Hickory Barbecue Battle with 3 Beers Down

[00:00:02] What You Want, When You Want It, Where You Want It. This is The MESH.

[00:00:52] It's like the holly berry cookies that my grandmother used to make. It's like basically cornflakes and marshmallows and you put green food coloring on them and then you put them out on a tray to cool and you put red hots on them and makes them look like little holly berries. Best all time.

[00:01:14] Magic, that sounds fantastic.

[00:01:16] I'm going with the ham. The ham? The glazed ham. Glazed ham with some pineapple.

[00:01:23] Now do you have that just at Christmas? Or New Years? Or Thanksgiving too?

[00:01:25] Well we also do a ham at Thanksgiving too, but that's along with the turkey, but ham rides solo at Christmas time.

[00:01:33] So like here, ham solo. I'll go sausage balls.

[00:01:38] Sausage balls?

[00:01:38] Love sausage balls.

[00:01:40] That's a holiday tradition?

[00:01:41] Oh yeah, because I'll drink to that.

[00:01:43] My aunt, rest in peace, she used to make sausage balls all the time, but we would get them a lot on Christmas, like a big tub of them.

[00:01:50] Yeah.

[00:01:51] And eventually my dad started making them and it just rolled over into a holiday tradition.

[00:01:55] Either that or the funeral sandwiches, you know, like the turkey and ham.

[00:01:58] Oh yeah, the ham and cheese.

[00:01:59] With the poppy seed.

[00:02:01] The butter just poured all over it.

[00:02:03] Whatever that secret sauce.

[00:02:04] No, definitely the sausage balls.

[00:02:05] And it's only in this time of season the wife will start making them.

[00:02:08] She'll make a big batch, we'll eat off of them all week and have them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack time, whatever.

[00:02:13] It's a great time.

[00:02:13] We make those all the time.

[00:02:14] Well, and that, so Katie goes to a women's group like once a week and they request her sausage balls.

[00:02:19] They know about her balls.

[00:02:21] Nice.

[00:02:22] Katie's balls.

[00:02:22] Hey guys, welcome to the Low and Slow Barbecue Show Holiday Edition.

[00:02:26] You got the gang from Three Beers Down here with us having a little bit of a crossover episode here on the podcast.

[00:02:33] We appreciate you guys joining us here for the holiday season.

[00:02:35] We're going to talk about barbecue today.

[00:02:37] We've got Hickory's Barbecue, six different varieties of it.

[00:02:41] And we're going to talk about each one of them.

[00:02:42] We're going to pick out one of the best.

[00:02:44] Stay tuned.

[00:02:45] We're going to tell you the best barbecue in the Hickory Metro.

[00:02:48] We're going to judge all of those.

[00:02:49] Talk a little bit about each one of those.

[00:02:50] These guys have brought some of their favorite beer for the holiday season.

[00:02:54] We're going to get into a little bit of that.

[00:02:55] So, fun stuff ahead.

[00:02:57] We're going to rank each one of these.

[00:02:59] And again, by the end of the show, you'll know what beer you want to drink for the holidays.

[00:03:02] You'll want to know what kind of pulled pork you want to have when you go out and have pulled pork.

[00:03:06] And I know that if you go to LowSlowBBQShow.com, you can find more blogs, podcast interviews, episodes,

[00:03:13] all the great stuff that's going on in our barbecue world.

[00:03:16] Please go there and subscribe to the Lowdown newsletter.

[00:03:21] Again, LowSlowBBQShow.com.

[00:03:22] When you subscribe to the newsletter, we'll send you all the latest Carolina barbecue news right to your inbox on Tuesdays.

[00:03:27] Josh, you can subscribe right now to LowSlowBBQShow.com.

[00:03:33] So, that being said, our introduction out of the way.

[00:03:35] I'm going to let each one of you guys introduce yourself.

[00:03:37] Of course, I'm Chigger Willard, the host of the Low and Slow BBQ Show.

[00:03:41] Glad to be with you guys.

[00:03:42] And I want to introduce our friends from the Three Beers Down episode.

[00:03:44] And this is kind of a holiday tradition.

[00:03:47] I was going to say that, yeah.

[00:03:47] We've got our ugly sweaters on.

[00:03:49] We drink some beers.

[00:03:50] We have some fun.

[00:03:50] What year is this?

[00:03:51] And I'm glad to have this.

[00:03:51] We've done the holiday get-together gathering.

[00:03:54] It's got to be the fifth year, I think.

[00:03:56] I think this is fifth.

[00:03:57] Five-ish.

[00:03:58] So, introduce yourself to my left.

[00:04:00] Matt Everly.

[00:04:02] Luke Sears.

[00:04:03] Where'd I look?

[00:04:05] Josh Elder.

[00:04:06] Josh Elder.

[00:04:07] And this will be our first episode that actually appears on YouTube and to our YouTube audience out there.

[00:04:11] So, excited to have our people see us and see our messy barbecue table and look out on Instagram for all that.

[00:04:17] So, guys, let's just jump right into it.

[00:04:19] I'm going to start with the pork.

[00:04:20] I know we've got some cool barbecue and some cool beer in front of us, I should say.

[00:04:23] But let's start with the pork.

[00:04:24] And I'm going to go with number one.

[00:04:26] We're going to take this simple.

[00:04:28] Let me first tell everybody again sort of the concept here.

[00:04:30] I went to six barbecue joints around the Hickory Metro.

[00:04:33] These are the barbecue restaurants that are most often mentioned on social media when people say, where's the best barbecue in town?

[00:04:42] Where can I get the best barbecue?

[00:04:45] Where is it?

[00:04:45] And it's always hotly debated.

[00:04:46] You know how social media is.

[00:04:48] People like to get out there and they do their trolling, they do their loving, they're promoting.

[00:04:52] It's barbecue space, so I'm going to give people props for promoting their favorite barbecue.

[00:04:55] So, I went to six of them.

[00:04:57] I'll tell you guys, I went and picked them up on Thursday afternoon, the day we're broadcasting here on the 19th.

[00:05:02] Guys, I drove 66 miles on my little ride.

[00:05:06] There we go.

[00:05:07] I went to Hudson.

[00:05:08] I went to Gamewell.

[00:05:09] I went to Taylorsville.

[00:05:11] I came back to like Valley Hills Mall area.

[00:05:15] So far three outside of Hickory.

[00:05:17] And then back into the downtown Hickory area.

[00:05:20] Yeah, I included three of those outside of Hickory because that's our Hickory Metro.

[00:05:23] That's true.

[00:05:24] It took me a couple hours on the road, but I got all this stuff in the coolers and I kept it pretty simple with everybody.

[00:05:30] I rang all these places up on the way and said, I want a pound of pulled pork and a pint of slaw.

[00:05:37] And whatever happened after that happened.

[00:05:40] Sometimes they said, well, do you want sauce?

[00:05:42] Sure.

[00:05:43] What do you recommend?

[00:05:44] If they said, well, you know, we've got this, this and this.

[00:05:47] I generally pick pork.

[00:05:48] I mean pork.

[00:05:48] I pick vinegar.

[00:05:50] If they said, do you want white slaw or red slaw?

[00:05:53] By the way, they only said that once.

[00:05:56] And I said red.

[00:05:57] Interestingly enough, all five other stops on the slaw circuit were white slaw, which I think is kind of interesting in our part of North Carolina.

[00:06:06] So strange.

[00:06:06] Anyway, let's start from the top.

[00:06:08] That's sort of the concept.

[00:06:09] I want us to go through each one of them.

[00:06:11] One, two, three, four, five, six.

[00:06:12] Give you kind of your flavor, what you thought about it, your opinions and impressions.

[00:06:17] And then at the end, we're going to say which one was our favorite because we've tabulated all the tallies here in our little Tally Whacker book, as I've been calling it.

[00:06:24] That's probably not appropriate.

[00:06:25] I got us a PG-13 right here.

[00:06:26] Unless you already lived in Hickory and you visited Tally Whackers often.

[00:06:29] The old restaurant.

[00:06:30] Do you know about that?

[00:06:31] No.

[00:06:32] That was before my time.

[00:06:33] It was the male version of Hooters, right?

[00:06:34] It sounds like a good time to start with number one.

[00:06:38] Barbecue number one.

[00:06:40] Guys, what was your thoughts about our sample number one?

[00:06:44] It was my favorite.

[00:06:45] Your favorite?

[00:06:45] Yeah, the flavor was awesome.

[00:06:48] For number one.

[00:06:48] The flavor was awesome.

[00:06:49] The good stuff, yeah.

[00:06:49] I would say that it had a good look to it.

[00:06:52] There was a lot of nice bark in it.

[00:06:53] There was a good flavor to it as well.

[00:06:56] It had a nice hint of smoke.

[00:06:58] What about you guys?

[00:06:58] My only negative to it was it was a touch dry.

[00:07:01] A touch dry.

[00:07:02] But it was my third favorite.

[00:07:04] And I put that as my second.

[00:07:06] And I wrote good, but the sauce was actually good too.

[00:07:10] So the sauce that came along with that was, to me, added to it.

[00:07:13] And I was talking earlier, we tried to do all of them without sauce, right?

[00:07:16] Right.

[00:07:17] Just to get them pure.

[00:07:18] But every barbecue sandwich or plate I've ever eaten has sauce on it.

[00:07:22] Has sauce on it, yeah.

[00:07:22] So I tried a little bit with and without.

[00:07:24] Well, I try to follow in the barbecue snobbery world.

[00:07:27] You know, you're supposed to stand on your meat alone.

[00:07:29] You're right.

[00:07:30] And so I went and stood on these guys' meat alone.

[00:07:34] And I kind of went without sauce in my boats as well.

[00:07:36] Yeah.

[00:07:36] So that was kind of number one.

[00:07:38] Seems like it's received pretty high marks.

[00:07:40] I'll kind of give the big reveal now.

[00:07:42] Barbecue number one was from Hughes Q on Highway 70 across from Valley Hills Mall.

[00:07:48] Definitely going there.

[00:07:49] I met Brian and we've tried to have him here on the podcast a couple of times.

[00:07:52] We talked about January, so we'll get him on there.

[00:07:54] But he's on Highway 70 right across from Valley Hills Mall.

[00:07:57] There's another big commercial barbecue chain that's moved in right down the road from them.

[00:08:02] I'm not going to say their name.

[00:08:04] But I will say we love locally owned barbecue joints in the Low and Slow Barbecue Show.

[00:08:10] So he's a local guy, local person as far as you know.

[00:08:12] Went to school with our producer, Andrew Moose.

[00:08:15] Yeah.

[00:08:15] Yeah.

[00:08:16] Solid guy.

[00:08:16] I went and met him again, talked with him a little bit.

[00:08:19] I see him in there cooking the food.

[00:08:20] He's got the smoker right outside beside his little store.

[00:08:23] He's out there working it.

[00:08:24] He's the man bringing in all the vegetables and hauling the meat out to the smoker.

[00:08:29] It's him doing it.

[00:08:29] So just to be clear, he didn't, there's no paid advertisement here, even though he went

[00:08:34] to school with Moose.

[00:08:35] Nope.

[00:08:35] I don't have any paid advertisers on this particular episode today.

