Windy City BBQ Classic 9/1/13

Windy City BBQ Classic Hosts Country’s Top Pit Masters Labor Day Weekend

CHICAGO (August 11, 2013) – The second annual Windy City BBQ Classic is set to host more than 30 Pit Masters and up to 3,000 attendees in Chicago’s only authentic barbecue competition where competitors have to use only wood or charcoal to cook meat for an accredited judging panel. This year’s daylong competition moves to the South Parking Lot at Soldier Field on Sunday, September 1, 2013 during the festive Labor Day weekend.

The 30 teams will compete for more than $14,000 in prizes in categories such as Best Ribs, Best Brisket, Best Pork Shoulder and Best Chicken. Teams can use any type and make of smoker as long as they do not use gas or electricity in the cooking process. Each team will present their barbecue anonymously to the judges who will score the meat based on appearance, tenderness and taste. No garnish or sauce will be considered in the judging process. And since Gov. Pat Quinn declared the Windy City BBQ Classic the official Illinois state championship, the overall Grand Champion is automatically qualified to compete in the invitation-only Jack Daniel’s World Championship held in Tennessee later this year.

“It’s definitely a hardcore competition where 30 BBQ teams are going smoker to smoker in this one-of-kind event in the Chicagoland area,” said Jared Leonard, co-founder of the classic and owner of Rub’s Backcountry Smokehouse. “We’ve assembled a great collection of teams including Southern Krunk BBQ Boys, featured on the third season of TLC's BBQ Pitmasters. If you’re a lover of real, authentic Texas barbecue, you’re going to love this championship event.”

During the competition, attendees will have access to watch, learn and interact with the Pit Masters as they prepare their meat for judging. Then, each guest has the opportunity to become a People’s Choice Judge, sampling and judging barbecue from another set of local and national BBQ restaurants on hand to compete for the People’s Choice Prize. Participating restaurants include local BBQ favorites like Barn & Company, Chuck's Southern Comfort Cafe, Rubs Backcountry Smokehouse, Smoque, Sweet Baby Ray’s, Chicago Q and Uncle Bub’s.

In addition to the award-winning barbecue, the Windy City BBQ Classic will feature live blues music from The Cash Box Kings, Shirley King, Blue Road, Toronzo Cannon and more. Beer from the Lagunita’s Brewing Company and other craft brewers including Argus Brewery, Solemn Oath and Two Brothers will also be flowing throughout the event’s festivities. Tito’s will be pouring premium cocktails with their handmade small-batch vodka.

“Unlike most rib competitions and festivals, attendees are not able to sample the competitor's ribs since those are for the judges only,” said Leonard, who founded the Windy City Rib Classic in 2012 along with barbecue expert, author and Barn & Company Pitmaster Gary Wiviott. “However, the quality of the local and national BBQ restaurants and caterers vying for the $5,000 People’s Choice Award are outstanding.”

The one-day event is being held on Sunday, September 1 from noon to 9pm. Three ticket options are now available online at http://www.windycitybbqclassic.com. General admission is $49 and includes admission and all-you-can-eat rib samples. VIP status is $79 and includes all the ribs and beer you can enjoy. Premium Status is $99 and includes one-hour early access to the event, premium seating, free Vintage Vine’s bloody marys and all you can eat ribs and beer. A portion of the proceeds from the Windy City BBQ Classic will go to Operation BBQ Relief, a not-for-profit corporation founded in response to a need for relief efforts in tornado-stricken Joplin, Missouri.

“Our move to the South Lot at Soldier Field has allowed us to expand our event space this year allowing us to bring in more BBQ teams, more craft BBQ and beer samples, more cooking demos, a bigger music stage and more good times for all who attend this year’s BBQ Classic,” said Leonard.

For more information about the Windy City BBQ Classic, please visit http://www.windycitybbqclassic.com/

I'm looking to bring my son who's under 21 who loves Q. Will there be soda, water or any other non beer drinks available?

plark wrote:I'm looking to bring my son who's under 21 who loves Q. Will there be soda, water or any other non beer drinks available?

Water and soda are available for sale, not included in the ticket price. You are welcome to bring your own.

Holy crap. I think I am morally obligated to attend.

ETA: Am I not allowed to buy multiple tickets? I can't seem to change the quantity in my cart.

I'm heading down to the Windy City Rib Classic. I hope to run into some LTHers there.

stevez wrote:I'm heading down to the Windy City Rib Classic. I hope to run into some LTHers there.

Heading down now, I'll look for you.

I had a really nice time yesterday serving as a judge for the Chicken and Rib portions of the competition. It was great seeing so many fellow LTHers enjoying the bbq and the beautiful day.

For my palate, many of the entries I tasted were too saucy but there were a definitely few good ones in there. Our session ended several hours before the winners were scheduled to be announced (at 6 pm), so we headed home before then. I'd love to know who won of all 4 of the meats, the Grand Championship and the People's Choice award, too.

Thanks,

=R=

Mud's was the overall winner and placed first in Ribs. Second City Smoke won Chicken and was number two overall. Brewmasters won Pork and Brisket but finished 20th in chicken so only got a 5th place overall. Complete results are posted here https://www.facebook.com/chicagobbqcontest

For you statistic-types - here are all the numbers you could ever want from the Windy City BBQ Classic:

If you were a judge and remember your table #/judge #, you can compare your results to the other judges and see if who you like took home any dough/hardware....

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7jo9L8 ... sp=sharing

rubbbqco wrote:For you statistic-types - here are all the numbers you could ever want from the Windy City BBQ Classic:

If you were a judge and remember your table #/judge #, you can compare your results to the other judges and see if who you like took home any dough/hardware....

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7jo9L8 ... sp=sharing

Awesome, thanks!

=R=

Were the table captains considered judge #1 or #6?

stevez wrote:Were the table captains considered judge #1 or #6?

They were #6.