Ultimate Tailgaters BBQ and Bessemer City Brew and Que

[00:00:02] What you want when you want it, where you want it. This is the Mesh.

[00:00:41] We're going to be able to find out all about the Bessemer City Brew and Que. It's coming

[00:00:51] up September 21 from noon until 9pm, to do that. We're going to talk to Joe De Freynkeln for

[00:00:57] Bessemer City. Joe De welcome to the podcast today.

[00:01:00] Thank you for having me. We're excited to be on here and excited for our

[00:01:04] vehicle coming up. Great and can't wait to hear a little bit more about that. Also,

[00:01:08] joining us today, Ladies and Gentlemen, it's BBQ Royalty, Chris Fullman from Ultimate Tailgaters

[00:01:16] BBQ and Aiken South Carolina, the 2024 Southern BBQ network cooked team of the year and winter

[00:01:24] the cook team of the year recognition for of the past five years. Sir, welcome to the podcast.

[00:01:32] Thanks a lot, appreciate being here. I'm a little bit rolled too. I'm just a fact guy. It's

[00:01:35] links are trailer around and cooks a little barbecue. So, I appreciate the time. We're clearly

[00:01:42] you're a standout fat guy and a whole BBQ world full of fat guys that did the same thing. So,

[00:01:47] I want to start with you. I'm going to come back to you Joe De and find out all about the

[00:01:51] BBQ festival because these two things are kind of tied up together. But first, you know,

[00:01:55] Chris, let's talk about Ultimate Tailgaters BBQ. What is that? Well, it's kind of

[00:02:01] came about. I'm a lot of people know the big South Carolina fan gamecock. So we started a

[00:02:06] tailgate group back in the early 90s, actually 1994 called the Ultimate Tailgaters. We

[00:02:11] kind of sit around one time after tailgate and trying to figure out a name for ourselves. And we

[00:02:16] thought we were with Ultimate Tailgating. So hey, Ultimate Tailgaters, so it started and

[00:02:20] big tailgate group and you know, all the good ones suck on games and put them games away

[00:02:25] game so for yourself. Just kind of started out and already had a love for cooking. I grew up in

[00:02:30] the grocery business. My dad had three grocery stores growing up. So my mom was an unbelievable

[00:02:34] cook like a lot of people's moms but my mom was unbelievable. So I had a love for cooking and

[00:02:39] being around food and you know, start a feed and I grew up around the tailgate groups and so forth

[00:02:43] and started getting more of the bug, per se, and get into the 2000s still do a lot of tailgating

[00:02:48] and my wife and I got into these tailgate and contest. I started competing and started

[00:02:53] winning some stuff and won the ACC tailgating contest like two years in a row and just kind of

[00:02:58] all I bug and then I found out about come to SuperbQ and once that happened it was all over

[00:03:03] so I mean, it has started back in the early 2009 we cooked in our first, we cooked in the KCBS contest

[00:03:08] which we kind of went backwards, you know, you should really go back your art and start, but

[00:03:13] you know, we thought we were pretty good and we got it there and got our feed and serve pretty good

[00:03:17] but I learned from my early childhood you got to be friends, get to know some folks and

[00:03:23] know what they're doing and so I did that, started learning some folks and started learning the

[00:03:28] tips and tricks and so forth and we've advanced all and went from two cars and two

[00:03:36] canopies and I'll land Smoker and now I've got a 28 foot look on trailer. It's got a kitchen on it

[00:03:46] you've already bought a Q-cell. Yeah, well that's a fantastic story and I know we'll

[00:03:51] kind of unpack some of that journey as we get through a conversation today but first I want to

[00:03:55] talk about, you know this year's big championship, you know the Southern Barbecue Network

[00:04:00] I mentioned it kind of there in the open in 120, 20, 20, 21, 23, this would be 24.