[00:08:39] Almost advertiser.

[00:08:40] None of them on the barbecue that we've judged.

[00:08:42] Okay.

[00:08:42] So Hughes Q, pretty good ranks for number one.

[00:08:45] Number two.

[00:08:46] Number two.

[00:08:47] What did you guys think about number two?

[00:08:48] And number two also got a lot of first place votes from our crew.

[00:08:53] They got a lot of votes out there.

[00:08:54] So for me, I thought number two really had good flavor.

[00:08:59] It had kind of a little bit of a different sweet hint to it that I thought was a little,

[00:09:04] it's a nice tangy piece.

[00:09:05] And it also, to me, it looked good.

[00:09:06] It had the look of, you know, some pork that I want to eat.

[00:09:10] And I will confess that when I pulled that out of the container today, I looked at it and

[00:09:15] said, wow, that is some, that's good looking pork.

[00:09:17] Yeah.

[00:09:18] I had number two as my top.

[00:09:20] As your ton.

[00:09:21] And then I put it on there, it was balanced.

[00:09:24] And the seasoning, I really liked the way it was seasoned.

[00:09:27] Mm-hmm.

[00:09:27] But the smoke was balanced.

[00:09:28] That's what I liked about it.

[00:09:29] Yeah.

[00:09:30] Not too overpowering.

[00:09:31] Yeah.

[00:09:31] Yeah.

[00:09:33] I don't have that kind of a sophisticated labeling.

[00:09:36] I just said, okay.

[00:09:38] Okay.

[00:09:39] But I said the pickled onion helps within it.

[00:09:42] So I had a bite with that.

[00:09:43] Yeah.

[00:09:43] But it did look nice, like you said.

[00:09:45] But I did rate that as my third place out of all of them.

[00:09:48] Yeah.

[00:09:48] I had third on that one too.

[00:09:50] Good point.

[00:09:50] Okay.

[00:09:50] Number two, the big reveal.

[00:09:53] Big reveal number two is actually Cranford Brothers barbecue in downtown Hickory.

[00:09:58] That's good.

[00:09:58] I've been on the podcast.

[00:10:00] And they're doing a ton of cool stuff there at the old pawn shop, they call it in downtown Hickory.

[00:10:05] And of course, the City Walk Brewery is there.

[00:10:07] And I know you guys are fans.

[00:10:08] I've seen you there.

[00:10:09] They've got the chick jamming biscuits.

[00:10:13] Hot chick, I think.

[00:10:14] Main chick.

[00:10:15] Main chick.

[00:10:16] Main chick.

[00:10:17] Yeah.

[00:10:17] Main Avenue.

[00:10:18] Yeah.

[00:10:18] So a lot of cool stuff going on at Cranford.

[00:10:19] And they put on a nice performance there with their pork, I would say.

[00:10:22] It's good barbecue.

[00:10:23] Yeah.

[00:10:23] Which is good because I really have only eaten there once or twice.

[00:10:26] And I'm happy to see that maybe, maybe they're, to me, it's gotten better or I'm pleased

[00:10:31] with it.

[00:10:32] Today's performance was good.

[00:10:33] Yeah.

[00:10:33] I'm with you.

[00:10:34] I've had it a time or two.

[00:10:35] And I would say that of all the times I've visited, this is one of their better performances

[00:10:39] for sure.

[00:10:39] There you go.

[00:10:40] I don't know that I've, well, maybe I've had the pulled pork before.

[00:10:42] Yeah.

[00:10:43] Maybe they knew.

[00:10:44] Today we're going to give them some.

[00:10:45] Maybe.

[00:10:45] Of course I hit these places like at 2 o'clock or 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

[00:10:49] So it's kind of slow.

[00:10:50] Yeah.

[00:10:50] You know, there weren't a lot going on.

[00:10:51] They weren't rushed.

[00:10:52] I had a chance to really pick me some choice pork.

[00:10:54] Good.

[00:10:55] All right.

[00:10:56] We talked about a couple of porks.

[00:10:57] I've had some reveals there.

[00:10:59] Let's talk about some of these beers you guys brought.

[00:11:01] What was our first beer?

[00:11:02] Our first beer is Celebration Fresh Hop IPA from Sierra Nevada.

[00:11:07] This is a seasonal staple, if you will, craft beer.

[00:11:12] These are the OG craft beer guys.

[00:11:15] The red can, it's Christmassy, although it comes out around Thanksgiving.

[00:11:21] Luke, you said you had some memories.

[00:11:23] I've had memories, good and bad, with this.

[00:11:26] Yeah, that was a double-edged sword.

[00:11:27] Not because it tastes bad or anything, just because maybe I had too many of a 6.8%.

[00:11:33] I'm probably on that bus, too.

[00:11:34] I've had too many and it snuck up on me.

[00:11:37] New Year's of 08.

[00:11:39] 08.

[00:11:40] Or 09.

[00:11:41] 09.

[00:11:41] It was 09, yeah.

[00:11:43] Yeah, what a year.

[00:11:44] And you don't remember?

[00:11:44] Just come off the financial crisis.

[00:11:45] No, I don't remember.

[00:11:46] That's the thing.

[00:11:46] I don't really have anything else to say about it.

[00:11:48] I was drinking this and that's pretty much it.

[00:11:51] That's all I got.

[00:11:52] I will say the fresh hop part of it is they get, it is fresh hops when they brew.

[00:11:57] It's part of their tradition.

[00:11:59] They get the first harvest and it's not the wet hop.

[00:12:03] They make a different beer with the stuff they get immediately from the farm or whatever.

[00:12:09] But this is like probably a week or two old and it's, but it's not pelletized.

[00:12:14] A lot of this stuff's pelletized.

[00:12:16] Mm-hmm.

[00:12:16] But this is like actual hops get dumped in.

[00:12:19] Nice.

[00:12:19] I'm glad you brought these from Sierra Nevada.

[00:12:21] You know, we've been talking a lot about Hurricane Helene on the podcast and obviously Sierra Nevada

[00:12:27] has a facility in Asheville.

[00:12:29] Do you guys know, was this brewed there?

[00:12:31] Is this part of that operation?

[00:12:32] That is a good question.

[00:12:32] And how are things going as far as you know in, you know, beer land Asheville

[00:12:37] on some of our favorite places?

[00:12:39] Sierra Nevada, you know, being among them.

[00:12:40] I think Sierra Nevada dodged a bullet or, you know, they probably had tons of debris.

[00:12:45] The location where they were.

[00:12:46] Yeah.

[00:12:46] They're in Mills River, which is outside of that.

[00:12:48] But I think they were good except for the tourist aspect.

[00:12:55] Right.

[00:12:55] I'm sure they lost out on that.

[00:12:57] I don't think they lost anything on brewing like other.

[00:13:01] A lot of them.

[00:13:02] Some people lost their entire, you know, brewing facility.

[00:13:06] Everything down in that River Arts District was washed away.

[00:13:08] But stay tuned, we actually have a second Asheville beer that, unplanned, that what I brought.

[00:13:12] So, we'll talk about that here in a second.

[00:13:14] All right.

[00:13:14] We'll talk about that here momentarily.

[00:13:15] Very good.

[00:13:16] Anything else you all want to remember?

[00:13:17] It's good.

[00:13:18] It is a good beer.

[00:13:18] I like it.

[00:13:19] Again, it'll sneak up on you, I think.

[00:13:21] It's a little bit heavier than you want to have for an all-day drinking beer.

[00:13:25] Yeah.

[00:13:25] Or after a big old plate of barbecue maybe.

[00:13:27] Right.

[00:13:28] Not after a big old plate of barbecue.

[00:13:29] It tastes good.

[00:13:29] It's a good dinner beer.

[00:13:31] This is my all-day drinker.

[00:13:32] Yeah, that's the all-day beer.

[00:13:33] All-day.

[00:13:34] I do have several guys from my high school crew that we get together with do guys trips

[00:13:40] and they'll say stuff about, you remember when we had those celebrations?

[00:13:44] I mean, that's like, it's a tradition, you know?

[00:13:49] It is a tradition.

[00:13:50] And I brought it in the 12-pack.

[00:13:52] That's the way to buy it.

[00:13:54] Wow.

[00:13:55] Just, you know, festive.

[00:13:57] I mean, if you've got the word celebration on it, you want to really celebrate.

[00:13:59] Yeah, you want to have a party.

[00:14:01] You're going to have a party.

[00:14:02] You need 12 of them for sure.

[00:14:04] Yeah, you need 12.

[00:14:05] I appreciate you sharing them with us.

[00:14:06] Yeah.

[00:14:06] No problem.

[00:14:07] That's good stuff.

[00:14:08] Let's move back to our meat tray here.

[00:14:11] Sorry for all you out there that have to look at the food and not get to sample it,

[00:14:15] but I wanted to kind of keep it here so I could see what I'm looking at, describe what

[00:14:18] we had.

[00:14:20] Number three.

[00:14:21] Number three on our barbecue tour.

[00:14:25] Any opinions on number three before I drop the news?

[00:14:28] I mean, I'll start because out of all of us, I feel like I'm the least qualified to talk

[00:14:34] about barbecue because I don't love barbecue, right?

[00:14:36] I mean, that is if you gave me choices.

[00:14:37] Really?

[00:14:37] I wish you'd have said something before we planned all this.

[00:14:40] We could have just had Luke and Matt.

[00:14:42] True.

[00:14:43] But I like to eat.

[00:14:44] That's the thing.

[00:14:44] I like to eat.

[00:14:46] Barbecue is not my favorite choice to go eat if I'm hungry, right?

[00:14:50] But I did rank that as my last place one because when you asked for pulled pork, I think they

[00:14:56] gave you just straight up chopped, like a chopped.

[00:14:59] They did.

[00:15:00] I wrote a mess because it's just a compacted, you know, just like an old, maybe a barbecue

[00:15:05] is not you might get in the school cafeteria or something, just like pushed together.

[00:15:09] Like the old sloppy joe.

[00:15:10] Yeah.

[00:15:10] But anyway, I mean, hey.

[00:15:12] I mean, it was, I had it ranked at the bottom, but it was a little chopped and a little dry,

[00:15:19] but you know.

[00:15:21] I had it near the middle.

[00:15:23] It reminded me of a barbecue place of yore called Shell's Barbecue and that's basically

[00:15:28] how it came.

[00:15:29] Interesting.

[00:15:29] Yeah.

[00:15:30] And it was kind of like clumped together, but like you put your, you know, you just got

[00:15:34] to get in your mouth and.

[00:15:36] Now I will say one thing about that style of barbecue.

[00:15:39] So we had that bar, we had a barbecue place back home in Rutherford, shout out.

[00:15:45] Yeah.

[00:15:46] Rutherford.

[00:15:47] They had a place there and that's the style of barbecue they have.

[00:15:52] That is a good sauce barbecue.

[00:15:54] Oh yeah.

[00:15:55] If you got a really good sauce.

[00:15:57] To cover up.

[00:15:58] Smother it.

[00:15:59] I mean, really that, that, that's the, you know.

[00:16:02] That's the only one that actually was, there was sauce as part of what you got.

[00:16:07] Yeah.

