Yes, there are no pictures to post with this. I’m not a very good camera person and if you want to see pictures of the 25th Annual Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbeque they are all over the place on many sites and are great fun to look at. I’m more into people and experiences than pictures and this little write-up will be all about that side of one of competition barbeque’s greatest spectacles. I was tremendously honored to be invited as a judge and want to share that experience with friends who are interested and enjoy barbeque as much as I do.
Judges for this event are invited, not selected from applications as with other contests. My invitation came from one of the KCBS reps who has always been a fan of my Bull Sheet articles and barbeque education postings on various forums and has used my writing in his work on several occasions. I really don’t have words to adequately express my appreciation for the invitation or the honor I feel to have been invited. I can check “Judge the Jack Daniels” off of my bucket list now. I was never certain that I’d ever get to do it but I certainly wanted to!
My wife, Randi shared the experience with me, accompanying me to Lynchburg and also by taking the KCBS Judging Class that was offered there. She’s not as “barbeque crazy” as I am but is very supportive of my involvement in the competition circuit and she knew right away that this was a big deal.
Randi’s judging class was a huge one – about eighty five new judges were “minted” in the process. I didn’t help with the class, but greatly enjoyed just sitting in the back of the room listening and watching. I became a judge seven years ago and most of the details of the class have dropped from my memory except for the late and tremendously capable Tony Stone being my instructor. So, it was a “refresher” of sorts and yes, I did learn (or re-learn) a few things. One great fringe benefit of having a wife who is also a certified judge is that now she’ll have a deeper appreciation for all the stuff I talk about too often because of my passion for it. Also, she’ll get to meet a lot of the great friends I’ve made over the last few years whilst hanging out in the smoke.
Watching a class in process – the interaction of the students with the instructor, listening to the questions they ask, and actually seeing “light bulbs” go on as they grasp the finer nuances of competition barbeque – is oddly refreshing. I’d encourage all the more senior judges I know to give it a shot some time. It will give you a new perspective on what we so often take for granted.
Just before Randi’s class I checked in at the “warehouse” and picked up my credentials and goodie bag. Lots of neat “stuff” but my favorite is my Jack Daniel’s lanyard for my judge’s badge. It has the Jack Daniel’s logo at the top and “Jack” printed on the neck strap. I passed on my KCBS lanyard to Randi so she’ll have one when her badge arrives. I still haven’t had time to thoroughly check out all the rest of the bag contents, but there were Jack Daniel’s barrel chips and pellets, a great t-shirt, a comprehensive commemorative brochure with all the teams listed along with some of their recipes for sides and lot more unique stuff, and event poster, and, believe it or not, a hefty bottle of Lynchburg’s most famous product. It doesn’t age in the bottle but I’ll save it for a cold winter day when my innards need the warmth.
Friday night is the parade of teams (which we missed because we forgot to re-check our schedule) and the traditional trek up “Barbeque Hill” for the reception and dinner at the distillery. All teams and judges are honored by the Jack staff at this event and it is a mob scene! The buses run from the main entrance to the hill and just keep running and running. If I ever get to go again, I’ll definitely remember to take a heavier coat! It was cold and we didn’t dress as warmly as we should have. Thus, we departed after about an hour, shivering but impressed with the overall size of the undertaking. There’s definitely nothing else quite like it. For the teams, especially, it doesn’t go into late hours and there were quite a few cooks on the bus heading back down who expressed their desire to “get down to it” in spite of all the fun. I totally understand.
Saturday morning Randi dropped me at the central cooking/judging venue early so I’d have time to wander around. Another “if there is a next time” reminder to self: Bring walking shoes. There’s a lot of ground to cover with teams from every state, specially honored teams, the past champion teams in the “Winners Circle” competition (which I judged), and lots of international teams. Before I knew it, it was time to get to the Judges Pavilion and be seated for the event. Time flies when you are in sensory overload.
Judges are given black aprons along with a silver marker. I was puzzled at first, but then quickly figured out it was an autograph party! I traded autographs on my apron with as many folks as I could find before the emcee finally got everybody into some semblance of order for the starting ceremony (and, yes, the judges’ CD playing and oath). I missed some signatures but got most and my autographs are a who’s who of KCBS dignitaries and lots and lots of other judges who were just as honored as I was to be there. I’m going to frame that apron along with my name tag, big silver commemorative judge’s ribbon, and some other mementoes like my notification letter.
Another highlight for me was finally getting to meet in person Ardie Davis, the first and forever “Dr. Barbeque” himself (Remus Powers in the Bull Sheet). Ardie and I have corresponded over recipes I submitted for the KCBS cookbook he helped develop and edit a few years ago, and he has been extremely supportive of my Ph. B candidacy. KCBS is full of really fantastic people and now I’ve finally met Ardie face to face via the Jack.
