Smokin' on the River BBQ Festival 6/19-20

Had good thoughts heading in to this one, but have to agree with the above comments, this was a waste of time. Talked to two of the pros over on Pearl St., they were from Madison and were not that enthusiastic when I asked them if they were having a good time, also asked where the other vendors were since it seemed the whole show was all of five teams... We spent 10-15 minutes walking around, mostly looking in the distance to see if there was some area we had missed, went over to Orchid Chinese instead.

What's the deal with the rules about competitors not being able to sell their products? That alone settles for me any chance of ever going to any other festivals of this type, what's the point of going if you can't sample from those that are supposedly the best.

One last rant, the prices were insane: $10 for a brisket sandwich from the one (and only one) vendor selling Que! If there is to be another they need to promote the hell out of it to get more people selling there products (and not snowcones and hotdogs).

Not defending the organizers in anyway but the competitors were probably not allowed to sell Que because of health department regulations. Last night they were amateurs and thus did not have the required permits to sell food to the public.

Today's competition will be another story. Today many of the competitors probably have the required permits but the rules of the barbecue sanctioning organization forbids them from selling product while they are competing.

On the other side of this, most barbecue festivals have multiple vendors that aren't competing selling Que and many of the competitors will give away free "samples"!

This explains the Que side but certainly doesn't explain all the other problems! Hopefully they will get their act together and this event can be a success in the future.

I'm disappointed to hear that this event wasn't up snuff. To state the obvious it would appear they weren't ready for the crowds that showed up. This is sad because these events CAN be a LOT of fun.

On the competition side of things, when I called the organizer last week to withdraw from the contest they had a full compliment of (30) teams listed on their website. So I have no idea why there were so few teams in attendance. We are tentatively planning to cook the contest in New Albany next weekend, so I'm sure I'll get "the skinny" on J'ville when we get there.

As for vending food, as I have mentioned in previous posts, the competitors are forbidden (for food safety and liability reasons) to serve food to the public during the competition -unless- they have paid an extra fee and have jumped through a bunch of food safety hoops. To be honest, unless a team is in attendance to promote a restaurant or catering service not many will go to the trouble of vending (we won't). What some teams will do at the completion of the contest is to place their leftover BBQ on a table in front of their canopy and discretely turn their head.

BTW, does anyone know -who- was doing the vending at this contest ?

[Robin Garr]

We had to withdraw from the contest

Sorry to hear about the circumstances, Steve. Hope everything works out okay!

Somebody remind me again - how is this different from every chili competition I've ever competed in or been to, where we hand out samples and/or sell bowls of chili, well, willy-nilly?

I'm disappointed to hear that this event wasn't up snuff. To state the obvious it would appear they weren't ready for the crowds that showed up. This is sad because these events CAN be a LOT of fun.

BTW, does anyone know -who- was doing the vending at this contest ?

The crowd was far from overwhelming, the event was just poorly organized. 1 BBQ vendor and 1 beer tap cannot take care of just 100 hungry and thirsty people. There were no lines at the hotdog/burger, funnel cake, and ice cream stands. There were pleanty of open seats for the "blues" music on the river terrace. I don't know what the hell the organizers were thinking.

I believe the BBQ vendor was out of Shelbyville, IN. I didn't care to remember their name.

Somebody remind me again - how is this different from every chili competition I've ever competed in or been to, where we hand out samples and/or sell bowls of chili, well, willy-nilly?

Marsha,

I honestly don't know the answer to that question, unless maybe it's because it is so difficult to keep BBQ at a safe temp for a long period of time (without it turning to mush or shoe leather). I also suspect (and this is just me talking) that the rules against public sampling are (perhaps primarily) in place in order to help the revenue stream.

Most of the contests that I've attended are a fund raiser for -some- charity or community organization (The Lions Club, VFW, KofC, etc) and -most- of them do a good job of providing enough food and beverage options to earn a good bit of coin. As an example, we judged a rather large contest in Bixby, OK last year and (I was told) the local Lions Club earned over 80 thousand dollars off the event. If you've got 50 or 60 teams handing out BBQ then this might (potentially) reduce the amount of jing the organization might take in.

Interestingly, and this is perhaps where some of the disappointment lies with the J'ville contest, some contests DO have a "peoples choice" category. Much like the chili competitions you mentioned, teams who choose to participate pay an extra amount of money (usually $10-15) and they are permitted to give the public small samples.,,Given that it's usually a "winner take all" sub-category to the actual contest we don't participate. I mean why spend an extra $100 to $150 dollars on extra meat just to have a 1 in 40 or 1 in 50 chance at winning a five or six hundred bucks. The math doesn't add up and for me it's not worth the extra trouble.

I'm sure I'll be talking to the organizer again at some point...The feedback that I'll give him will be that if there is a 2nd annual contest that there is strong sentiment for a "People's Choice" category so that folks can try some of the BBQ being judged.

We went to the event last night, and were not impressed. The music was great. We saw two different bands, the Mudcats and V-Groove. Both were really good. Very fun bands to watch. Crowds were not that much, but the lines were crazy. Very overpriced tickets for food, drink and for kids inflatables (bounce house, etc) and the lines were way too long for the few people that were there. I talked to the one vendor (He used to drive a beer truck from one of our distributors) and he said the fee to vend was $250 as well as $250 to enter the competition, which might explain why there were not a lot of vendors.

I think some simple things would help out the event... multiple lines to buy tickets, more and better choices of beer rather than just Miller Lite (they did manage to sell 10 kegs worth of it yesterday), more vendors with less of a fee to vend. Its a great spot to do the event, but they missed the boat on organizing. I've already put out feelers on helping out with the beer selections for next year (think local options).