[00:16:07] Yeah.

[00:16:07] I mean, the meat was already sauce when you got it.

[00:16:10] The rest of them, it was, it was just, they just got meat.

[00:16:12] And again, to let all of our audience know at home, you know, I served all these up in

[00:16:17] identical metal pie pans.

[00:16:19] So that, you know, nobody could tell the difference.

[00:16:21] There was one of these when I picked them up, it was in the refrigerator.

[00:16:25] So, um, they gave it to me in a, in a pound butcher paper wrapped wad of barbecue and a big, tall thing of a coleslaw.

[00:16:36] Um, and he, he rang me up and sent me on my way.

[00:16:40] And anybody out there that's listening that is familiar with Hickory barbecue, you know, that's barbecue pit.

[00:16:45] Um, it's down below the home, you know, one of our, our favorite concert venue here in the metro, the home.

[00:16:51] Um, but it's down behind the home and they're open, you know, like 10 to three every day and they will sell you barbecue, but it will be cold and you take it home and you do whatever you want to.

[00:17:02] So for this particular, for this, I took it home and I busted it up and put it in the oven with the pan and had it heated up.

[00:17:08] And so I think I got it pretty hot for you guys.

[00:17:09] I think it's kind of tasting pretty good.

[00:17:11] I will say that barbecue pit provides a lot of the barbecue for restaurants around Hickory.

[00:17:16] If they don't already have a pit, if they aren't like a barbecue restaurant and they're serving barbecue, chances are it came from barbecue pit.

[00:17:25] I don't know if Shell's barbecue falls in that category, but I'm like you, it really is reminiscent of what I had from Shell.

[00:17:31] So I want you guys to talk about three some more and get that microphone from Lou because we have some studio audience here that we want to get some opinion from.

[00:17:40] Jackson Jeffries has joined us on the episode and Jackson, you commented that this was one of your favorite.

[00:17:47] It was your favorite.

[00:17:48] What did you like about number three?

[00:17:50] So I thought it had kind of like a, an Asian aftertaste, uh, which was kind of unique.

[00:17:58] It was almost like a peanut flavor at the end.

[00:18:00] Wow.

[00:18:01] Did you run a bunch of peanuts or beer I was drinking before I ate it?

[00:18:04] But you never know.

[00:18:06] You didn't let any of the juices from the other stuff slide into that.

[00:18:09] You didn't let any of the juices from the other stuff slide into that.

[00:18:11] No, it's not okay.

[00:18:12] Right.

[00:18:12] So obviously, you know, Jackson is a fan of number three.

[00:18:15] Again, barbecue pit.

[00:18:17] But, uh, they do a good business because when I was sitting there, you know, while I was in there, somebody drove up and, you know, and the last time I've been, this is my second visit.

[00:18:27] The last time I went, another person drove up while I was leaving.

[00:18:29] And that person picked up a big box of stuff.

[00:18:31] Yeah.

[00:18:31] So it's popular.

[00:18:33] You're not the only one, Jackson.

[00:18:34] Yeah.

[00:18:34] Apparently I like regular non-barbecue barbecue.

[00:18:38] But 20 years ago, yeah, I would say 2020 to, that was the place to get a bunch of barbecue, right?

[00:18:44] If you were.

[00:18:45] Like catering.

[00:18:46] Yeah.

[00:18:46] Having an event.

[00:18:48] That's right.

[00:18:48] And you get, and you had the plastic and you had the plastic, pull off the plastic lid.

[00:18:51] I've been to a catered event that was, you know, I've been to birthday parties catered from barbecue pit.

[00:18:55] And it is good.

[00:18:56] I mean, it's solid barbecue.

[00:18:58] That barbecue smothered in some vinegar sauce with some hush puppies.

[00:19:02] You really can't go wrong with it.

[00:19:03] Right.

[00:19:03] I mean, it's not that it's bad.

[00:19:04] It's just vinegar sauce.

[00:19:05] You're right.

[00:19:05] It's not.

[00:19:06] It's good.

[00:19:06] It's good.

[00:19:07] But I will say when you stack it up next to some of these others, it doesn't really, doesn't really rival us.

[00:19:13] It's Jackson, while you've got the microphone on over there, you know, tell me what your overall impression is because, you know, a little background.

[00:19:20] Jackson is a new to the Hickory Metro.

[00:19:23] And so I'll just kind of put you on the spot.

[00:19:24] What is your impression of the barbecue scene as we've portrayed it here in our buffet as it is?

[00:19:33] So as I'm looking at the metal tins, I feel like if you look at them visually, one, two, and six, at least when I got here and it was half eaten.

[00:19:43] All looked about the same.

[00:19:45] Yeah.

[00:19:45] But once you get into tasting them, I think one and five to me were really difficult to tell apart.

[00:19:53] Five was maybe a little more juicy or moist than one.

[00:19:59] But otherwise, they were very similar.

[00:20:04] Yeah.

[00:20:04] But and then the others, obviously, three kind of stood out to me.

[00:20:08] But four and five, I would say kind of the same thing about.

[00:20:11] Yeah.

[00:20:11] And we had some.

[00:20:12] And Jackson, thanks so much for joining us.

[00:20:14] He's a barbecue enthusiast as well.

[00:20:16] Jackson's cooked up some ribs for us on an adventure.

[00:20:19] And so we wanted to have him come out and get his opinion on there.

[00:20:22] Again, as somebody who's from outside Hickory Metro.

[00:20:24] You need to take my seat because I am at least qualified.

[00:20:26] Like I know it's qualified.

[00:20:27] But no, somebody from outside of Hickory coming in with sort of an unbiased opinion on it.

[00:20:31] That's right.

[00:20:31] And he didn't grow up eating number three, whereas maybe some of you other Hickoryans, not the Ruffton folks, but you came up eating it.

[00:20:37] But so opinions on number three.

[00:20:38] What about you, Luke?

[00:20:39] Any other thoughts on three before we move on to number two?

[00:20:41] No, like I said, I think that barbecue on a sandwich with some slaw and some really good sauce.

[00:20:49] Sauce it up really nice.

[00:20:50] I mean, that's a good bar.

[00:20:51] That'd be a good sandwich.

[00:20:52] With some hush puppies.

[00:20:54] Or onion rings.

[00:20:55] Onion rings are probably.

[00:20:56] But you're going that Down East flavor with the whole vinegar sauce.

[00:20:59] I mean, I am very partial to Down East barbecue.

[00:21:02] There's nothing wrong with that.

[00:21:03] We like that.

[00:21:04] And I think barbecue pits kind of along those lines.

[00:21:07] Again, just to let everybody know, it's not a restaurant.

[00:21:11] It is.

[00:21:12] It's just there's a man standing inside of a kitchen with a cabbage shredder and a refrigerator.

[00:21:19] And you walk in and you bite by the pound.

[00:21:22] And you interrupt his watching of Andy Griffith's show or, you know, In the Heat of the Night, I think he was watching.

[00:21:29] And a butcher block that is worn from chopping on it.

[00:21:32] It's got an arch in it, you know.

[00:21:34] And he'll go in there.

[00:21:35] He'll go in the refrigerator to get your pork.

[00:21:36] He'll go and get your slaw.

[00:21:37] He'll ring it up on the thing.

[00:21:38] And, you know, it must be good.

[00:21:40] Otherwise, they aren't still around.

[00:21:42] Oh, totally.

[00:21:42] Moving on to number four.

[00:21:44] Your opinions on number four.

[00:21:45] And I'll save sort of some four commentary to y'all.

[00:21:49] So my opinion on four, it was a good barbecue.

[00:21:52] I had it in the middle.

[00:21:55] It was probably my fourth.

[00:21:57] The fourth one you had up?

[00:21:58] The fourth was four.

[00:21:59] Oh, okay.

[00:22:00] You're ranking a fourth.

[00:22:02] The only thing was is that it was lacking a little bit in the smoke department.

[00:22:07] I couldn't pick up the smoke in it.

[00:22:10] And I really like smoke and seasoning.

[00:22:13] If I don't have sauce, you know, you've got to have that to stand out.

[00:22:17] So the smoke was a little lacking on that.

[00:22:20] But otherwise, I mean, it was a good flavored barbecue.

[00:22:22] Thank you.

[00:22:24] And I went, this is number four, correct?

[00:22:27] Mm-hmm.

[00:22:28] I wrote dry, but sauce adds a lot of points.

[00:22:31] So the sauce that they delivered with that, I mean, I didn't pour it all over it or drown it in it.

[00:22:37] But I thought the sauce added some points.

[00:22:39] It added quite a bit.

[00:22:40] I did have dry on mine, too.

[00:22:41] Oh.

[00:22:42] A little dry.

[00:22:43] My least favorite.

[00:22:44] Your least favorite?

[00:22:45] Okay.

[00:22:45] I didn't say mine.

[00:22:46] Mine was next to last.

[00:22:48] Oh, okay.

[00:22:48] Well, there were a couple that got least favorite votes, and those were number four and number three.

[00:22:54] They got least favorite votes.

[00:22:55] I will say, and this is one where the sauce kind of comes into play because we had another member of our studio audiences that departed us.

[00:23:02] He's our backyard barbecue expert, Jeff Osborne.

[00:23:04] And he stepped in and tried it.

[00:23:06] And he actually, as he gave his rankings, once he put sauce on it, number four jumped to the top of his ranking.

[00:23:12] And so some's better with, some's better without.

[00:23:15] I felt like sauce, you know, maybe was a little mild, maybe lacked a little bit of flavor for me.

[00:23:21] But then you add that sauce to it, and it really kind of helps kick it up a notch.

[00:23:24] And we got the vinegar from it.

[00:23:26] And which, you know, to be fair, 99% of the people are going to eat, 99.9% of the people are going to smother this in sauce.

[00:23:34] So that makes a big deal.

[00:23:35] It does.

[00:23:35] You got a good sauce you can make up for any flavors.

[00:23:38] And maybe that's the whole idea, is that maybe you don't over-season them.

[00:23:42] Maybe you don't put some things in there because you know your sauce is what's going to do.

[00:23:46] Somebody's going to come in and drop the sauce.

[00:23:47] Yeah, that's right.

[00:23:48] And aren't all these so subjective?

[00:23:49] Like if they were on stand-alone, if you were at a party or at somebody's house and they had a caterer, they would all be good.

[00:23:56] Oh, yeah.

[00:23:56] It would all be good, yeah.

[00:23:58] Again, standing by itself is great.

[00:24:01] But up against the competition, not everybody can be the Crimson Tide guys.

[00:24:08] The 13th?

[00:24:09] Or the NC State Wolfpack.

[00:24:11] So let me tell you that our number four was Apple City Barbecue in Taylorsville, which is my homie Adam Dula.

[00:24:19] Went out and saw him, picked it up, had a little conversation with him.

[00:24:22] You know, we've had him on the show as well.

[00:24:23] Generally, again, all their stuff is good, and I feel like the pork is really good.

[00:24:27] It's even better with the sauce, maybe just not compared to all these other guys.

[00:24:33] So maybe we'll have another episode and do brisket or, you know, chicken.

[00:24:37] We'll save that for another time.