Oh, the food? We had some! Perhaps the most singularly unusual thing about judging at the Jack is that hundreds of folks sit on the bleachers and watch us do it! At one point somebody even got into “cheerleading”. It is kind of intimidating, actually. Quick rundown: I gave a lot of 9’s and 8’s and a few perfect scores (9’s across all 3 attributes). They were all deserved. Almost every entry was clearly championship quality. I was conscientious, though, and had to give some lower scores here and there. One rib was significantly overcooked and the meat almost fell off the bone when I took it out of the box. One pork entry was tough and had some gristle in it. Disappointing, but even champion cooks can have a bad day. Overall, the quality of the entries was detectibly better than an “average” contest and it was a serious challenge to judge it. I was in good company, though. My whole table was very senior and all master judges. The Table Captain said we stayed remarkably close and uniform in all our findings. As I reflect on my experience judging the American Royal Invitational a couple of years ago, the total entry quality is compacted at the extreme “9” end in both contests and, as a judge, I had to be very focused and attentive to the nuances in order to give the scores teams deserved.
One highlight of the Jack for me was absolutely coincidental. It happened Sunday morning after the contest was over. I was standing in front of the breakfast bar at the hotel, pondering the groceries and noticed that somebody was standing beside me, doing exactly the same thing. When I turned to look it was Tuffy Stone, the Grand Champion winner.
I first met Tuffy a couple of years ago in a contest where we were both cooking. Of course, Tuffy wins contests, while I just get the occasional walk. We aren’t in the same league. But, that doesn’t mean anything to Tuffy. He wanders around the grounds, chatting with everybody. His frequent appearances on Pitmasters and other television shows are not part of his personality, but they reflect his character. He’s a wonderful ambassador of all that is positive and good about competition barbeque and I couldn’t have hoped to see a more deserving winner of the Jack Grand Championship. We chatted for a bit and I congratulated him, of course. When he asked where I was from and I told him Lincolnton, North Carolina he recounted fond memories of cooking in our contest here (he was Grand Champion twice and Reserve Grand Champion once). That was before I moved here and before I got into “the circuit”, but it was nice to hear his compliments to our hometown and recollections of cooking around our courthouse square.
Other impressions and thoughts about the Jack? A few. It is a complex entity. Just like one picture cannot encompass the Grand Canyon, describing the Jack isn’t easy.
One must have open eyes and an open mind to the fact that the Jack is a gigantic public relations and promotional activity for the Jack Daniel’s Distillery. That is a given. They invest lots of dollars not just into the prize money but into the infrastructure of the contest and the staff to run it. For that investment they are certainly entitled to a return. Thus, I don’t mind the “commercialism” of it at all. I am grateful that Jack Daniel’s invests in it. Overall it is a huge push to the entire sport of competition barbeque and it has widened the audience and spread the “word” of our sport.
Some think the Jack is more party than contest. And, if you happen to get invited and just want to party you could pretty much do that. It is blatantly social in nature, but the contest is deadly serious to the competitors and most judges. Since it is a business promotion for Jack Daniel’s there is a political element to it. Yes, there is a “connection” for selected judges and I’ve revealed mine here. Yes, there are some judges who are business connections of the Distillery and who judge only this contest after being trained the day before. That is the nature of the beast. I can’t argue that perhaps the overall judge pool quality may be higher for the Sam’s Club Final in Bentonville where all judges must be master level, or for the American Royal Invitational where all are certified (not all are certified for the AR Open). Feel free to draw your own conclusions as to how fitting the judging is to the contestants. One “new” judge was an Air Force NCO soon to depart for Afghanistan. May God protect him. I’m an Air Force veteran with a soft spot for that gesture in my heart. He deserved his seat, representing our armed forces.
Finally, I’ll add an odd observation. Of the returning, prior year champion teams competing in the Winner’s Circle “contest within a contest”, four are from my home state of Oklahoma, more than from any other state. Perhaps my predilection for barbeque is geographic. We Okies are highly influenced by both Kansas City and Texas styles in barbeque and I’m glad we can hold our own among this robust crowd!
Will I be a judge for the Jack again? I don’t know. There are likely many more deserving judges than I who deserve a crack at the experience too. If I am chosen again I’ll be just as honored and just as grateful, though. I still have some barbeque-related things on my bucket list. The Sam’s Club final, for instance. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll get skilled and lucky enough to win a category in a contest someday.
I’m “into” barbeque contesting because of my love of the food and the competition, of course, but there’s something much greater than that. The people I meet and enjoy being around. I derive intense satisfaction from my barbeque activities and associates. The folks I know from the circuit and from the forums where I write and respond are very important to me. The Jack is, indeed, a great honor, but it isn’t the best part of my life.
Gordon Hubbell
October 29, 2013