[00:04:07] You know what does it mean to you to win those championships there with Southern Barbecue Network

[00:04:12] in such a you know consistent manner? Well that's a lot of pride for us obviously because

[00:04:19] if anybody this is on here listening it or it's cooked in barbecue it's a it's a it's a big

[00:04:24] brotherhood family just like we tell you and that's what kind of really why we enjoy it so much.

[00:04:30] You see a lot of the same people on the barbecue trail and of course everybody knows the big thing

[00:04:34] is to get a call and walk the stages with call it and that's always an honor among your peers

[00:04:38] but especially to be a team of the year, I'm looking forward to a lot of great teams that

[00:04:43] obviously cook on Southern Barbecue so it means a lot for us and a lot of the hard work that we put

[00:04:48] in the life and eye you know the things we do not only at the contest but in our preparation

[00:04:54] and you know some people don't understand it's like you just don't pull up and start cooking

[00:04:58] and for us I mean we've got recipes that we continue to work all in a tweak and we have timelines

[00:05:04] and things and been on the contest where you're at and when the turn ends are so there's it's just

[00:05:09] a lot more that people probably don't realize that it goes on behind the scenes with this so.

[00:05:15] Yeah it is definitely an involved process and well like you said keep you very busy if you get

[00:05:20] really really deep into it now. Obviously you said you've been doing it here for quite a number of

[00:05:26] years in the competition room and saying a lot of success over the last several years in this

[00:05:31] particular environment is there anything in 2024 this past competition season that stood out for

[00:05:38] you that that feel like helped you guys see success that maybe you didn't have to do with last

[00:05:43] year or the years before. Well I'm an old sports guy and so my model is sometimes you got to get

[00:05:50] back the basics right you know and it's gonna get too cute with stuff so we kind of went back

[00:05:54] a couple of our old recipes and we haven't sang called Lessons More. This means they'll try to do

[00:06:01] so much just do what you do to it well and the biggest thing competition barbecue is obviously you

[00:06:06] want to just stand out they're gonna take one bite they take two bites that hopefully you know

[00:06:09] you got them then but don't make it so complicated even though there's a lot that goes into it

[00:06:14] sometimes I guess right you're dumb at down make it to make it where you can just do it like

[00:06:19] on a bite and so we really try to have more of an easier process and have it nailed down some

[00:06:25] we put in the contest you know we do it our game plan was don't don't take a bunch of sauces

[00:06:29] whatever whatever your pork sauce that's it whatever your rips sauce that's it don't even break

[00:06:33] some flammals the try this we get it now we're going this our game plan we're rolling in with that

[00:06:39] and you know that's what we really did just trying to get back the basics really so

[00:06:44] that's a good advice for you guys in your team in the past year if I'm somebody starting out

[00:06:49] into competition barbecue maybe what is the mother advice you would you would offer I mean the

[00:06:55] biggest one of the biggest things is you know start out slow try the backyard and then

[00:07:01] be friends with people I think you'll find that most everybody on the barbecue trail is very nice

[00:07:06] approachable obviously you don't want to rock on the door the 830 on a nine o'clock turn in

[00:07:11] but you know get to know people on a Friday or if it's a Thursday night on KCBS get to know some

[00:07:15] you can find out the folks and there's you know maybe whatever types of milk you have try to

[00:07:20] find somebody that has a similar smoke or so and then I don't know if I'm not going to in

[00:07:24] nobody's going to give all the recipe so obviously we'll give us some tips and tricks and I think

[00:07:27] we'll make it a lot easier a lot of times I pull up messy people that are starting out and they've

[00:07:32] got to canopy and things like that and they brought so much and I did the same thing and they'll get

[00:07:36] wrong but just try to get there get your meat trimmed and get it all in a proper time,

[00:07:44] a light yourself enough time don't go crazy with the sauces and spices learn how to cook the meat

[00:07:49] properly and get it done properly and get it into the box people try to do too much I think so

[00:07:53] don't try to do too much just try to do as little as possible and then keep adding things as you

[00:07:59] go along and learn this stuff. As good advice, steep it to the basics and then seek out some

