Sippin' & Smokin' on the Road 🥃🍗
Happy Thursdee friends! We have been criss-crossing the globe lately (or at least North America!). This week, Elizabeth is taking us along to the 50th Anniversary EGGTOBERFEST—the annual festival of “eggheads” that smoke and grill up their finest food on their Big Green Eggs. In true form, Elizabeth went with one of her favorite bourbon distillers, so there was plenty of “brown water” to wash down all those grilled and smoked treats!
EK: I used to spend a lot of my year at barbecue contests and festivals; cooking in them, judging them and enjoying the unique kind of camaraderie of people drawn to smoke, BBQ—and often times—Bourbon!
But since 2020, I haven’t been to a barbecue festival and it was high time to get back on the smoke trail!
AU: So happy you did! I have such incredible memories of hanging together at Big Apple BBQ in NYC—one of my favorite BBQ festivals ever!
EK: Right, and this was one that I had wanted to see for myself for years! Big Green Egg is famous for both the cult following of the people who own them and cook on them, and their “egg-fests!” And this was a big year because they are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Egg.
Bib & Tucker sponsored this year‘s 50th anniversary celebration and they invited me to tag along with their team for the day. How could I say no?
EK: When I arrived in Atlanta, I met their Director of Education, Theo Rutherford, and he took me through a tasting of their Classic Six (6-year small batch bourbon) and the Double Char (aged twice).
The 6-Year is as delicious as a bourbon can be but a little different from the “sweet” vanilla bourbons of Kentucky. It is made in the rolling hills of Tennessee and has a distinctive nutty flavor that reminded me of toasted hazelnuts like a not-sweet Frangelico.
The Double Char is fascinating and tailor-made for anyone who loves smoke. Bib & Tucker Double Char Bourbon was inspired by the quintessential experience of sitting around a campfire, and enjoying a good glass of brown water.
So the smoke-infused Eggtoberfest in Lawrenceville, Georgia, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Big Green Egg, was the perfect place for me to have my first sip of Double Char.
Here is the process: they take the 6-year small batch bourbon and age it twice, first aged for six years in new white American oak, followed by a minimum of five months in a second heavily charred and smoked new barrel. But that’s not all, they also use an industrial sized “smoking gun” and place it into the barrel to add real smoke to the juice. That’s the part that I found fascinating! If you’ve always wanted to make a smoked bourbon cocktail at home, but haven’t purchased a cocktail smoker yet, you don’t need to—just buy a bottle of Double Char and mix away! Theo might disagree with me as he prefers to sip the Double Char neat at the end of the night, but I love the idea!
AU: That IS fascinating!! I’m not a big smoke-in-my-juice kinda guy, but I love smoked meats! How was the rest of EGGTOBERFEST??
EK: The Bib & Tucker team was amazing, and I got to meet the uber-talented barbecue and spirits photographer, Robert Lerma, who shoots a lot of their events. He was kind enough to send me some of his photographs so I could share them in this week’s newsletter…
EK: If you don’t know Robert by name, trust me you’ve seen his work. If you’ve seen this photograph of the legendary pitmaster, Tootsie Tomanetz, from Snow’s BBQ in Lexington, Texas, you’ve seen the stunning work of Robert Lerma. I had to include it here, because it is one of my all-time favorite photographs and Robert was nice enough to give me permission to post it.
AU: That is an ICONIC photo of an ICONIC woman!
EK: Yes it is!!!
For all the barbecue nerds out there, Big Green Egg—or BGE as their owners affectionately refer to their cookers—I don’t need to tell you that BGE has a cult following. It is legendary which is why I had always wanted to see the Eggfest for myself, but I had never had a chance to do it until this year.
The interesting thing about the Big Green Egg Eggtoberfest is that it is not a barbecue contest in the traditional sense, but more like a gigantic family reunion. The teams cooking and serving food do so at their own expense and they “compete” to get a coveted spot to cook and serve their food. The event was held at Coolray Field, which is a sports arena so you can only imagine how many teams had booths there.
EK: They also have another level of cookers, including caters and chefs from all over the world. One of my favorite bites of the day was a pork belly taco made by the team from Mexico.
EK: The story of the Big Green Egg is a humble one and that authenticity and connection with the people who buy a Big Green Egg is what has made it a sensation.
EK: After spending the day with the Bib & Tucker Bourbon team, I can say it’s a very similar business model. They are a good partnership because both brands hope you will enjoy their products, and if you like them, they invite you to make them a part of your life—there is no hard sell and there doesn’t have to be!
AU: I love that! Guess I should ask Josh for permission to add ANOTHER grill to the outdoor lineup… 😬
EK: Another grill and another bottle or two of Bourbon!!!