[00:24:39] But today was full pork.

[00:24:40] That's where he'd come out.

[00:24:41] And now it is time, as you heard from the crack of Josh Elder, for another beer.

[00:24:48] Yeah, so, sorry.

[00:24:50] What I'm pouring right here is to the camera.

[00:24:52] This is, I mentioned a little foreshadowing.

[00:24:55] This is the second Asheville beer from Highland Brewing.

[00:24:59] So they have an annual Cold Mountain beer release.

[00:25:02] And so I went up there.

[00:25:03] I actually have, let me just, sorry, sorry for the delay here.

[00:25:09] So at the Cold Mountain beer release, as some of you know, right, this is their standard Cold Mountain recipe, if you will.

[00:25:16] But then they always have these secret, or not secret, but special recipes.

[00:25:20] And so I went up there to the daily event, actually a whole weekend event, and, of course, brought a couple home, right?

[00:25:27] And this is the one that I have the most of left, which is only two beers of the breakfast stout.

[00:25:32] Well, thanks for sharing it with us.

[00:25:34] Yeah, oh, yeah.

[00:25:34] I figured, hey, why not?

[00:25:35] Yeah.

[00:25:35] But so what they do is they brew several.

[00:25:38] The breakfast one here.

[00:25:39] Did you get one, Matt?

[00:25:40] Oh, I did.

[00:25:41] This one was pretty good.

[00:25:42] That's good.

[00:25:42] The coconut.

[00:25:43] This is my favorite.

[00:25:44] And then they have the hazelnut.

[00:25:47] They had a sugar cookie up there.

[00:25:49] So which one is this?

[00:25:50] This is the breakfast.

[00:25:51] The breakfast.

[00:25:51] Yeah, breakfast cold mountain.

[00:25:52] Spiced winter ale.

[00:25:53] I like it.

[00:25:53] I like it, yeah.

[00:25:54] I mean, it literally has winter ale in the name.

[00:25:56] So you're talking about a winter type ale.

[00:25:58] This should be.

[00:25:59] This is a winter ale.

[00:26:00] Maple syrup.

[00:26:01] Yeah.

[00:26:01] It does.

[00:26:02] It says it's got syrup in it.

[00:26:03] I think you taste all of that.

[00:26:04] Very syrup-y.

[00:26:04] And, yeah, I don't know.

[00:26:06] Warm up to breakfast vibes with notes of maple pancakes, cherries, and coffee with chocolate

[00:26:11] shaving.

[00:26:11] So all that's probably in there.

[00:26:13] Yeah.

[00:26:14] But you mentioned about how Hurricane Clean.

[00:26:15] That is delicious.

[00:26:16] I'll give props to Highland.

[00:26:18] So they were one of the main breweries that, you know, they sit up on an elevated area.

[00:26:22] So weren't damaged by any of the floods.

[00:26:24] But they were actually, I think, one of the main centerpieces of, they were distributing

[00:26:28] water.

[00:26:28] They were like a hub.

[00:26:30] A hub for all the necessary resources that people around that area.

[00:26:33] So shout out to them.

[00:26:35] And so when we heard they were doing it, we were like, we're definitely getting tickets

[00:26:38] to that one.

[00:26:38] We're going up there.

[00:26:39] We're going to support.

[00:26:39] And I bought a whole bunch of beer just to take home just because I was like, hey, they've

[00:26:43] done so much for the community.

[00:26:45] Yeah.

[00:26:46] So like I said, all these are good.

[00:26:47] So we'll drink all these Snifields.

[00:26:50] Shoot.

[00:26:51] Yeah.

[00:26:51] Well, we wouldn't drink up all your good beer.

[00:26:53] But this comes in at 8% as well.

[00:26:57] So that one I would have never gotten an imperial version of it.

[00:27:01] But it doesn't say that.

[00:27:02] But this one's only 5.9.

[00:27:04] So how they got to that by just adding some syrup and I would have never guessed.

[00:27:10] Trickery.

[00:27:11] Yeah.

[00:27:11] It doesn't really kind of kick you like a high octane beer ordinarily would.

[00:27:16] And again, just to kind of reiterate, they only release this this time of year every year.

[00:27:22] That's correct.

[00:27:22] And it's not the same beer every year.

[00:27:25] So it's a little bit.

[00:27:25] This is their same one, right?

[00:27:26] So that one tastes the same every year.

[00:27:27] The recipe, I don't know if it's the same recipe.

[00:27:29] I can't speak.

[00:27:30] But I think this one is.

[00:27:31] Because all of these are specialty brews.

[00:27:35] There's a coconut?

[00:27:36] Variants.

[00:27:36] Variants of it, yeah.

[00:27:38] So that's a winter warmer is what that's called.

[00:27:41] The original.

[00:27:43] Okay.

[00:27:43] It's basically a spiced ale.

[00:27:45] Right, okay.

[00:27:45] But it tastes like a winter beer.

[00:27:48] Yeah.

[00:27:48] With spices and.

[00:27:50] And some of these, I mean, they just invoke vibes of chocolate hazelnut.

[00:27:55] I mean, that to me, it's a cookie, like you said.

[00:27:58] Yeah, yeah.

[00:27:58] You know, the coconuts.

[00:28:00] Anyway, so.

[00:28:01] Good choice.

[00:28:03] Fantastic beer.

[00:28:03] Thanks for sharing.

[00:28:04] I'm still trying to get the flavor in my head of the red hot on the cookie.

[00:28:09] And then the more I thought about some.

[00:28:11] I've literally been thinking about that since you said that.

[00:28:14] You haven't had any of those?

[00:28:15] I've never had the cookie with the red hot on it.

[00:28:17] But I'm telling.

[00:28:18] I'm just sitting here thinking how delicious that would be.

[00:28:20] I've got a picture.

[00:28:21] Can you get a recipe?

[00:28:22] Oh, yeah.

[00:28:23] Share that.

[00:28:23] Maybe we could push it out into the blog.

[00:28:25] Because I love it.

[00:28:26] I've got it in my grandmother's handwriting.

[00:28:28] So you do make them, though.

[00:28:29] You make them now.

[00:28:30] Well, there we go.

[00:28:31] Red hot's are probably one of my favorite candies.

[00:28:34] I know.

[00:28:34] That's what we need to do.

[00:28:35] I'm glad you raised that question.

[00:28:36] Because that kind of brings us into another topic that I wanted to raise with you guys.

[00:28:40] We talked about your favorite holiday food.

[00:28:42] But you walk into the Christmas table.

[00:28:45] All the food's on it.

[00:28:47] Your ham's there.

[00:28:48] Your holiday cookie's there.

[00:28:49] Maybe some sausage balls are there.

[00:28:51] All the good stuff.

[00:28:52] All your favorite things.

[00:28:53] You know, as a kid, you dream of waking up and seeing all the stuff Santa brought you.

[00:28:57] But maybe as a grown-up, you dream of, wow, look at this spread for holiday, Christmas, breakfast, or brunch, or lunch, or dinner, whatever it is that you do.

[00:29:06] Undoubtedly, there's something on that table, though, that you're always going to skip.

[00:29:13] None for me.

[00:29:13] No thanks.

[00:29:14] Oh, come on.

[00:29:15] You like it.

[00:29:15] No, no, none for me.

[00:29:16] What is it?

[00:29:17] What is y'all's least favorite?

[00:29:18] What would you always skip at the holiday dinner table?

[00:29:22] For me, it is the figgy pudding.

[00:29:26] You go to events where there are figgy pudding?

[00:29:28] No, I've never had it.

[00:29:28] But you have a song like, bring me some figgy pudding.

[00:29:30] I've never eaten.

[00:29:31] What is that?

[00:29:31] You've never seen it.

[00:29:32] I've never seen figgy pudding.

[00:29:33] I think it just sounds terrible.

[00:29:34] It's figs in a pudding, I'm guessing, right?

[00:29:37] What's wrong with either one of those things?

[00:29:39] Maybe delicious.

[00:29:39] It just sounds awful.

[00:29:40] So my song is, don't bring me the figgy pudding.

[00:29:43] You're a figgest.

[00:29:45] Well, now, I will say, for me, the one thing, and it only shows up on rare occasions, egg custard.

[00:29:54] Egg custard?

[00:29:54] Egg custard?

[00:29:55] Really?

[00:29:55] Like an egg custard.

[00:29:56] You know, it looks like a little pie.

[00:29:58] Yeah.

[00:29:59] Sometimes I really like egg custard, but for Christmas, every now and then, there'll be an egg custard sitting there, and I won't touch it.

[00:30:06] Not for you.

[00:30:07] No.

[00:30:08] The mood has to be right.

[00:30:10] Ever seen an egg custard?

[00:30:11] No.

[00:30:11] Who's bringing it?

[00:30:13] What high society are you living in?

[00:30:15] Like I'm saying.

[00:30:15] People are bringing you egg custard.

[00:30:16] You're the one that's having figgy pudding.

[00:30:18] Look, my grandma.

[00:30:19] What high society are you living in?

[00:30:21] My grandma makes.

[00:30:22] London.

[00:30:22] I'm from London, England.

[00:30:23] My grandma makes a delicious egg custard.

[00:30:26] Okay.

[00:30:26] But.

[00:30:27] Sorry, Granny.

[00:30:27] Is that different than a flan?

[00:30:30] Flan?

[00:30:31] Flan.

[00:30:31] Yeah.

[00:30:31] The way that our family makes it, I mean, it's like in a pie pan.

[00:30:35] Obviously not as good things.

[00:30:36] Like a regular pie pan.

[00:30:37] Mm-hmm.

[00:30:38] But it's just, I mean, on out of the street, it's just egg custard.

[00:30:41] Yeah.

[00:30:41] Is it like whipped, or is it like thick?

[00:30:44] Like a cheesecake or something?

[00:30:45] It's like a souffle, I guess you could say, but it doesn't have the crust on the top.

[00:30:51] Okay.

[00:30:51] It's just similar to like a cheesecake, but not as hard.

[00:30:55] It's just eggy.

[00:30:56] I don't know how to describe it.

[00:30:58] Okay.

[00:30:58] What about you, Matt?

[00:30:59] Your least favorite.

[00:31:01] So mine is still to this day probably the root vegetables.

[00:31:05] Mm-hmm.

[00:31:05] You know what I'm talking about?

[00:31:07] Turnips.

[00:31:08] Turnips.

[00:31:08] Oh, yeah.

[00:31:09] It's like turnips, parsnips, and carrots.

[00:31:12] Rutabagas.

[00:31:12] Which I kind of like those separate, but the way that they're prepared, and I mean, my mom

[00:31:18] makes them, and my mom's like one of the best cooks I know, but I really still to this day

[00:31:22] don't like those root vegetables.

[00:31:24] But it's 2024.

[00:31:25] 2024, who's still making turnips and parsnips?

[00:31:28] My mom.

[00:31:28] Depends on where you are.

[00:31:29] I mean, if you're in Ireland, I'm sure you're having that.

[00:31:31] So turnips, I eat everything.

[00:31:35] Like there is literally nothing that I will not eat but turnips.

[00:31:38] Right.

[00:31:39] The smell.

[00:31:40] Yeah.

