The 5 Best Bites from the Beer Bourbon & BBQ Festival 2020
Big crowds enjoyed liquor and smoked meats at last weekend's Beer Bourbon & BBQ Festival.
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More than 2,000 barbecue and bourbon fans turned out for last Saturday's sold-out Beer Bourbon & BBQ Festival in Brooklyn. The festival, which has been held for 10 years in New York, decided this year to move from Manhattan to Brooklyn for the first time in order to have a different layout at a new venue.
Held at the Brooklyn Expo Center in Greenpoint, the Beer Bourbon & BBQ Festival had more than 10 barbecue restaurants and teams serving up great bites and more than 50 beer and bourbon options to taste. Barbecue vendors ranged from high-quality standbys like Handsome Devil BBQ to newcomers including Red White & Que Smokehouse and Pure Grit BBQ.
"When we moved to Brooklyn, the show became more relaxed and gave us more room to expand for our barbecue teams," Greg Nivens, the founder and organizer of the festival, said. "It made it easier to get better food to people and allowed barbecue to be smoked on site. We were very pleased with it overall and we'll be back next year."
Nivens said there were a few "growing pains" that will be addressed next year, including adding more coat check stations and more trash cans. In fact, Nivens said the date for next year's event is already set for January 30, 2021, and it will return to the Brooklyn Expo Center.
During the event, my girlfriend and I operated a table to encourage people to sign up for the NYC BBQ Weekly newsletter and to buy t-shirts and BBQ candles. I didn’t indulge in much bourbon or beer, but I did my best to eat as much delicious barbecue as I could. Overall, this was the best showing for barbecue I've ever seen at the Beer Bourbon & BBQ Festival, which is certainly due to having smokers on site.
Here are my top five BBQ bites from the festival.
This beef rib slice from Red White & Que was outstanding.
Beef Ribs — Red White & Que Smokehouse
Red White & Que in Kearny, New Jersey serves up great food no matter where they go, and the beef ribs last Saturday were no exception. Pitmaster and owner Dan Misuraca said he used the same recipe as his beef ribs in the restaurant, which are usually smoked at least eight hours and are always in high demand.
Dan’s crew also had a booth at the event to showcase the restaurant’s new brand Another Mother. This new entity will soon have a storefront down the street from the restaurant and it will offer hot sauce, barbecue sauce, and fermented foods. Misuraca told me the top seller at the festival was the Carolina Creaper hot sauce, the brand’s hottest offering.
I love brisket so much and Handsome Devil knocked this one out of the park.
Brisket — Handsome Devil BBQ
The brisket from Handsome Devil out of Newburgh, New York was succulent and one of the best things I ate all day. Look at this video to see it being sliced in all its glory. The Handsome Devil crew served smoked gator as well, but I prefer brisket to gator any day. Ed Randolph, owner of Handsome Devil, won on the Food Network show Chopped last year and said he is working on a new restaurant concept that could launch in 2020.
The cornbread waffles from new BBQ joint Pure Grit were incredible.
Cornbread Waffles — Pure Grit BBQ
Pure Grit BBQ is a new vegan barbecue joint opening in Manhattan in the late spring or early summer. The joint served up delicious cornbread waffles and sweet potato burnt ends. While I dug the smoky and sweet potato burnt ends, I fell in love with the cornbread waffles, which were delicious despite being gluten- and dairy-free.
Kerry Fitzmaurice, the owner of Pure Grit BBQ, said she was happy with the event and looked at it as a good way to introduce barbecue fans to vegan barbecue options. Fitzmaurice noted that many people were pleasantly surprised with Pure Grit being included in the event despite it not being a traditional barbecue joint. I’ll be sharing more details about Pure Grit BBQ as soon as the joint has a firm location and open date.
I was told by many attendees that Pig Beach’s ribs were the best bite of the day.
Honey and Peach BBQ Glazed Ribs — Pig Beach
Pig Beach NYC in Brooklyn has a diverse menu and most items will leave you with a smile on your face. However, the honey-and-peach-BBQ-glazed ribs served at the festival are not on the regular menu at the restaurant, but they are so good they should be. They were both smoky and sweet, and many people I spoke with at the event told me the ribs were their favorite item.
The pastrami from Randall's Barbecue is one of the restaurant’s top items.
Pastrami — Randall’s Barbecue
If you visit Randall’s Barbecue on the Lower East Side, you do not want to miss out on the joint’s smoked pastrami. It’s one of the best items on the menu and the crowd got to try it out in person at the festival. Owner and pitmaster Jared Male has been tweaking the menu at Randall's recently, so it's worth checking out.
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Other great bites from the event included the delicious jerk pork from local popup Jase BBQ; brisket sliders from Dinosaur Bar-B-Que; the brisket tacos from Morgan's Brooklyn Barbecue; the roasted pork and plantains from Big Papa Smokem; and the whole hog from Brooklyn’s Arrogant Swine.
I’m already looking forward to the return of the Beer Bourbon & BBQ Festival next year. And if you're not based in NYC, check out dates that the Beer Bourbon & BBQ Festival will be held in other cities around the country.