[00:08:05] insight from other experts in the world what if somebody there's been doing this for a long time

[00:08:10] what if I'm another Chris Fulmer out there there's been doing it but haven't really been able to

[00:08:14] crack through and get those calls to walk the stage like you say what's some advice for

[00:08:20] somebody there to finally get through and get that championship. All right somebody this one you'll

[00:08:26] try to you'll try to pick their brain a little while it and there's a lot of barbecue classes out

[00:08:31] there and they're all over the country but try to find one that obviously if you're low and slow

[00:08:36] don't go hot and fast cook in advice of her and there yeah you've seen in the last 10 years

[00:08:41] especially five years barbecue classes have exploded even on online stuff there's there's

[00:08:46] well the information out there but I think that's the thing and I think I find a lot of people

[00:08:52] if they're struggling a lot of times they're getting a basketball or they're changing weekly

[00:08:56] and you gotta you gotta try something and this goes you didn't hit on it don't run away from it

[00:09:02] and so give it a couple times maybe and then if it's not working then then go to something else

[00:09:08] but people try to change so many things at one time I think just tweak something see how it goes

[00:09:13] if it doesn't all right there we're going to plan B so we do people ask me they say hey when

[00:09:19] you got to SBN or you got to case the mess so you change your recipes no I don't I mean there's a

[00:09:25] couple of things we can do at the end when you own your turn hands but I don't change anything

[00:09:29] you know whether I'm coming to SBN or I'm going to Georgia North Carolina everybody talks about

[00:09:33] in a little more vinegar and all I don't I don't worry about that and I'm still trying to get

[00:09:37] there to get the meat trim get some turned in all time so don't again don't get over well

[00:09:42] and bust off so I think people just try to change too much really great now that's a great

[00:09:47] introduction there to the ultimate tailgators barbecue and the competition barbecue

[00:09:53] Mr. Franklin is worried patiently I want to find out about the best summer city brew and

[00:09:57] Q this is going to be coming up and I know that the Chris and you guys I think are going to be

[00:10:01] participating in it so Joe D Franklin let's hear about it what is the best summer city

[00:10:06] brew brew and Q well this is our third year I've actually haven't the title of the festival be the

[00:10:15] brewing Q we started out we've always kind of had a fall festival but we felt like it was

[00:10:22] missing something so we do we do concert events throughout the summer and that's our summer concert event

[00:10:31] but September brings out the fall and what says fall better than barbecue yeah so

[00:10:38] we we started out with a kind more or less like a local competition we did reach out to some

[00:10:44] some teams that we knew in that local area three years ago and had about six or seven teams

[00:10:52] last year you know we partnered up with the Southern BBQ network and they helped us

[00:10:58] bring in some competition teams and actually let us through how a barbecue competition

[00:11:04] supposed to be ran and met Chris and his wife last year they are the defending champions this year

[00:11:12] coming back to our town and we do appreciate that and they've helped us get the word out

[00:11:18] so three years ago we had a concert planned we were missing something it was fall

[00:11:25] let's turn it into a festival let's pair it with local breweries to come in

[00:11:32] we we already had the band scheduled so we've kept that portion of it we've brought in some

[00:11:39] some fall craft vendors and so we just made it more festive and you know it's our third annual

[00:11:48] brewing q festival so it was our festival and you know it's not at home with the Southern BBQ

[00:11:54] network it was the best thing we ever did and they they come in and they are willing to help

[00:12:00] us anyway they can their help they're willing to help any of the teams the best they can

[00:12:06] and it's just a good group of people to work with and so we were fortunate to find them and

[00:12:11] be able to work with them and that's a nice little backstory there for for best of

[00:12:16] Mercedes-Brew and Q and again sort of the evolution of the event from from fall festival into

[00:12:21] something you know maybe a little bit more specific to the barbecue and to the craft beer and I

[00:12:26] see again this year you got September 21st it's going to be going from noon until 9pm and