[00:31:40] The smell of cooked turnips, it just turns.

[00:31:44] Well, there's the texture things in.

[00:31:46] I get turned down.

[00:31:49] Turned down for turnips.

[00:31:50] And we're not talking the greens.

[00:31:52] We're talking about the root.

[00:31:53] Now, the greens.

[00:31:54] The root itself.

[00:31:54] Turnip greens, I'll kill some turnip greens.

[00:31:56] Yeah.

[00:31:57] With some ham and some vinegar.

[00:31:59] Mm-hmm.

[00:32:00] Oh, I could eat piles of turnip greens.

[00:32:02] Yeah.

[00:32:02] But it's the actual turnips that I can't do.

[00:32:05] The root vegetables.

[00:32:06] Yeah.

[00:32:07] That's like a tradition, too, for that.

[00:32:08] She's like, always makes it.

[00:32:10] Because it's a tradition, but nobody eats it.

[00:32:13] Although.

[00:32:13] They eat it.

[00:32:14] My parents do.

[00:32:15] Is it turnips, cabbage, and sausage that you put together?

[00:32:19] Is that something?

[00:32:20] You could.

[00:32:20] Bangers and mash.

[00:32:21] Maybe that's what it is.

[00:32:22] Tatties and neeps.

[00:32:23] No, that's good.

[00:32:24] I love Irish.

[00:32:25] That's a different holiday.

[00:32:26] Yeah.

[00:32:27] I don't know which mine is.

[00:32:29] I guess I'm spoiled, and then I show up at the table, and there's not anything I don't want.

[00:32:33] Or whoever is preparing it has asked beforehand, what all do y'all want?

[00:32:36] And they know I'm not going to eat chicken livers or chitlins for Christmas dinner or turnips or rutabaga.

[00:32:47] None of those things are going to be on the table.

[00:32:49] So I don't really have to skip anything.

[00:32:51] I don't really put a lot of the turkey giblet gravy and all that kind of stuff.

[00:32:57] I don't do that stuff.

[00:33:00] Maybe a little on my dressing, but I don't do a lot of that.

[00:33:03] Yeah.

[00:33:03] I think that's the point.

[00:33:05] From a traditional standpoint, I think now we're at the phase of life that same.

[00:33:09] We don't have a lot of, oh, we did it because my great-great-grandmother's doing it, but it's more like same.

[00:33:14] Get what food's out there that everybody's going to eat.

[00:33:16] We're going to have a big old feast and just go at it.

[00:33:18] Yeah.

[00:33:19] We're not going to put something out there, pay for it, prepare it, cook it, put it on the table,

[00:33:22] and then everybody skip over the rutabaga or the salad mold that's in the congealed salad.

[00:33:30] Well, so in our family, it's like you know what to expect.

[00:33:33] Like I could probably tell you for Thanksgiving, I could name 90% of everything that's going to be on the table.

[00:33:39] It's been there every year.

[00:33:40] That's right.

[00:33:40] I like that.

[00:33:41] Christmas is the same way.

[00:33:42] And if we're doing a meal, sometimes we'll do a meal for Christmas,

[00:33:46] but sometimes it's just like finger foods, like the little Smokies, the funeral sandwiches.

[00:33:52] Yeah.

[00:33:53] Yeah, I'll have some more.

[00:33:54] The beef stroganoff.

[00:33:56] Do you ever have that for Christmas?

[00:33:57] No, but I love it.

[00:33:58] That would be delicious.

[00:33:59] My mom makes a beef stroganoff dip, and it's like without the noodles.

[00:34:05] It's the beef stroganoff, but without the noodles.

[00:34:07] This is a dip.

[00:34:08] You dip like crackers and put the cheese in it.

[00:34:10] I don't know.

[00:34:11] Part of beef stroganoff for me is the noodles, so if I could just dip the noodles in there.

[00:34:15] I mean, yeah.

[00:34:16] It sounds great.

[00:34:16] It's not terribly convenient.

[00:34:17] Okay, let's get back to it.

[00:34:18] Go right ahead and pour that up.

[00:34:20] I would love to have some more of whatever you're pouring.

[00:34:23] And I do want to go on to barbecue meat number five.

[00:34:28] Number five.

[00:34:29] So number five, I'll see if I can find my notes here.

[00:34:32] Number five.

[00:34:33] Some of my notes were that it looked good.

[00:34:37] It had a really good flavor.

[00:34:39] It had a nice smoky flavor to it.

[00:34:41] Again, I like the appearance of number five.

[00:34:44] Those are some of my thoughts.

[00:34:45] What about you guys?

[00:34:46] I had, I wrote it was a good moisture level, had balanced smoke, but the seasoning was just

[00:34:53] a little lacking in season, but it was my set.

[00:34:56] I ranked it number two.

[00:34:57] Number two.

[00:34:58] Yeah.

[00:34:58] Oh, wow.

[00:34:59] I had it as number five.

[00:35:01] I thought it tasted good, but it was like.

[00:35:04] What is number five?

[00:35:05] Yeah, I know.

[00:35:06] But the fifth one.

[00:35:09] The moistness came off as kind of sliminess to me, which was a little off-putting.

[00:35:14] That's fair.

[00:35:15] But I thought it had good flavor.

[00:35:16] I just didn't like the texture.

[00:35:18] That was my synopsis.

[00:35:21] So, number five, I will say that now that we're kind of getting down to the end and we'll

[00:35:25] talk about the championship voting, there were three entries that going into the last

[00:35:33] taste tester were all tied in a three-way tie for first place.

[00:35:38] Oh.

[00:35:38] And number five was one of those.

[00:35:40] Oh, okay.

[00:35:41] For whatever it's worth.

[00:35:42] And number five came to us from Anywhere's Fine.

[00:35:46] Everybody looks at me like I've never heard of that.

[00:35:49] Where is that?

[00:35:50] Well, look, okay.

[00:35:51] So, it's maybe not everybody's heard of it.

[00:35:53] It's another one of those that pops up in occasionally, where's the best Barbie you can get in Hickory?

[00:35:58] You know, in the Hickory bubble or the good, the bad, and the ugly or some of those other

[00:36:02] things that you see out in Hickory social media.

[00:36:04] Anywhere's Fine's popped up there.

[00:36:06] I've been up there a couple of times.

[00:36:07] It's right in downtown Hudson.

[00:36:09] Oh.

[00:36:10] If you can get to the Hudson Uptown building, you know, you go across the railroad tax, take

[00:36:14] a left.

[00:36:14] Hudson has an uptown?

[00:36:16] Oh, it does.

[00:36:16] And a downtown?

[00:36:17] No.

[00:36:18] It does have a downtown.

[00:36:19] It just has an uptown.

[00:36:20] I've never heard anybody say.

[00:36:22] The Hudson Uptown building is in downtown Hudson.

[00:36:26] The name is Hudson Uptown?

[00:36:28] The name of the building is the Hudson Uptown building.

[00:36:31] Oh, that makes sense.

[00:36:31] Okay.

[00:36:31] I thought they were trying to go shopping.

[00:36:32] It was a hub.

[00:36:33] They called it the hub.

[00:36:34] Oh, yeah.

[00:36:34] It's in that building?

[00:36:35] Oh, hubs in Uptown.

[00:36:36] No, it's around the corner.

[00:36:37] Around the corner.

[00:36:38] Okay.

[00:36:38] I know where that building is.

[00:36:39] It's in another kind of nondescript building.

[00:36:41] It really looks like kind of a – it's not what you would expect for a barbecue restaurant when you go inside.

[00:36:46] But he's got a smoker out back.

[00:36:49] And Anywhere's Fine got started as a food truck.

[00:36:51] All these other guys that we've talked about, I think, unless I'm mistaken, they all got started as just – they were restaurants.

[00:36:57] Well, Anywhere's Fine started out as a food truck catering around Caldwell, Catawba, Burke counties, doing a good business.

[00:37:02] I think probably a couple years ago, maybe it was earlier this year if I remember correctly, they opened a brick-and-mortar location there.

[00:37:09] He still does food truck stuff at events.

[00:37:11] You'll see him at the Blackberry Festival up in Lenore, whatever's going on.

[00:37:16] You'll see him at some of these things.

[00:37:17] But now he's got a brick-and-mortar location.

[00:37:19] They do a pretty good business.

[00:37:20] He's got a bar in there.

[00:37:21] It's really nice and clean.

[00:37:24] Anyway, number five, Anywhere is Fine with a Z.

[00:37:27] They have a bar at a barbecue place?

[00:37:29] That's cool.

[00:37:30] It is out of the ordinary.

[00:37:31] Bar-ba-que.

[00:37:32] Yeah.

[00:37:33] But not a lot of places, barbecue places, have alcohol.

[00:37:37] That is true.

[00:37:39] What do you call it?

[00:37:40] Blue Laws.

[00:37:40] Yeah, like before – yeah.

[00:37:42] They stuck with Prohibition-type things or dry counties or whatever.

[00:37:46] As I kind of looked down the list, them and Cranford are the only two that have barbecue.

[00:37:51] And Cranford – I mean, that have a bar, that have alcohol.

[00:37:55] You would expect that from Cranford because they also have a brewery on site, so you know they're going to sell their own stuff.

[00:37:59] But you're right.

[00:37:59] It's not common.

[00:38:00] And a lot of the old-school barbecue restaurants don't sell alcohol.

[00:38:04] I want to get you in and out.

[00:38:05] Get the barbecue and go, boy.

[00:38:06] I don't know.

[00:38:07] It doesn't go together great.

[00:38:08] Don't hang around.

[00:38:08] I think we talked before.

[00:38:09] Don't have another beer.

[00:38:10] The pork and the alcohol don't always go together.

[00:38:12] It's already hit me like that.

[00:38:13] I think it goes great together.

[00:38:15] So, full disclosure, first of all, you said it's in Hudson.

[00:38:19] I probably won't ever go stop in Hudson after we got in a fight with South Caldwell baseball in 10th grade.

[00:38:24] So, probably won't visit them unless they're on the food truck somewhere else.

[00:38:29] So, I might try to find them.

[00:38:29] Do you think that some of those baseball players are still lurking the streets of Hudson?

[00:38:32] There might be.

[00:38:33] They're probably working because them boys were rough.

[00:38:35] They're probably – who knows.

[00:38:37] They're probably working there.

[00:38:38] Back in 74.

[00:38:39] Yeah.

[00:38:39] That was close.

[00:38:40] Back in the day.

[00:38:41] 91.

[00:38:42] 91.

[00:38:42] It was.

[00:38:43] I'm not taking my chances.

[00:38:45] But I did rate that the third best.

[00:38:47] No, I'm sorry.

[00:38:48] What did I rate that?

[00:38:51] First?

[00:38:51] No, third.

[00:38:52] Third.

[00:38:53] Third.

[00:38:53] Third, but for one point.

[00:38:55] But I did – I said it was moist.

[00:38:56] And you mentioned that the moistness kind of off-putting for you.

[00:39:00] But I thought it had – gave me like that juiciness that I crave versus the dryness.

[00:39:05] Had a good flavor.

[00:39:06] Yeah.

[00:39:07] Yeah.

[00:39:07] Anyway.