Sean Ludwig
Founder, NYC BBQ
EAT ALL ABOUT IT
Here are the top BBQ (and related) food news stories you need to know about this week:
Mothership Meat Company in Long Island City was included in the NY Post’s roundup of “country joints.”
The New York Post recently compiled a list of 16 country joints that bring some honky-tonk to NYC, with several good bars and barbecue joints included on the list. BBQ joints that made the cut include Mothership Meat Company in Queens, Hill Country Barbecue Market in Manhattan, and Peaches HotHouse in Brooklyn. Good bars include Dolly’s in Williamsburg and the Patriot Saloon in Tribeca.
Eater NY has updated its list of the 20 best Korean barbecue joints in New York City, with joints in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens all represented. While it's not Southern BBQ, a lot of these restaurants do offer delicious marinated grilled meats.
Delivery services like Grubhub, Doordash, and Postmates have been listing some Philadelphia restaurants’ menus and information on their sites without their permission, leaving small-business owners to deal with the consequences, Philly Mag reports. Restaurants hit by this absurdity include Mike’s BBQ and Love & Honey Fried Chicken.
Syracuse.com recently profiled the “fall-off-the-bone BBQ” at Route 20 Grill & Tap in Auburn. Route 2 head chef Richard Taradejna “is a certified Kansas City Barbeque Society judge and competitor,” so he knows his way around some good barbecue.
Hill Country Barbecue Market in Manhattan will soon host an inventive “barbecue musical” called Das Barbecü and the New York Times spotlighted the upcoming musical recently. The production runs about 2 1/2 hours and “includes a family-style barbecue dinner of brisket, chicken, mac and cheese, cornbread, and desserts.”
Finally, if you make it to Boston at some point, popular barbecue food truck M & M BBQ has just opened its first brick-and-mortar restaurant. It is located inside the Dorchester Brewing Co., and offering “pulled pork sandwiches, brisket, fried chicken, and more,” reports Boston.com. The Up to Boston blog dives into even more detail if you want to learn more.
IRL BBQ
Here are the top BBQ (and related) food events coming soon to the New York metro area:
This weekend’s Cassoulet Cook Off in Brooklyn will warm you up with delicious cassoulet, a casserole-style dish that can be made in many ways.
Saturday, January 25, 2020: The 12th Annual Cassoulet Cook Off will take place on January 25 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Cassoulet is the ultimate winter dish, where French traditions meet New England baked beans, Texas BBQ brisket burnt ends and beans, California vegetarian beans casserole, and many other chef-driven styles. There will be 10+ chefs and more food than ever, plus craft beer, hard cider, wine, and spirits. Buy tickets here.
Saturday, January 25, 2020: "Mac" your calendars! Mac and cheese lovers rejoice as you’ll love the upcoming Mac & Cheese Mayhem event in Morristown, New Jersey. Local chefs and restaurants are cooking up many variations of mac & cheese while competing for the best mac in town. Be there to try everything for yourself and cast your vote! Other activities will include music, beer tasting, and more. Buy tickets here.
Sunday, January 26, 2020: Mable’s Smokehouse opened its doors in Williamsburg, Brooklyn nine years ago on January 26th, 2011. To celebrate 9 years of success and BBQ, the team there will be throwing a Birthday Party. All weekend long they will be doing $9 drink special and on the 26th, Mable’s will be doing a special BBQ themed trivia night, including Mable's Smokehouse trivia. Trivia starts at 8 p.m., with specials all day long. The event is free, but RSVP is encouraged. More info here.
January 26 - February 11, 2020: A musical called Das Barbecü will be performed at Hill Country Barbecue Market in Manhattan this January and February. The performance, a reimagining of Wagner’s Ring Cycle that takes place in Texas, is a musical farce about mismatched lovers who meet during a double shotgun wedding. Five actors play more than 30 characters. This will be the first full production to be performed in the lower-level music space of Hill Country Barbecue. Naturally, BBQ will be served during the production. Read a full preview here. More info here.
Friday, January 31, 2020: If you like bourbon and whiskey, you won't want to miss the Jersey City Whiskey Fest, which will feature over 100 styles of whiskey and spirits. Ticket holders are able to try their favorite as well as new spirits. Taste an outstanding selection of whiskies and even a variety of craft spirits ranging from the Kentucky bourbons to Mexican tequila to Russian vodka and more. Buy tickets here.
Saturday, April 18, 2020: Mark your calendars for the Jeff Michner BBQ Benefit 2020 at Pig Beach. Following the successful 2019 version of the event, this will feature many of the top pitmasters from around the country at Pig Beach in Brooklyn. Read about the 2019 edition of the Jeff Michner BBQ benefit here and this listing will be updated when tickets are officially available.
April 18 - 19, 2020: The 8th Annual Hot Sauce Expo NYC will be back for two days in 2020. The event will be held at the Brooklyn Expo Center in Greenpoint and features tons of hot sauce samples, barbecue and beer to purchase, fun on-stage events, and more. Buy tickets here.
Wednesday, April 22, 2020: If you love brisket, you won’t want to miss Brisket King 2020 in April. More than 15 chefs and pitmasters will be there serving up their take on brisket and pastrami. Early bird ticket sales are available now so get them before prices go up! More info here.
Looking for more events? Check out the full NYC BBQ calendar here.
SAY HELLO
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