Page 6 - DEC2021 Digial Issue: Barbecue News Magazine

Ardie Davis
aka Remus Powers BBQ Hall of Famer ardiedavis@kc.rr.com
Friday Night Party on Barbecue Hill
Pandemic travel precautions and restrictions limited competition this year to domestic invitational teams. Nevertheless, spirited teams marched full throttle from Wiseman Park to the Jack Daniel’s Visitors Center to board buses to Barbecue Hill for food, beverages, music, fun and fellowship.
Burning of Regrets
Everybody knows that change is the one constant in life. Change may be negative or positive. We re- gret the negative and we welcome
“The Jack is Back!”
Michael Quessenberry, Tonya Swann, Gary Gay & DennyMike Sherman begin distributing Magic Hickory Nuts to Invita- tional teams in Wiseman Park.
Gary Gay holds a bag of Magic Hickory Nuts for Rhode Hog Pitmaster Chris Clegg of Cumberland, Rhode Island.
the positive.
A belly full of regrets went up in flames Friday night on Barbecue Hill. They were dumped from a cotton hog feed bag into the belly of Jasper, a metal pig designed by the late Tony Stone. A bottle of Jack Daniel’s Ten- nessee Whiskey made the rounds, from Master Distiller Chris Fletcher, As- sistant Master Distiller, Lexie Phillips, Chef Paul Kirk, DennyMike Sherman and back to Chris and Lexie They poured the precious contents onto the regrets in Jasper’s belly. Chip Chapman led the audience in a countdown from 10. At “Zero!” Jasper was hoisted onto flaming logs in the fireplace. Cheers erupted. “From Jasper’s belly to God’s ear.”
Judgment Day
Saturday morning, October 9: More than 70 Certified Barbecue Judges with fine-tuned palates and an appetite for excellence assembled under a large high-ceilinged, airy Jack Daniel’s event tent, complete with a stage for announcements and, later,
for awards. Amidst socializing
and apron signings, Chip
Chapman called the judges to
order, urging all to return to
their assigned tables, listen to
the rules and procedures, take
the judges’ oath and get ready
for serious judging—sauce,
cook’s choice, chicken, ribs,
pork, beef, dessert.
BarbecueNews.com - 6
DECEMBER 2021
Awards
When the judging was fin- ished, a crew removed judges’ tables and set up hundreds of folding chairs for the awards audience. Most of the chairs were filled with an attentive crowd of teams, judges, volun- teers and general public when the awards ceremony began at 4:30.
Commemorative shot glass in loving memory of Marge Plummer, Magic Hickory Nut & a notebook
of memories.
There was “Smoke in the Hollow”
when a microcosm of America’s
barbecue faithful was “Together
Again” for the 32nd Annual Jack
Daniel’s World Championship Invi-
tational Barbecue. “The Jack is
Back!” was the celebratory theme.
After a 24-month pandemic pause,
thousands of barbecue enthusi-
asts—pitmasters, Certified Barbe-
cue Judges, bikers, Tennessee
Squires and other fans of barbecue excellence gathered in Lynchburg, Ten- nessee, on October 8 & 9 to welcome the return of a hallowed tradition.
Magic Hickory Nuts
As more than 70 domestic Invitational teams representing the best of the best pitmasters in the United States of Barbecue settled into their as- signed cook sites in Wiseman Park, Team Magic Hickory Nut embarked on a long-time tradition exclusive to The Jack: making sure that a select member of each team reached into a special custom-made Jack Daniel’s bandana bag for a Magic Hickory Nut. Hoping to take the magic nut, they asked, “How do I know that this is the one?” “Every nut in this bag is magic. If you got the Magic Nut, we’ll see you at the awards stage Saturday night.” Pandemic problems nixed a screen-printed contest logo on the nuts this year. Kudos and thanks to our dear friend, ever-loyal James Reynolds, Distillery Security Staff, retired, for collecting and donating Shagbark Hickory nuts from local trees before deer, squirrels and other wildlife feasted on them. And hats off to the team—DennyMike Sherman of Maine, Richard Westhaver of Massachusetts, Gary Gay of East Ten- nessee, Brian Nowotny of Kansas City & new team members Michael Quessenberry of Arkansas and area native Tonya Swann.