[00:39:08] Last one.

[00:39:09] Number six.

[00:39:11] The final entry.

[00:39:13] And I look at it in my place.

[00:39:14] Gosh, it seems like it was so long that we started this journey.

[00:39:19] This meat journey that we're on.

[00:39:21] It's hard remembering what we did 30 minutes ago when we tried this food.

[00:39:26] First of all, meat journey.

[00:39:27] That's a great journey for some people.

[00:39:31] Going on a meat journey.

[00:39:32] A meat journey.

[00:39:33] I did.

[00:39:33] I did today.

[00:39:34] You're a 66 grand band name.

[00:39:36] Meat crawl.

[00:39:37] Yeah.

[00:39:37] Bar crawl, meat crawl.

[00:39:38] I'm on my meat crawl.

[00:39:39] I'm on my third meat crawl this week.

[00:39:41] It's not something you want your wife or your daughter to go on probably, but you know.

[00:39:43] No.

[00:39:44] This is a family show.

[00:39:45] Sorry.

[00:39:46] Might be a game changer.

[00:39:50] You might have some life changes after that.

[00:39:52] You know what I'm saying?

[00:39:53] Before I get to number six, and I introduced the door, and I'm going to try to pull us back

[00:39:57] on the tracks here.

[00:39:58] We're moving on.

[00:39:59] We're moving on before I get to number six.

[00:40:02] Let me rein us back in here.

[00:40:03] I forgot to talk about this.

[00:40:05] You guys have been around Hickory for a while.

[00:40:07] You've been to some of these places, except maybe anywhere is fine.

[00:40:10] Before you walked in the door today, what were your initial prejudices?

[00:40:16] What were your initial opinions about Hickory barbecue?

[00:40:20] And think about that for a second.

[00:40:22] I'm going to stall and say, first, also, there's a lot of other barbecue in Hickory I didn't make it to.

[00:40:28] I only went to six of them.

[00:40:30] Little Pigs and Newton is one of my favorites.

[00:40:33] I guess it's Broadway barbecue in Morganton is really good over there.

[00:40:37] There's several other barbecue places that we didn't make it to just because, look, it's a geographical thing.

[00:40:42] I made a big loop around Caldwell, Alexander, and Catawba County, and it worked out well.

[00:40:48] And these, again, were the ones that we heard about from on social media.

[00:40:50] So there's a lot of other ones out there that we didn't make it to.

[00:40:53] Maybe they'll be on there another time.

[00:40:54] But what are the notions that you had about Hickory Metro barbecue when you walked into today's blind taste test?

[00:41:03] My expectations were not high.

[00:41:07] Really?

[00:41:08] And it's because that living in eastern North Carolina for a while, you sample that style of barbecue, and it's just a completely different world out there.

[00:41:20] And with the vinegar-based and the way it's done with the whole hog smoking and all that gets chopped up in it or pulled and put.

[00:41:31] It's all in there.

[00:41:32] It's all in there.

[00:41:33] It's just a different style of barbecue.

[00:41:36] And so my preferences are tuned.

[00:41:39] I guess my palate is tuned toward that a little bit.

[00:41:43] Because, you know, with the barbecue I had growing up was, you know, I mean, it was okay.

[00:41:48] I mean, but when you go out there, that style of barbecue to me is just – that's the pinnacle.

[00:41:56] That's the pinnacle?

[00:41:56] That's the pinnacle barbecue.

[00:41:57] Okay.

[00:41:58] I mean, but –

[00:41:58] We've got an eastern bias there.

[00:42:00] That's right.

[00:42:00] But I will say this.

[00:42:02] From what we had today, there's some really good barbecue around here.

[00:42:06] Yeah.

[00:42:06] I mean, really.

[00:42:07] Definitely.

[00:42:08] And with having no expectations coming into it, I was very surprised.

[00:42:12] I was pleasantly surprised as well.

[00:42:14] What about you guys?

[00:42:15] Same.

[00:42:15] I was going to say, growing up, again, maybe that's why I don't love barbecues.

[00:42:18] I feel like there were no great barbecue places because besides Matt and I are the ones who grew up here, I wouldn't say there was ever a favorite.

[00:42:26] I mean, you go to, like, Post Office Barbecue.

[00:42:29] Post Office Barbecue.

[00:42:29] Hannah's Barbecue.

[00:42:30] I mean, you know, it had those places with the name barbecue.

[00:42:32] Well, and there's one that was around that's not here anymore, Hickory Smokehouse.

[00:42:35] Hickory Smokehouse.

[00:42:35] I would say Hickory Smokehouse, but, again, I grew up on the south side of Hickory.

[00:42:38] Didn't make it over the north side a lot.

[00:42:39] That was on northwest.

[00:42:41] Mm-hmm.

[00:42:41] Yeah.

[00:42:41] You know, I was a post office barbecue guy myself.

[00:42:44] Post Office Barbecue, right.

[00:42:45] That's another one that was around that's no longer here.

[00:42:47] Right.

[00:42:47] And you mentioned shells, right.

[00:42:49] But they may have also gotten theirs from barbecue.

[00:42:51] From barbecue pit.

[00:42:51] Hey, guys, true or false, the pit served barbecue to P.O. Barbecue.

[00:42:58] Is that right?

[00:42:58] Okay.

[00:42:58] That's probably.

[00:42:59] True.

[00:43:00] Yeah, that's true.

[00:43:01] Interesting.

[00:43:01] So knowing that information, because, yeah, back then, I didn't think as a kid, I was like,

[00:43:04] are they smoking their own barbecue or whatever?

[00:43:06] But it was just like that was the place you got, and that was the sound you got.

[00:43:08] It was compacted.

[00:43:09] It was on a bun.

[00:43:11] So, yeah, so we all probably grew up on the pit.

[00:43:13] Man, I feel hornswoggled now.

[00:43:15] Hornswoggled.

[00:43:16] Now, prior to pit P.O. going, P.O. changing over, so he sold that later on, but he was

[00:43:24] actually smoking his own there for a little while.

[00:43:26] Oh.

[00:43:27] At the end of it.

[00:43:28] Post Office Barbecue?

[00:43:30] Yeah, yeah.

[00:43:30] That's where.

[00:43:32] Heart and Soul.

[00:43:32] Heart and Soul.

[00:43:33] Heart and Soul, yeah.

[00:43:33] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:43:34] So the ownership changed, and then he was smoking his own there for a while, and then it changed

[00:43:39] again, and then one more time to Heart and Soul.

[00:43:43] To the breakfast thing it is now.

[00:43:44] Yeah, yeah.

[00:43:44] Okay.

[00:43:45] I like it.

[00:43:46] We get there a lot.

[00:43:46] So, but back to this one.

[00:43:48] Pleasantly surprised that there are this many options.

[00:43:50] The fact that it has a question on social media about where's the best place to get barbecue,

[00:43:55] that says enough, right?

[00:43:56] That's pretty good.

[00:43:56] And there's multiple answers, so kudos.

[00:43:58] Maybe I'll turn into a meat lover.

[00:44:02] We can make you a meat lover.

[00:44:05] Once you have a taste, you.

[00:44:06] No, that's not right.

[00:44:07] What about your thoughts here?

[00:44:08] Well, I was just going to.

[00:44:09] My thought going into that question was going to be, I have this nostalgic thing about shells.

[00:44:15] I'm not saying that it was the best barbecue ever, which that reminded me of it, the barbecue bit.

[00:44:22] But that, just the atmosphere, and they had two locations, and we frequented both of them.

[00:44:29] It was just kind of a hangout place.

[00:44:31] But even my girls loved that place, so when they were little, we took them there, and they had the little,

[00:44:39] the kids' meals came in the little 57 Chevys or whatever.

[00:44:43] Yeah.

[00:44:44] That was so cool.

[00:44:45] But I don't know if that was about the barbecue or just the place.

[00:44:48] And they had awesome food, too.

[00:44:49] They did.

[00:44:50] They topped it with slaw, probably pickles and sauce.

[00:44:52] And that's my kind of thing coming in.

[00:44:55] It's like, I remember that.

[00:44:56] It's like a memory thing.

[00:44:57] So that's kind of what I am prejudiced against these other ones that were probably more realistic barbecue,

[00:45:05] like actual real barbecue.

[00:45:08] You know, like even the look of it.

[00:45:11] Well, I would say that look aside,

[00:45:13] all of these were smoked over live fire.

[00:45:17] None of these were, you know, microwaved or crock-potted or pellet smoked.

[00:45:22] They were all live fire smoke.

[00:45:23] I know you cracked your third beer, and we're going to get to that.

[00:45:25] But we still, I feel like we shortchanged number six.

[00:45:28] Oh, yeah.

[00:45:28] Because I skipped on to your favorite, your hickory perceptions.

[00:45:32] But what were y'all's thoughts about number six?

[00:45:38] So six was up there for me.

[00:45:40] I had it.

[00:45:41] It was a little dry, but at the same time, the smoke was good and the seasoning was right there.

[00:45:48] And this is lacking with sauce.

[00:45:50] There's no sauce.

[00:45:51] No sauce.

[00:45:51] By process of elimination, I'm guessing this is the one that, I mean, what I'm going to say is within the last 10 years,

[00:45:58] this is the place that everybody gets barbecue from.

[00:46:01] Right.

[00:46:01] JD's Smokehouse.

[00:46:02] So surprisingly, I ranked it fourth, which, you know, again, every catering, every party you go to,

[00:46:10] everybody's like, oh, went to JD's, get this.

[00:46:11] And it was like, everybody thought that was the mecca, right?

[00:46:15] That's the place.

[00:46:15] But still good.

[00:46:17] Definitely.

[00:46:18] I put, I had good, I marked out good and put decent after I had all of them.

[00:46:22] All of them.

[00:46:23] But again, I can't argue with that.

[00:46:25] And plus, you add all their sides that go along with it, that's going to push that thing over the top.

[00:46:30] Right.

[00:46:30] Well, in our previous episode, we had JD's alone.

[00:46:33] And the brisket, I remember, knocked our socks off.

[00:46:36] And that's kind of the thing.

[00:46:38] Everybody comes in with, oh, but you need to have JD's.

[00:46:41] Oh, try JD's.

[00:46:43] Have JD's.

[00:46:43] And JD's is really good.

[00:46:45] Their sides are really good.

[00:46:46] All of it is really good.

[00:46:48] Last time we had the chicken.

[00:46:50] Yes.

[00:46:50] And it had a nice moisture.

[00:46:53] They kind of think they put broth in there when they packed it in there.

[00:46:55] So it was so moist.

[00:46:56] It had a great flavor on it.

[00:46:57] The brisket's super good.

[00:46:58] The pork here, again, it was good.

[00:47:01] This came from the Gamewell location.

[00:47:04] You know, the original's in Rutherford College.

[00:47:06] But over the last few years, they've opened a location in Gamewell.

[00:47:10] Also in Caldwell County, but West Caldwell.

[00:47:12] I don't have beef against West Caldwell, just so you'll know.

[00:47:14] They're okay.

[00:47:15] Well, that's because they've been everybody's punching bag for generations.

[00:47:19] But in the athletic realm, anyway.

