoy checking out the teams’ equipment, because you never know when you might see something you’ve never seen before.

It’s not unusual to be using water in a Blackwood Smoker, but I’ve never seen anyone use an adapter to constantly feed apple juice from a 5-Gallon water bottle like Biker BBQ from Millville NJ.

And of course, many of them used the opportunity to show off.

TFFBBQ displays their trophy for their first place finish in chicken at this year’s Middletown BBQ Cook-Off

But after last turn-in we walked through again and got to stop and talk to a few of the pitmasters including George and Kim Przybylski from Bang Bang BBQ, last year’s Hogs and Hops second place finisher in points.  I asked them how they liked the bigger event.  “I love bigger events,” George commented.  “I normally don’t do small events, I just gave it a try last year.  And this year’s just the beginning.  This year he [Mark Hoffman, event coordinator] had to keep it small due to the KCBS sanctioning, but next year the sky’s the limit.”

Soon it was the time everyone was waiting for, the awards presentations.  The field topped out at 45 BBQ teams from the surrounding area and as far away as North Carolina.  The event consisted of four meat turn-ins: chicken, pork, ribs and brisket.  The top ten in each category were awarded, along with reserve champion (second place all around points) and grand champion (first place).  The Mid Atlantic BBQ Association was on hand as well to award the highest placed team from Delaware as “Delaware State Champion”.

The trophies stand ready as Love, Seed, Momma, Jump finishes their set.

Kim and George Przybylski of Bang Bang BBQ; and my finger wait to hear if they’ve matched last year’s performance.

Here’s a run down of the results:

CHICKEN:

Third – Aporkalypse Now
Second – GoneHoggin.com
First -Smoke-aholics

RIBS:

Third -GoneHoggin.com
Second –3 Eyz BBQ
First –Badlands BBQ

PORK:

Third – Rockin Robyns BBQ
Second – M & E BBQ
First – Big Dee’s BBQ

BRISKET:

Third – 3 Eyz BBQ
Second – Tasty Licks BBQ
First – Lo’ and Slo’ BBQ

MABA, “Delaware State Champions” – M & E BBQ

RESERVE CHAMPION – Lo’ and Slo’ BBQ

GRAND CHAMPION – Aporkalypse Now

Hogs and Hops 2013 Grand Champions – Aporkalypse Now (Smoke em’ all, let the judges sort em’ out)

Congratulations to everyone!

When I asked event coordinator Mark Hoffman about the turn out, he indicated that he was happy with the numbers, “We estimate attendance to be around 3500 at this point but we won’t know final numbers for a week or two.”  Of course being a beer guy, I couldn’t help but ask about what  got poured out the three beer trucks and the on-field beer bar, “It looks like we burned through about 45 barrels [ETA: I believe he meant half-kegs] of beer, about the same as last year. That may be because we had the wine option with Fenwick wine cellars this year.”

For the most part I think Hogs and Hops surpassed itself in just about every way when compared to last  year.  But there was one feature of the event last year that I (and several other people I talked to) sorely missed.  “We could not do a peoples choice this year due to health [department] regulations on contests like ours,” said Mark when I asked him about the missing Peoples Choice Award from last year.  However, Mark recognizes how much people enjoyed that aspect of the event last year and although he knew he couldn’t implement it this year, he had already been formulating a plan to bring it back.  “But we are working on something for next year already where teams would turn in a tray [of] pulled pork and WE would serve 1/2 oz cups and you vote for your favorites,” he told me.  “It was just too late in the planning stage to add that in this year but we are already trying to develop that system for next year.”

And if everything works out, we’ll be there next year.  After all, what dog doesn’t love a BBQ festival?

Hogs and Hops Preview – 2013

Last year I had the pleasure of attending the first annual Hogs and Hops (H&H) beer event and BBQ competition hosted by Fordham Brewery and Old Dominion under the shadow of their brewery itself.  And it didn’t take but a couple of hours of sipping on a beer while walking through the rows of smokers, the aroma of hickory, apple and other smoke woods wafting in the breeze;  for this to become my favorite annual event.  Yeah, that’s right.  The event struck a chord with me almost immediately.

And apparently I wasn’t the only one.  Event founder Mark Hoffman organized what I’m sure he considered going into that Saturday to be a very successful event.   Hogs and Hops was designed as a combination beer event and competition BBQ whose proceeds benefited the local FOP’s emergency relief fund.   Twenty-four BBQ teams signed up to compete and advanced tickets sales were brisk, topping out at approximately 1000. So no doubt Mark was sure they had succeeded in generating a good buzz about the event.  Then suddenly (and admittedly not so suddenly) something happened.