[00:12:31] downtown best from Mercedes still got a music concert as I see on your website at bessermercity.com slash

[00:12:37] brew and Q you know the concerts it's 6pm it's in tenial park land slide the fleet would

[00:12:43] make cover bands going to be performing there so that should be a great concert well what should

[00:12:48] folks expect when they're coming out looking for barbecue and and seeing that competition JOD

[00:12:53] well the barbecue teams are coming around noon on Friday start setting up their rigs and

[00:12:59] we'll have the pit masters uh pit masters meeting at five o'clock after that meeting they're actually

[00:13:06] going to have a judge's certification class so S&M's going to invite people to come and get certified

[00:13:13] as a judge not no one whether they will be a judge for our competition but they'll be able to go

[00:13:19] out to other competitions that's that the S&M's sponsoring and be judges there's well so

[00:13:26] it is a certified contest so the but when you come in on Friday night you know if you want to walk

[00:13:35] around and and like Chris will say and just pick the brains of of these folks they're they're

[00:13:40] they're very approachable they're willing to to show you show you kind of their their cookers

[00:13:47] and all that show you their rigs and the camaraderie amongst all the people on Friday night

[00:13:53] is really is really what it's all about when it comes to barbecue competitions it's it's

[00:14:00] you're not sitting around the campfire but you sit and ram smokers that are smoking and people

[00:14:03] just pull up their chairs and talk to one another and just uh and just have a good time it's been

[00:14:08] time together um up until late in the evening when things start slowing down and then they start

[00:14:14] you know start prepping for the next day and getting everything going but um then on Saturday you

[00:14:19] know our festival of kickoff at noon and you know we have our our bare vendors that will be coming

[00:14:25] in we'll have some food vendors that will be coming in most of the competition teams you know

[00:14:30] they since they've been working since you know early morning on Friday out of way up through

[00:14:35] midday on Saturday most of them when they once the uh once the announcements of the winners and all

[00:14:40] having included they will they will pull their rigs out and go home and but we do have barbecue

[00:14:46] vendors that are going to be there that are not competition codes and they will um they will be

[00:14:52] serving barbecue that day but and you know we have other food vendors as well but one thing

[00:14:56] that's kind of unique to what we do is we will provide the the the pork shoulders the Boston

[00:15:03] butts to the teams they will donate one or two of those back to us chopped and prepared and we

[00:15:09] give that to our local high school boosters and they actually sale the competition barbecue in

[00:15:16] sandwiches so wow it's an opportunity for them to make money for the athletic program here at

[00:15:24] our local high school so that's just kind of our way and the teams way of giving support in a

[00:15:31] local um not necessarily charity but supporting a local school so you know that's a nice that's

[00:15:39] a nice name that we were able to make happen. Yeah really cool connection there and somebody

[00:15:45] I'll speak I have been broadcasted high school football in the hickory metro of North Carolina

[00:15:49] 20 years I guess and unfortunately we don't cross paths in the hickory teams in best

[00:15:54] more city very often but it is another great community like you talk about there's a tight knit

[00:15:59] barbecue community of guys support one another and you find the same thing sort of in that high school

[00:16:04] football community especially among the boosters and you make some nice connections there especially

[00:16:09] when you can combine multiple community communities to barbecue and helping out something good there so

[00:16:15] congratulations to you guys for supporting something cool like that now. Now what about you Joe Dave

[00:16:20] do you do any barbecue smoke in or pit mastering yourself? Just at home yeah I wish I could get

[00:16:28] more involved and stuff like that but if the job I have just keeps me keeps me moving on the

[00:16:34] weekends a lot of times and I don't get slowed down enough to go take part in that and uh but

[00:16:41] you know hopefully hopefully one day I'll get to uh I'll get to travel around and maybe try

[00:16:47] my luck at some of that so yeah well I saturday you can taste it you do the easy stuff and just

[00:16:52] eat the barbecue and let these guys like Chris do all the hard work right? That's right I'll come

