3rd Annual BBQ Festival Delayed But Worth The Wait

Pitmasters From Across The Country Served Their Award-Winning BBQ To Attendees

by Mark Smiley

Some of America’s most award-winning BBQ pitmasters descended upon the Mile High City for the 3rd Annual Denver BBQ Festival which was held September 17-19, 2021, in the parking lot at Empower Field. They served their BBQ to attendees over the course of the weekend.

Ole Hickory Pits was a major sponsor of the event and they provided commercial pits for all pitmasters to cook on throughout the weekend. Ole Hickory Pits manufactures and markets state-of-the-art commercial, competition, and residential barbecue smoker ovens, in addition to barbecue equipment, sauces, seasonings, and lifestyle products.

A total of 12 pitmasters from eight states served over 30,000 pounds of meat. This festival is not a competition, just an opportunity for attendees to purchase BBQ they would not normally be able to acquire in town.

However, two local favorites were on hand, GQue BBQ and Woodhill Small Batch BBQ. Having hometown advantage must have helped Woodhill Small Batch BBQ from Littleton. They were the only BBQ pitmaster that needed extra barricades set up on Friday night due to long lines. “We didn’t anticipate having the longest line last night [Friday, September 17],” said Keith Segura, co-owner of Woodhill Small Batch BBQ. “I guess it was hometown advantage.”

Segura grew up in Sterling, Illinois, in a subdivision of 20 homes on a farm. As a kid, he fondly remembers pig roasts and eating sweet corn with salt and butter. “That memory was always in my mind ever since I was a kid,” said Segura. “I said when I grow up to be an adult, I want to do that same thing.”

And do the same thing he did, along with his wife Jodi, whom he met when she pulled him over for speeding when she was on state patrol. Now, they enjoy running the food truck and catering business together. The name Woodhill comes from Jodi’s family’s farm name in Illinois. And the name Small Batch comes from when they first started out and only did small batch BBQ for breweries such as Breckenridge Brewery.

Now, you can find Woodhill Small Batch BBQ’s truck at Max Taps Brewery in Highlands Ranch (November 13), and Living the Dream Brewery in Littleton (November 20). There you can surely find brisket and ribs which are Segura’s favorite meats to smoke. And you may also find their famous “twinkie” which has jalapeno stuffed inside with bacon wrapped on the outside.

For more information, visit www.woodhillsmallbatchbbq.com or on Facebook and Instagram @woodhillsmallbatchbbq.

No stranger to great BBQ, Jason Ganahl, owner and pitmaster of GQue BBQ, is proud to be the only championship BBQ restaurant in Colorado. It opened its first restaurant in Westminster six years ago. GQue also has locations inside Empower Field, Park Meadows Mall, and a new location in Lakewood opening next month. “We are out here sharing our food with everybody else,” said Ganahl. “We are spreading the wonderful flavor of smoked meat like BBQ sauce.”

Ganahl rejects the idea that Colorado has a hole in great BBQ in the state. He concedes that the perception is that places like Kansas City, Memphis, and St. Louis have the solid reputation of good BBQ that you can find every five miles. “I think over time, over the course of the next 8-10 years, hopefully more and more people will appreciate what I’ve long appreciated, being from the Midwest, and that’s the flavor you get from a delicious piece of smoked meat,” said Ganahl.

Once that reputation builds it will force each BBQ establishment to elevate its game which Ganahl welcomes. “We eliminate the word complacency from our vocabulary,” said Ganahl. “Success is rented every single day. You have to go out there and earn it. I feel like if we show up every single day and we cook the food the way it’s intended to be cooked, and we deliver it in an inviting and appreciative way, then the sky is the limit. That is the challenge with multiple locations, and lunch and dinner service.”

For more on GQue BBQ, visit www.gquebbq.com or follow them on Facebook and Instagram @GQueBBQ. Visit their website and sign up for their email alerts to receive a coupon for a free pulled pork sandwich.