On to the St. Mary's Street Fest with 100% Poly and the Rumors tonight (and good beer to boot!) in New Albany.

Best of luck to you Steve. This looks like a lot of fun, and I'll try to make it out.

I also couldn't help but notice that they listed a "beer garden" on the website, but I am a bit trepidatious of the lack of information on the brews. Maybe the lack of megabrewery sponsorship means that they will focus on craft beers. At the same time though, the lack of local brewery sponsorship might mean we're in for a lot of skunked lagers. If anyone knows anything about it, let me know.

I'm unaware of any local craft producer being contacted about this. The vaunted Madison Ribberfest is the exclusive domain of mass market swill (A-B), so it's probably a safe bet that multinational money is purchasing monopolistic privileges in this case, too.

Sighhhh ... you'd think by now that you wouldn't have to spoon feed 'em (organizers), but you do, and almost every time.

Oops, didn't see Todd's posting.

As for the St. Mary's event, let me just say that someone's heart is in the right place there. Possibly because this was the first year they've allowed craft beer, the terms of engagement remained muddled right up to the last minute, preventing any of us from marketing our participation very effectively.

Last night (Friday), NABC, Cumberland, BBC Main & Clay and Browning's were there, two taps each, with hefty samples for a buck and full pours for $4.

Today, if I understand it correctly, last night's leftover craft kegs will be on tap in an indeterminate order on the Lite draft trucks provided by Monarch (Indiana's Miller/Coors house).

I have high hopes for the future of craft beer at the St. Mary's event. This year was something of a dry run (and a mighty hot one, too).

And one more thing: To anyone who thinks that I'm being too harsh with organizers of affairs that are themed "brews, blues and bbq", just consider that in their ideal form, the blues and barbecue are small-time, craft-inspired vocations.

Why gut the concept of blues and bbq by pairing with corporate brew? It's contradictory, and makes no sense.

I'd love to take a stab at pairing some craft beers with bbq. I suspect that a few intelligent pairings will put the lie to Miller Lite's propaganda in fairly short order.

Best of luck to you Steve. This looks like a lot of fun, and I'll try to make it out.

I also couldn't help but notice that they listed a "beer garden" on the website, but I am a bit trepidatious of the lack of information on the brews. Maybe the lack of megabrewery sponsorship means that they will focus on craft beers. At the same time though, the lack of local brewery sponsorship might mean we're in for a lot of skunked lagers. If anyone knows anything about it, let me know.

I'm unaware of any local craft producer being contacted about this. The vaunted Madison Ribberfest is the exclusive domain of mass market swill (A-B), so it's probably a safe bet that multinational money is purchasing monopolistic privileges in this case, too.

Sighhhh ... you'd think by now that you wouldn't have to spoon feed 'em (organizers), but you do, and almost every time.

Roger,

As much as I enjoy craft beer...and trust me I DO. There is just something about an ice cold Rolling Rock whilst attending the smoker. Having attended many of these contests I can assure you that (typically) this is NOT your "craft beer" crowd. Let me put it another way, there is generally a wee bit of pissing and moaning that the beer selection consists of $$$ and $$$ Light at these things. There would be a LOT of pissing and moaning if there weren't any $$$ or $$$ Light. Not everyone is a craft beer junkie. Just the way it is bro.

Roger,

As much as I enjoy craft beer...and trust me I DO. There is just something about an ice cold Rolling Rock whilst attending the smoker. Having attended many of these contests I can assure you that (typically) this is NOT your "craft beer" crowd. Let me put it another way, there is generally a wee bit of pissing and moaning that the beer selection consists of $$$ and $$$ Light at these things. There would be a LOT of pissing and moaning if there weren't any $$$ or $$$ Light. Not everyone is a craft beer junkie. Just the way it is bro.

I'll throw in a nice pilsner like a Victory Prima Pils in there to replace that Rolling Rock any day. I totally understand the market need to have something like Miller Lite as as option at an event like this, when it is the only option, we all lose. In my case, they did not make a dime off of me, as I simply won't drink Miller Lite (or any other mass-marketed pale lager). That is just my tastes. Not offering anything else at all, whether it was local or otherwise is just short sighted.

One great example of good beer in a normally not good beer drinking crowd. We donated a keg of 3 Floyds Alpha King to the St. Anthony's picnic two years ago. It was in the same booth as a bunch of macro-beer, and priced a $1 more a glass, and that keg blew in 45 minutes. If given the option, people will at least try it. If they are not adventurous, they still have their old standby there.

Roger, I think we might have our next beer dinner idea.... BBQ and real Brews!

Roger, I think we might have our next beer dinner idea.... BBQ and real Brews!

I think so, too.

Speaking of Rolling Rock, here's an interesting passage from beer writer Lew Bryson's blog today:

The last Lawrenceville-brewed batch of Iron City beer will be made today. Production will be moved to the City Brewing (no connection) facility 40 miles away in Latrobe, the brewery that once made Rolling Rock...before that iconic Pennsylvania brand was bought by Anheuser-Busch and production was moved to Newark, NJ.

I persist in thinking that the entirely localized nature of blues and barbecue isn't capable of consistent conceptual linkage with mass-produced industrial beer.

Meanwhile, SP - thanks for pointing to the Hoosier Daddy/Harvest Homecoming BBQ championship in October. Typically, the official HH site hasn't been updated, and the HD site isn't up yet, either, but I'll keep my ears to the ground. We make a beer called Hoosier Daddy, and I suspect it would be quite good with barbecue. That probably makes too much sense to ever happen in New Albany.