Washington Spring Training 2009

[Gold Bar-B-Q Bob Beeman]

Washington Spring Training 2009

Man, 3:00 AM sure comes around early! At 4:00 AM I picked up Dave and his new 22.5” WSM in Monroe then we headed south to the South Seattle Home Depot for a 6:00 AM meat inspection. One thing good about traveling at that hour of the morning is the Seattle traffic is very light and you can make good time. We arrived at 5:30 and it was just Bird Dog, Judge Jenny and her mom Chris in the parking lot.

It wasn’t long before the teams started rolling in. Tents are going up, tables & cookers set in place.

To the west of us was South Paw’s set up and to the west of JD was the soon to be GC team of Old Dawg BBQ,

and to the east was a family team I met for the first time, “A-Blazing Grace” and their homemade pit. And east of them was Jeff Mattox of “Smoke it Up” on one side of Jeff was Gator Done BBQ and on the other side was Bird Dog BBQ.

After meat inspection and prepping for chicken, ribs, sausage and tri-tip Dave and I took a walk around and visited the teams and looked over the variety of cookers. There was everything from Ugly Drums, Big Green Eggs, 22.5” WSM, Back Woods, 18 & 22.5” Weber Kettles, Traegers & homemade pits,. We stopped by and talked to Tom & Bob

from “Team Uff-Da” and they gave as a full tour of their two probe Stoker with one probe hooked to a WSM & one to a stick burner and all linked to a laptop computer. The old world & new world have merged in BBQ.
A new team, “Smokin Noobies” had a very good showing using their Traegers, they took 6th overall with a 1st in chicken, 6th in tri-tip, 8th in ribs. At the end of the day a new team ( this was their 2nd cook) of “Old Dawg BBQ” took 1st place overall and the veteran cook Lynne Brokaw “Grills Gone Wild” took 2nd & missed GC by one point. Gold Bar –B-Q took 3rd overall with our 3rd first place ribs in a row, a 2nd in chicken but I was disappointed in my tri-tip with a 10th overall and I did not expect much from my sausage and not much is what I got with a 13th place. My friend and event organizer Bird Dog BBQ took 4th overall. Congratulations, Grand Champion - Old Dawg BBQ, Reserve Grand Champion – Grills Gone Wild.

Thank you Dave Snider (Bird Dog BBQ), Judge Jenny, all the judges and volunteers that worked so hard to see that Washington Spring Training was a fun and successful event. I am not going to thank the weather gods even though I have cooked in worse. It was a day of on and off rain and wind and as soon as the awards were over the rain really let loose. It was very nice to see some old friends and meet many new barbecue teams. I hope to see these new teams show up at some of the 2009 BBQ events.

[Gold Bar-B-Q Bob Beeman]

James,
I was sure there was a brisket turn in. LOL

[SnoqualmieSmoker]

Good to get my leg pulled by you bob, I feel like it's a right of passage at these cooks! Thanks to Dave to putting this show together, and JD for putting up with me and Jack. We had a great time!

[Dave Snider]

Nice Pictures! It is allways a pleasure cooking with you Bob! Thanks again for cooking.

[Gold Bar-B-Q Bob Beeman]

JD,
Sorry I did not say that in my blog. It was very fun hanging with you and meeting your wife this past Saturday. You did good JD and made me proud. With a 5th in sausage a 5th in chicken and 6th place ribs and you where ahead of me in tri-tip.
Good Job again

[JD McGee]

Yep...it was a lot of fun...SouthPaw got a couple of calls for chicken, ribs, and sausage...here are a few more pics.