[00:47:21] So that's the first time I've ever been to Gamewell.

[00:47:23] But so this was from the Gamewell location.

[00:47:25] I thought it was good.

[00:47:27] It was good flavor.

[00:47:28] But just like you say, everybody comes charging in with,

[00:47:31] you need to have JD's.

[00:47:33] It didn't receive the votes that, you know, we got for Hughes Q,

[00:47:41] Cranford Barbecue, and Anywhere's Fine.

[00:47:45] Again, it's not to say anything against JD's.

[00:47:48] It's great.

[00:47:48] I love it.

[00:47:49] I had them at number two.

[00:47:50] Okay.

[00:47:51] I thought it looked the best.

[00:47:52] That was the best, like, looking.

[00:47:55] And I thought it – I wrote Medius.

[00:47:57] That's the one Jackson's still eating out of.

[00:48:00] I had it right.

[00:48:02] It was between one and six for me.

[00:48:04] But that – and I don't know.

[00:48:07] That was good stuff.

[00:48:09] Yeah.

[00:48:09] Interesting.

[00:48:09] Good stuff.

[00:48:10] Good stuff for sure.

[00:48:11] It was a good exercise.

[00:48:12] I think we all – it was eye-opening.

[00:48:14] We all recognized, hey, look,

[00:48:15] Hickory's got some barbecue options.

[00:48:17] What's interesting about all this is that I think a big part of a good barbecue restaurant

[00:48:24] is not solely – it can't solely rest on the meat.

[00:48:28] Mm-hmm.

[00:48:28] Yeah.

[00:48:28] I mean, a lot of it is sauce.

[00:48:30] That's the draw.

[00:48:31] A lot of it is sides.

[00:48:33] Yeah.

[00:48:33] But when you think about what's a great barbecue place,

[00:48:37] you're going to take it all in.

[00:48:39] I mean, you're going to have the barbecue with the sauce with the sides.

[00:48:43] Mm-hmm.

[00:48:43] So I think it all has to be good, really.

[00:48:46] Because you can't have – if you just had good barbecue and your sides suck,

[00:48:50] I mean, that's going to be a knock against you, I think.

[00:48:54] Yeah.

[00:48:54] I have another local reference or shout-out,

[00:48:58] but I was going to say about – I thought about Atmosphere,

[00:49:01] and the one in Rutherford College has a great atmosphere.

[00:49:06] JD's.

[00:49:07] Yep.

[00:49:07] It just feels like a barbecue place.

[00:49:09] It does.

[00:49:09] I was going to say Sims Barbecue.

[00:49:12] Sims.

[00:49:12] In Alexander County.

[00:49:14] That's a great atmosphere.

[00:49:15] A little clogging, a little dancing.

[00:49:16] A little clogging, a little square dancing.

[00:49:18] Right.

[00:49:18] And they have good barbecue there.

[00:49:20] It is.

[00:49:20] And music.

[00:49:21] And music.

[00:49:22] It's solid, I will say.

[00:49:24] The barbecue is solid.

[00:49:25] It's not good.

[00:49:27] But you can't get takeout.

[00:49:29] You've got to go and be the experience in the environment.

[00:49:32] In fact, the JD's, what, they're open Thursday, Friday, Saturday?

[00:49:34] It's a weekend celebration.

[00:49:36] That's a just – is that a drawback?

[00:49:38] Like, Cranford Brothers you can get every day of the week.

[00:49:40] All the time.

[00:49:41] Infuse Q probably every day of the week.

[00:49:42] All the time.

[00:49:43] Does that make JD's even –

[00:49:44] Well, Apple City's only on the weekend.

[00:49:47] Apple City's Thursday, Friday, Saturday.

[00:49:49] Does that change your perception?

[00:49:50] Like, oh, I can only get it at certain times.

[00:49:51] It's so good.

[00:49:52] Yep.

[00:49:53] That gives you a little bit of a – it's rare.

[00:49:55] McDonald's would be great if it was open one day a week, right?

[00:49:57] You'd be like, I'm going to get a filet of fish.

[00:49:59] That's the best fish sandwich I could get.

[00:50:01] It's a barbecue show.

[00:50:02] We're having McRib.

[00:50:03] Yeah, okay.

[00:50:04] So I'm just going to plug this.

[00:50:05] The best barbecue I've ever had was B's Barbecue in Greenville.

[00:50:09] Yeah.

[00:50:10] It is a rundown little shack of a building, and beside it, it's made of cinder blocks,

[00:50:16] like where they do the barbecue.

[00:50:19] And it's basically cinder block pits with big fans in there,

[00:50:24] and that's where they cook it with – what's it?

[00:50:28] Rebar.

[00:50:29] They got rebar over there, and they lay the whole hog on there,

[00:50:32] and that's how they smoke the barbecue.

[00:50:34] Yep.

[00:50:35] They open at 11.

[00:50:37] Is that a pun?

[00:50:38] Rebar, like for the barbecue?

[00:50:39] Well, no, it's just like literally construction rebar.

[00:50:42] Rebar it.

[00:50:43] And they open at like 10, 30, 11, and when they sell out, they sell out.

[00:50:48] Yeah.

[00:50:48] It's done.

[00:50:49] Usually 2 o'clock.

[00:50:50] If you don't get in line by 10, 30, 11, you're not getting there.

[00:50:54] Yeah, supply and demand.

[00:50:55] That creates some urgency, some – you know, you need to have this now.

[00:50:58] And you talk about the environment, and that's a good point,

[00:51:00] that you guys didn't get to see the environment.

[00:51:02] You all know what these places have been – or like you've been there.

[00:51:05] With the exception of Anywhere is fine.

[00:51:06] And again, as a new restaurant, it's still fairly sterile inside.

[00:51:10] They don't have all – I mean, you walk into JD's, and there's pigs everywhere.

[00:51:16] You know, this one in Gamewell, I got a picture of it,

[00:51:18] and everybody look for it out on Instagram because I have pictures from all this stuff,

[00:51:22] all of our food, all the restaurants.

[00:51:24] All that will be on Instagram, and we'll have a blog up soon.

[00:51:26] But they've got this big pig out front.

[00:51:28] You go inside, and you've got the old-timey Coca-Cola signs

[00:51:31] and the soda pop signs and the old motor oil and automotive gas station type things.

[00:51:37] You know, it's like a down-home barbecue type restaurant.

[00:51:40] Like if there's a bunch of flies going around, that's even better.

[00:51:43] You know, if the flies are coming in the restaurant.

[00:51:45] I don't know.

[00:51:46] That's Luke.

[00:51:47] I mean, I was going to say, I bet bees got to –

[00:51:49] Hey, you know what makes a good –

[00:51:50] What flies get to, though?

[00:51:51] I mean, that's –

[00:51:51] One of the best –

[00:51:52] Another really good restaurant out around Greenville is called The Starlight.

[00:51:57] Have you ever – you know what I'm talking about?

[00:51:59] Uh-huh.

[00:52:00] So back in the day, you'd go in there, and there was this old man in there,

[00:52:05] and he had a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, and he was chopping barbecue.

[00:52:08] Every now and then, you would see the ash falling in.

[00:52:11] Yeah.

[00:52:12] It didn't care.

[00:52:12] Smoky flavor, that smoky, ashy flavor.

[00:52:14] That was back before smoking.

[00:52:16] They could still smoke.

[00:52:17] It was all part of the smoking process.

[00:52:19] It was just different smoke.

[00:52:21] That's right.

[00:52:21] Okay.

[00:52:21] You got some Marlboro in there.

[00:52:22] We've been through the six.

[00:52:24] We've talked about each one of them.

[00:52:25] Y'all probably got a pretty good idea of what our favorites are.

[00:52:28] Before we go to the big tally, I want to go to beer number three,

[00:52:33] and I see you've brought a Guinness.

[00:52:38] A nitro.

[00:52:39] It's a Guinness.

[00:52:40] All right.

[00:52:41] Cheers.

[00:52:42] Sláinte.

[00:52:43] I mean, you can't go wrong with a Guinness.

[00:52:45] Gosh.

[00:52:46] A Guinness with nitro.

[00:52:48] Oh, and just –

[00:52:49] I mean, it's perfect.

[00:52:50] Not when you have tiny glasses, though.

[00:52:52] Right.

[00:52:52] Hey, look.

[00:52:53] You need to get a big slide.

[00:52:54] I brought a Stein.

[00:52:56] Look at that.

[00:52:56] That's great, though.

[00:52:57] I feel like I thought about everything except a big glass for my Guinness.

[00:53:01] You didn't know that we were bringing a Guinness.

[00:53:03] That's right.

[00:53:03] So this, for me, is a – that's my go-to.

[00:53:08] All seasons, but especially when it's cold outside.

[00:53:13] Like, a Guinness to me is – it's perfect.

[00:53:17] It's not strong.

[00:53:18] It's about – you know, comes in, clocks in around 5%.

[00:53:21] It's a classic.

[00:53:22] You beauty.

[00:53:23] And I just love looking at it.

[00:53:24] It gives you wings.

[00:53:26] I mean, it's like –

[00:53:28] I thought I was born in it, and then you –

[00:53:30] It's a patient man's beard.

[00:53:32] That's Red Bull.

[00:53:33] Red Bull with the wings.

[00:53:33] It's a patient man's beard.

[00:53:35] You have to –

[00:53:35] Like Gurgers.

[00:53:37] That's Iron Brew.

[00:53:38] It does.

[00:53:38] It's vitamins.

[00:53:39] Guinness has the –

[00:53:39] It does have the vitamins in it.

[00:53:43] What about mixing it with cider?

[00:53:47] I've never done that.

[00:53:48] Is that what it is?

[00:53:49] Snakebite?

[00:53:49] That's what I've always – in Scotland, during my brief time there,

[00:53:52] they called it a snakebite, and they mixed the cider with Strongbow and Guinness.

[00:53:57] Hoo boy.

[00:53:58] And a few of those, you'd be in trouble walking down the leaf walk.

[00:54:01] Especially as an American, because same way.

[00:54:03] I had a guy when I went over there, and we lived over there for a couple months,

[00:54:06] but he fell in love with those.

[00:54:08] So every bar, he'd go, like, can I get a snakebite?

[00:54:10] And they were like, ha-ha, yeah, you can.

[00:54:12] And he could have, like, two or three.

[00:54:14] Yank.

[00:54:14] We know you, yank.

[00:54:15] What about a black and tan with bass?

[00:54:18] Right.

[00:54:18] That was good.

[00:54:20] That was nice.

[00:54:20] You just like it just straight up.

[00:54:22] I just like a Guinness.

[00:54:23] Yeah.

[00:54:23] On nitro.

[00:54:24] Or the Irish Carbino.

[00:54:25] Yeah, it has to be nitro.

[00:54:26] I just dropped the shot of Jaeger inside the Guinness and just pound it.

[00:54:31] What about with a fancy Shamrock?

[00:54:32] Oh, I was going to say, if you've ever had a proper pour on draft, and they let it rest,

[00:54:36] and they pour it at rest, and they come back and draw the designs in there,

[00:54:40] that is the most fantastic thing you've ever seen.

[00:54:42] Okay, so I messed up.