[00:16:57] hang out with them until you know 10 30 11 o'clock and I'll go home and get me a good

[00:17:02] nice sleep while they're up working and there you go that's the eat and I'll stick around

[00:17:07] the tomatoes about not clocking the morning and you know and most of the time there's

[00:17:14] it's like hey come in here and taste this yeah that's right you know when to get there that's

[00:17:18] the spot they get on your part. This episode of the low and slow barbecue show is sponsored by

[00:17:23] the Southern BBQ Network since 2010 the Southern BBQ Network has sanctioned BBQ

[00:17:28] tournaments to further their goal of preserving a Southern tradition for providing well-trained

[00:17:34] judges to contest that are raising money for charitable causes in the Carolinas. In addition

[00:17:39] to supporting charitable BBQ competitions the Southern BBQ Network also doughnates annually

[00:17:44] to numerous local community organizations hospitals and non-profits to find out more about the Southern

[00:17:51] Network Competition program and BBQ judge training classes please visit SBBQN.com for more

[00:17:58] information again that is SBBQN.com

[00:18:04] I want to take it back to Chris now and talk just a little bit more about your BBQ

[00:18:09] journey and an ultimate tailgator's journey and you kind of told us you got into it through

[00:18:13] tailgate in there at the GameCock football games and you know always love a great tailgate

[00:18:18] a wonderful community there too. As you've come out of that and started your business what do

[00:18:23] you feel like your specialty is what does what do you guys do this better than anything else?

[00:18:29] I mean probably I'll read out some of the books we've had a known for. I'd say that's our

[00:18:35] probably our signature thing. We cook a lot of pork obviously from competition and

[00:18:40] an avocado and business as well we have both of our tenderest marquards of

[00:18:42] business but we do a lot of stuff and I just cook a lot of pork and chicken and I just don't want

[00:18:48] to see any pork and chicken for what I know but I love our lives and I'll probably brisk it too

[00:18:53] obviously we don't do much brisk it on SBN side just at the invitation or maybe one other contest

[00:18:58] something you know it's in KCBS but ribs will probably be it something that I've had my same

[00:19:04] recipe for many many many years and have really never deviated we got a couple of things we do.

[00:19:10] Maybe when we wrap and on our turn in but it's still my pretty much my same

[00:19:15] roots and same sauce I've been using for that for so. If it ain't broke don't try to fix it right?

[00:19:21] Nah this is not good right you got it. No drill more. Keep it basic. I want to take you

[00:19:26] into the tailgate we're ought to maybe the catering tell me a little bit about what your catering

[00:19:29] business looks like. Well I mean it's kind of neat at all happen we just started with the tailgating

[00:19:35] some people tasted our food and got kind of interested and it's probably been maybe 10 years ago

[00:19:40] and we started doing a little small things here and there and then all of a sudden five six

[00:19:46] uh six seven years ago just really exploded and we started we're obviously going to

[00:19:51] make sports fan have a lot of friends that are coaches a lot of people in the in the

[00:19:56] high schools and colleges so for so that's what really took its off and actually South Carolina

[00:20:01] the reverse hour class my biggest client I feed you know again clock football if you're

[00:20:05] getting caught baseball you know all the sports teams we we feed them you know from the fact

[00:20:09] we fed football last week you know what they're in fact coaches players and everybody so we

[00:20:15] that really kind of got us going and you know been able to cook for lots of people we've cooked a lot

[00:20:20] of food obviously and you know we did we did over 100 events last year so we stay it was a pretty busy

[00:20:27] a lot of thanks to churches we have a lot of churches we work with in the A.K.