Another well-established BBQ restaurant with multiple locations in attendance was Black’s Barbecue, the oldest BBQ restaurant in Texas. Black’s was started in 1932 in Lockhart, Texas, which is known as the official barbecue capital of Texas. Black’s Barbecue was originally founded as a meat market and grocery during the Depression after a poor farmer and cattle rancher named Edgar Black made a handshake deal with a friend who wanted to open a meat market.

As third generation pitmaster Kent Black explains, his grandfather Edgar had heart problems and asked his son, who was an accountant for Exxon, to help at the restaurant for six weeks while he recovered. Six weeks turned into 50 years of growing the business. Edgar Sr. died in 1962, at which point Edgar Jr. and his wife Norma Jean took over the business. Edgar Jr., who passed away in 2017 at the age of 91, left the restaurant to Kent who now runs Black’s Barbecue’s four locations along with son Barrett.

And Kent’s mom, who is 90, still comes into the Lockhart restaurant from time to time. “She’s the boss,” said Kent Black, owner and pitmaster of Black’s Barbecue. “When she walks into the restaurant, it is like Elvis walking in.” All of the side dishes at the restaurant are based on her recipes.

Black claims his father was the first to barbecue brisket in the 1950s. And now, that is Black’s Barbecue’s signature dish. Black’s Barbecue’s homemade sausage was also served at the BBQ Festival. The sausage recipe has remained the same over 90 years and they make it in small 100-pound batches.

For more information or to order meat to be shipped to your home, visit www.blacksbbq.com.

Having generations of pitmasters working side by side and eventually taking over the business is common in this tight-knit world. That is true for Leslie Roark Scott, known as the BBQ Princess, who learned from her dad at a young age. Her dad was an award-winning pitmaster and as a teenager, Roark Scott learned how to cook ribs and would present them to judges. Her dad let her fly on her own and face the judges’ questions by herself.

That built her confidence and allowed her to become the first female to win a grand championship on the Memphis circuit back in 1992. She remembers driving four hours from college to help her dad at a competition. “BBQ is what tied us and kept us tied together,” said Roark Scott, owner and pitmaster of Ubon’s Restaurant in Yazoo City, Mississippi.

Ubon’s opened in 2004 and in 2011, Ubon’s began participating in festivals. “About 10 years ago, we slid into the festival scene because what we figured out is where our joy comes from is watching people get excited about food that they haven’t tried before, and offering them an experience that’s hands-on,” said Roark Scott. “I also have the chance to leave Mississippi and shine a different light on my home state. I really feel like festivals like this make people more aware [of good BBQ]. If you’ve never had really good brisket and you get here and you eat brisket from Black’s, you say I’m not putting up with crap anymore.”

For more information on Ubon’s Restaurant, visit ubonsbbq.com and follow them on Instagram and Facebook @Ubons.

Blues Hog Barbecue made a big splash at this year’s festival with music playing and a whole hog on the pit (of which they handed out samples to attendees in line). Blues Hog was the 2021 World Champion in pork shoulder and they served this dish along with a pineapple slaw. Their customers from back home came [Washington, Missouri] to help prepare and serve the food.

“When we go to these regional events, we like to get our customers involved so they can enjoy it,” said Joey Machado, Marketing Director for Blues Hog Barbecue. “Denver is a really nice event. They get about 30,000 people over the whole weekend. I was leery because of the year that it is. That maybe we wouldn’t get as many people as we thought were going to. We honestly have had a ton.”

Blues Hog makes sauce, seasoning, and charcoal, which are all available for purchase on their website and select stores in the Denver Metro area. When asked about the secret to good BBQ, Machado had a quick answer. “The secret to BBQ is passion,” said Machado. “The willingness to make mistakes is what makes you really good at BBQ. You can go online, you can watch YouTube videos, you can read books, and do everything else. But if you’re not making mistakes in your backyard and understanding what you have to do, that’s it, that’s the best way to learn BBQ. At the end of the day, I BBQ to put smiles on people’s faces.”

There were plenty of smiling faces at this festival. Mark your calendar for Father’s Day weekend in 2022 as the 4th Annual Denver BBQ Festival will roll into town again. Visit www.denverbbqfest.com for all information and updates.