[00:54:43] That was a Jaeger bomb.

[00:54:45] I know, but the...

[00:54:46] Irish Carbomb is Jameson's.

[00:54:48] Jameson's inside the Guinness.

[00:54:50] Yes.

[00:54:50] That's right.

[00:54:50] Yeah.

[00:54:51] Still good.

[00:54:52] I think I'll just stick with the Guinness or a Snakebuck.

[00:54:55] With cider, you mean like a fireball?

[00:54:57] Like a fireball in there?

[00:54:58] No, no, like apple cider.

[00:54:59] Just regular apple cider?

[00:55:00] Well, it's a hard cider.

[00:55:02] Oh, okay.

[00:55:02] Like a strong bow or a woodchuck, like they're talking about.

[00:55:05] And they'll serve them to you at the tap room.

[00:55:08] They call it a black widow, I think, or a black velvet.

[00:55:11] Yeah.

[00:55:11] And they always try to, you know, the fancy thing is to separate them,

[00:55:14] so they'll draw the cider in, and then they draw it again.

[00:55:16] And so they look real fancy.

[00:55:17] I don't want them separated.

[00:55:19] I just let it mix up.

[00:55:20] Because the cider really enhances the sweetness of the Guinness

[00:55:23] and gives it that little bit of an extra.

[00:55:26] You're going to be in the gutter at the end of the night.

[00:55:28] I think it could be any lager plus a cider is a snakebuck, but I could be wrong.

[00:55:32] I mean, I know this is a stout, but I feel like there's a couple varieties of beer.

[00:55:35] If you mix it with a cider, it gets snakebitten from that.

[00:55:39] Yeah.

[00:55:39] I've been snakebitten a few times.

[00:55:41] Well, I feel like this is very low ABV, too.

[00:55:44] This is 4.1.

[00:55:45] Yeah, 4.1.

[00:55:46] There you go.

[00:55:47] This is a session beer.

[00:55:48] I mean, to me, it's the perfect beer.

[00:55:52] I could drink this all day.

[00:55:53] Well, it's good for you.

[00:55:54] That's where they're...

[00:55:55] It is my favorite beer of all time.

[00:55:57] Advertisement's always said the vitamins are very good.

[00:55:59] It's good for you.

[00:56:00] Yes.

[00:56:01] And it's different here than it is there.

[00:56:02] So you had it over there?

[00:56:04] Only in Scotland, not in Ireland.

[00:56:05] Okay.

[00:56:06] I had it over there.

[00:56:06] It's good for you, but Scotland's close enough, right?

[00:56:08] Well, it's different.

[00:56:09] I've had it in Ireland.

[00:56:11] St. James Gate.

[00:56:12] You know, the water that comes from there.

[00:56:14] So how different is it, really?

[00:56:16] Like, so...

[00:56:17] I didn't sit down and have an American Guinness next to it, but it tasted different.

[00:56:21] Nowadays, it's probably better, though.

[00:56:22] I mean, just like a beer on tap tastes better and different.

[00:56:25] Yeah, yeah.

[00:56:26] Plus, you're in a room in Ireland, and they say you can drink, you know, all the Guinness

[00:56:31] you want to drink in, you know, an hour.

[00:56:33] Now it's like you can have two Guinness at the end of the tour.

[00:56:36] You know what's better, though, here?

[00:56:37] It's barbecue.

[00:56:39] Barbecue is better.

[00:56:40] Better in North Carolina than anywhere in the world.

[00:56:42] What do they even call it over there?

[00:56:44] Roast pig.

[00:56:44] That's my point.

[00:56:45] That's where we're coming back.

[00:56:46] I'll second that emotion.

[00:56:47] All right.

[00:56:47] All these people who say barbecue, they're talking about actually grilling or going on the patio

[00:56:52] and having a...

[00:56:53] Cooking out.

[00:56:54] Cooking, yeah.

[00:56:54] Cooking out.

[00:56:54] But North Carolina Barbecue, hands down.

[00:56:57] It's where it was born.

[00:56:59] It's where it is still the best.

[00:57:00] And in Hickory, where we call home, we've tallied up all the votes and decided which one

[00:57:06] is the best among the six that we tried tonight.

[00:57:09] And again, it was within really a two-vote margin.

[00:57:14] Our winner is barbecue number one from Hughes Q.

[00:57:20] Oh, wow.

[00:57:21] Hughes Q.

[00:57:21] Number two went to Cranford barbecue by one vote.

[00:57:26] And number three, by one more vote down, was anywhere's fine.

[00:57:31] Okay.

[00:57:31] So those were kind of, again, everybody had a little bit of a different flavor.

[00:57:35] Some folks like number three.

[00:57:36] Some folks like number six.

[00:57:38] Number four.

[00:57:38] There were a few votes for them.

[00:57:39] But by and large, the majority, everybody had something to say about one, two, or five.

[00:57:46] So if you look at it on my score sheet here on YouTube, if you're listening to it and watching

[00:57:51] it on the video, you can see the official scores there.

[00:57:54] And again, there were some that was like, hey, is one way with sauce?

[00:57:59] Is one way without?

[00:58:00] But again, I think we can all decide at the end of the day, while there were one or two

[00:58:05] that were maybe one or two points better than the rest, they were all just good barbecue.

[00:58:09] Solid barbecue.

[00:58:10] You can't go wrong in any place.

[00:58:12] True.

[00:58:13] Agreed.

[00:58:13] Unless you go to Barbecue Pit and you want it hot.

[00:58:16] Yeah.

[00:58:16] Then you just got to go home with it.

[00:58:18] Yeah, you just got to go heat it up.

[00:58:19] And it's good then, too.

[00:58:21] On a sandwich.

[00:58:22] With some slaw.

[00:58:23] And some sauce.

[00:58:24] And some sauce.

[00:58:25] And some sauce.

[00:58:26] With some hush puppies.

[00:58:30] Guys, thank you much for another holiday edition.

[00:58:33] We didn't talk about our sweaters, but I feel like you guys brought some new heat.

[00:58:37] This one with the elephant is nice.

[00:58:39] Roll tight.

[00:58:39] It is very nice.

[00:58:40] Thank you.

[00:58:41] Oh, well, it wasn't that.

[00:58:42] It was more of a roll tight.

[00:58:42] No, it is that.

[00:58:43] It's totally roll tight.

[00:58:44] It's always that.

[00:58:44] Yeah, oh, yeah.

[00:58:45] Roll tight.

[00:58:46] As a matter of fact, I think last Christmas episode, I think I wore this and you probably

[00:58:50] mentioned that.

[00:58:50] But this has like Christmas.

[00:58:52] It maybe has a little Kwanzaa flavor.

[00:58:53] I'm trying to go like everything.

[00:58:57] Christmas tree, bells.

[00:58:59] You got a little bit of everything.

[00:59:00] No candles, no lights for a Jewish fruit.

[00:59:02] It's on the back.

[00:59:02] You just can't see it.

[00:59:03] It says eight candles for the menorah on the back.

[00:59:06] Very nice.

[00:59:07] Sweet.

[00:59:07] Yeah.

[00:59:07] It's just not a camera view that can see that.

[00:59:10] Well, I got one of these walk-arounds we never did use.

[00:59:12] Oh, well.

[00:59:13] We'll save it for 20-25.

[00:59:14] Thank you for having us again.

[00:59:15] For 20-25.

[00:59:16] I would say this.

[00:59:17] Normally, we've done this in my little separate room in my house, but it's filled with Christmas

[00:59:21] presents right now.

[00:59:22] We'd have to be sitting on somebody's dresser or whatever we're getting from Christmas.

[00:59:26] I don't know what we're getting people.

[00:59:27] Hey, here we go.

[00:59:29] Beanbags.

[00:59:30] Have another one.

[00:59:32] So thanks for having us here.

[00:59:33] Thank you, Andrew Moose as producer.

[00:59:35] Yes.

[00:59:36] I'll give us a sign-off here.

[00:59:37] But again, Luke, Matt, thank you guys.

[00:59:39] Yes.

[00:59:39] Thank you.

[00:59:40] To the audience.

[00:59:40] Great to be here.

[00:59:41] Thank you.

[00:59:41] Thanks, Jeff, for voting as well.

[00:59:43] Jeff Osborne out in the world.

[00:59:44] Thanks as well to Jackson Jeffries who joined us.

[00:59:47] Again, with this, we'll try to wrap it up here, I guess.

[00:59:50] You guys are kind of naturally wrapping it up for us.

[00:59:52] We don't have to.

[00:59:53] I mean, I got tons of beer.

[00:59:54] We can wrap up the podcast and keep drinking tons of beer.

[00:59:58] Perfect.

[00:59:58] I think we probably have to put the coleslaw on something cold if we're going to escape.

[01:00:04] Why do they call it coleslaw, like C-O-L-E?

[01:00:08] Do you think the guy who made it?

[01:00:09] His name is Cole.

[01:00:10] It's like, hey, Cole, you got some of that slaw.

[01:00:12] All right.

[01:00:12] Here's the law for cabbage from now on.

[01:00:14] Or was it cold slaw?

[01:00:17] It's an old Irish thing.

[01:00:18] It sounds like, hey, I got that coleslaw.

[01:00:20] Coleslaw.

[01:00:22] Coleslaw?

[01:00:22] Coleslaw.

[01:00:23] Well, let me just say that all I know is that none of these coleslaws can lay a finger on my coleslaws.

[01:00:32] My Lexington coleslaw is fire.

[01:00:35] But that's an episode, a conversation for another episode.

[01:00:37] For this episode, thanks so much for listening to the Low and Slow BBQ Show.

[01:00:41] I want to remind everybody you can find out more at lowslowbbqshow.com.

[01:00:45] That's where we've got our blog.

[01:00:46] We've got other podcast episodes.

[01:00:48] You can see everything there.

[01:00:49] Check us out on Instagram as well, lowandslowbbqshow.com.

[01:00:54] There'll be less hamming but more barbecue there as well.

[01:00:57] And, of course, if you like what you hear on the Low and Slow BBQ Show, please be sure and give us a five-star vote on your favorite podcast stream.

[01:01:06] That way other people can help us find it.

[01:01:08] And then share it with your friends, like these friends and our friends that we've got out there.

[01:01:13] Share it with your friends so they can find it too.

[01:01:15] Special thanks to our producer, Andrew Moose.

[01:01:18] Thanks as well to the Three Beer Down gang, Matt, Luke, and Josh.

[01:01:24] Thanks as well to Jackson and Jeff who joined us here as our judges and other folks who've supported us.

[01:01:29] Mrs. Wizard who supported us.

[01:01:31] She helped out with all this as well, as always, as she does with everything.

[01:01:35] So, again, thanks so much for everyone for listening.

[01:01:38] Again, Merry Christmas, everybody.

[01:01:39] Happy New Year.

[01:01:40] We've got more great things coming on the Low and Slow BBQ Show in 2025.

[01:01:45] Including, yeah, the Carolina Barbecue Festival is coming up in April.

[01:01:48] It'll be here just before you know it.

[01:01:50] But today we're going to wrap it up and remind everybody that, remember, for the best barbecue and the best barbecue podcast, make it low and slow.

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