[00:20:31] and area but we go all over weekland Atlanta you know two three times just you already

[00:20:35] done events up there through all over South Carolina you know Charleston area but to the

[00:20:40] upstate so we we do a lot of travel and you know anywhere from 25 to 500 people but you know

[00:20:46] we're all the seven favorites you know most of our stuff is you know pull a pork barbecue chicken

[00:20:50] you know baked beans macaties coals long you know banana pudding you know banana pudding

[00:20:55] probably need to get out of the barbecue Venice in the south right so yeah but we keep it

[00:20:59] do we try to keep it simple again on that there's other things I can do and we have we

[00:21:03] also sometimes we do nice parties and people want tenderloin or appetizers we can do that but

[00:21:08] those things that is meant to you know two meat three sides you know kind of like your typical

[00:21:12] you know you know meat three you know type restaurant just kind of what our four days and kind

[00:21:18] of gets back to same thing you know do what you're doing do it well and so that's what we try to do

[00:21:22] so but you know we obviously cook a lot of our stuff on smokers we smoke our macaties you know our

[00:21:28] baked beans every you know ours has got 17 ingredients in it so it's not not just a can't

[00:21:32] a baked beans ton on there it's got you know bell pepperers and red peppers and onions and

[00:21:37] different spices and things and so we spoke it for about three hours so we the way I look at

[00:21:43] it is about cooking for 50 if I'm cooking for 500 you know we don't again we don't deviate away

[00:21:48] I try to bring the same thing to everybody that's the one thing you can't control is quality of

[00:21:53] your food and that's what we mostly get to that call back and so we have multiple people that

[00:21:58] you know we just worked with continually you're after year you know high school churches all around here so

[00:22:04] yeah and the catering gig there for the for the game cock athletics is is is a cool connection

[00:22:09] too and gets you into that community and and I wonder how often are you able to get some feedback

[00:22:13] from some of those athletes but particularly maybe some of the student athletes that don't

[00:22:18] always get barbecue that are coming from southern some other part in the nation that

[00:22:22] maybe barbecue's a hot dog or a hamburger you know that get a sample of this and what kind of

[00:22:27] reactions do you get from folks that maybe your first time introductions to barbecue through our

[00:22:33] mental gators that's a great question it's pretty cool because we actually do a lot for

[00:22:39] players families with fact we fed the last week we could tell you the first crowd again we

[00:22:44] fed the game cock football players parents they have a big tell me so about 300 of them so

[00:22:49] we got a lot of comments from parents coming up to us and talking to them like hey you know

[00:22:54] son so only likes my mac and cheese and now he says they like to be better and so it's cool

[00:22:58] when you get in from the mom uh generally yeah that's your good side hopefully but we get to

[00:23:02] good for the back from players you know it's probably a half a dozen guys in the last three years

[00:23:07] I've actually catered their weddings for them that have played a Carolina a couple of guys

[00:23:10] were in the NFL right now um I catered their wedding for them because I met them and you know I

[00:23:15] got to know them which is neat from me being a fan that you get one of these guys and a more

[00:23:20] personal basis it's not about football is about just getting to know them and their family thinks

[00:23:24] like that and we got to be friends with these guys and you know a couple of them you know

[00:23:27] I don't even thought about saying I'm gonna get you to cater my wedding minutes and I can

[00:23:31] want to be like that and now I got to call them you know we did sure so uh we uh we actually fed the

[00:23:37] wasn't a game caught football player involved it was a guy that used to be the trusses that

[00:23:40] Carolina got me started feeding Carolina football about eight years ago but we actually uh fed the

[00:23:45] LA Rams at the Super Bowl back in uh they was 2018 when they played in Atlanta so I got a

[00:23:50] call from friend of mine who was in the trussin and we actually went to the Atlanta Falcon training for

[00:23:54] Italy um and we've fed the LA Rams there for the Super Bowl that was our kind of the last

[00:23:58] big practice that first United thanks so yeah we went to the first that's kind of a bucket list

[00:24:03] yeah that's the unique thing about barbecue it's uh it's all the people you meet in the

[00:24:10] connection Jamaican I'm fortunate that I've been around soccer a long time it's met a lot of

[00:24:14] different people in different ways in it connection and I had got fed I fed away to I fed the

[00:24:19] University of Tennessee after a game of crime I fed Georgia State because they had coaches on their