The day of the event walk-up sales quickly reached the advanced sales, doubling the crowd and causing the event to outgrow its venue in the first year, which resulted in the competition being moved to the Delaware State Fairgrounds in Harrington.  The crowd consumed 44 half kegs of beer and made it obvious that more beer trucks would be needed to alleviate the long lines (although to be fair, I didn’t think they were that bad).  Not long after the event, Mark reached out to the Kansas City Barbecue Society (KCBS) and was able to get the event sanctioned as an official KCBS event, only the second such event in the state of Delaware.  Governor Markell then signed a proclamation back in May designating Hogs and Hops as a Delaware State Championship barbecue event, again only the second in the state.

This Saturday, marks the second annual Hogs and Hops and the event looks amazing.  The competition field has almost doubled to the event’s maximum (KCBS set the limit at 50), drawing BBQ competition teams from the Mid-Atlantic region and several from other parts of the US.  Fordham and Old Dominion are again supplying the beer this year, tapping Rams Head Ipa, Victory Lager, Copperhead Ale, Spiced Harvest Ale, Wisteria Wheat, Morning Glory Espresso Stout, Double D Ipa, Gigi’s Farmhouse Ale, Monk Czeck, Oak Barrel Stout, Octoberfest and for the kids and designated drivers, Old Fashioned Root Beer.  Because of regulations, the people’s choice award got shelved (hopefully only for this year), but VIP ticket holders will still get a chance to try competition BBQ in the form of food presented by Milford, Delaware competition team Mr. BAR-B-QUE.

But they aren’t the only team representing Delaware this weekend (some teams had very little if any website or social media presence so if I’ve inadvertently missed someone, I’m sorry).  TFFBBQ (Wilmington), Big Bang BBQ (also Wilmington, last year’s H&Hs 1^st in ribs and 2^nd overall), Slower Lower BBQ (Milton), Pigheaded BBQ (Middletown), Gone Hoggin’ (Bear, who I’ll be rooting for because in their Bios they list their favorite competition food as “beer”) along with That Guy BBQ and Rub Me Tender BBQ (both from Smyrna) will be hoping to cook their way into H&H’s first Grand Championship.  And why not?  The highest scoring team from Delaware will be named Delaware BBQ Team of the Year by the Mid-Atlantic BBQ Association (MABA).  On top of that, due to the sanctioning by the KCBS and Governor Markell’s proclamation, the Hogs and Hops winner (regardless of state) will represent Delaware at the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational in Lynchburg, Tenn.  Well not this year.  And maybe not next year.  Or the next.

See, as I said Hogs and Hops is the second KCBS event and the second Delaware State Championship barbecue event.  The first is the Middletown BBQ Cook-Off which just celebrated its fourth year and attracts over 50 competition teams.  Because of its solo State Championship status over the last three years (as well as this year, I guess they figured it wasn’t fair to do it this year since Markell signed the proclamation only weeks before the winner of Middletown was crowned) the winner of the Middletown Cook-Off was the undisputed representative of Delaware at Lynchburg.  But starting next year, the winning teams from Middletown and Hogs and Hops will compete for the honor of representing our state.  What will that competition entail?  I don’t know right now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it involves some large chunks of meat and some smoke.

One person who is probably very aware of the situation is David Marks, owner of the Famous Dave’s BBQ Restaurant franchise and pitmaster for Wilbur’s Revenge BBQ Team, this year’s Middletown Grand Champion.  Dave’s team will be on hand at Hogs and Hops and no doubt would love to walk away with a second Grand Championship, a claim to the undisputed Delaware BBQ Champion title (that doesn’t exist but it should!) and set the tone for next year’s round of competitions.

But he’s not the only big dog in the yard.  There’s a lot of great teams in the field this year, including 3 EYZ BBQ (2012 KCBS and MABA Team of the Year, current MABA points leader for 2013 Team of the Year) led by Dan Hixon; two time Pennsylvania State Champions LO’ N SLO’ BBQ led by Tom Perelka; and Hawg Nation (Pennsylvania state brisket champions three years running and MABA Team of the Year for brisket in 2012) led by Michael Czajka.

Sadly, it looks like last year’s winners Alpha-Q-Up will not be returning to defend their title.

So Saturday I’ll be strolling around rows of smokers again.  The smell of smoke wood permeating the air (and my hair, it will probably take a shower or two to get it all out), sipping on a cold beer and discussing BBQ with some very knowledgeable competitive pitmasters (we’ve been asked to hold back from talking with the competitors this  year until 3:00 due to the later turn in time from last year.  I have a suspicion that the real party will start at 3:15).  It probably would inspire me to do a little smoking myself on Sunday, if my smoker hadn’t nearly collapsed to the deck during my last smoking session.

But that’s another post.

Good luck to all the competitors on Saturday, I’m sure you’ll do Delaware proud.  And to Mark, Fordham and Old Dominion Breweries, all the volunteers and sponsors; thanks again for putting on an amazing event. See you there!