[00:24:24] team that had been here and gone there and remember this I liked this and then they gave us a call

[00:24:29] to feed them so uh it just endless quite honestly and it's just what I learned from my mom and dad growing

[00:24:33] up in the grocery business treat people nice and do a right and you know call yourself and that's

[00:24:38] what we try to do honestly I know it seems kind of we at that seems kind of like a silly statement

[00:24:42] but hey it works you know just treat them nice give a good food you look call you back don't worry

[00:24:46] yeah and they'll carry those same lessons along to the people they encounter along their own personal

[00:24:51] paths as you pass that along to them so that's very cool so I know you're working it a lot of these

[00:24:56] events obviously it's very busy it's a hard job but do you ever get a chance to enjoy some

[00:25:02] of the places that you go and if you do are there any locations and I'll just keep it in the

[00:25:06] South Carolina where if you could pick any spot to go and tailgate where would it be?

[00:25:13] Well obviously we've been all over the place and that's what's kind of hurt the tailgate inside

[00:25:17] is I've gotten in the barbecue we're getting a lot more calls to feed teams and so I don't

[00:25:26] know obviously that's so much it Colombia and in this place it's up into don't get wrong

[00:25:31] over really fed anybody there's some pretty cool tailgate spots we meant to I've got kind of

[00:25:36] though I got kind of a little off top I got a weird street going I've been to 474 straight

[00:25:41] South Carolina game so I haven't missed a game home or away since 1984 so wow that is quite a

[00:25:48] street it's kind of a weird weird thing that once we've gotten in the barbecue I love to cook

[00:25:55] and obviously the fall like with the best one city it's a great contest you know we love

[00:25:59] going to those kind of contests especially downtown and all the people that bring in it's just

[00:26:03] a lot of fun but it makes it tough time barbecue and football in so obviously we'll be at

[00:26:11] that and we have a night game so it worked out good for me I can go up there and cook and

[00:26:15] you know hook up with trailer and you know all but for Colombia and make the game but

[00:26:18] we've had a couple of close calls like we're at the we got invited to the roll-o

[00:26:23] invitation all last year which is very prestigious contest about 35 teams of the country

[00:26:28] getting invited from all over so we it was a road game and anyway the long story short I ended up

[00:26:35] and I had my wife through the turn-ins I had pretty much cooked everything headed to Camaro's

[00:26:40] she had to finish up the chicken and all but had a friend come pick me up to it we had to add

[00:26:44] airport my flew into St. Louis got a run-a-car drove because I'm in Missouri wasn't football game

[00:26:48] got a bunch of football fortunately got back in the rental car went and had to pizza

[00:26:54] up a couple hours and took a flight out at 5 a.m got back at Atlanta and actually in 23 and

[00:27:00] half hours I had done all that was standing back in front of my barbecue trailer hooked it up

[00:27:04] and we had it home for aching so you know this was kind of stories is what honestly what I

[00:27:10] enjoyed doing is looking back and going man I can't believe we did that and actually they

[00:27:16] found out about it at South Carolina they actually sent a film crew up to Atlanta they actually did

[00:27:20] all kind of like a they did a video that a story about it's about my streak and about my love for barbecue

[00:27:26] so they actually had sent a film crew up to Atlanta to film this at the competition then they had

[00:27:31] to film crew and and Columbia Missouri that filmed me and then when we got done with that when I got

[00:27:36] back to South Carolina that Nick following week they did the final thing down towards the stadium

[00:27:40] they filmed me kind of the title on the get pretty cool how it talked about tailgating my years

[00:27:45] growing up in the grocery Venice and going to the games with my parents and it was really

[00:27:50] a cool video you know just kind of yeah I was in that too I was in that too I was in that

[00:27:57] ticket they did a great job and it just but it just reminded me they're still all about just

[00:28:04] meeting people having relationships and just enjoying life and how fortunate I am to be able

[00:28:09] to do this to get to go to football against be able to life see my friends and you know it's

[00:28:15] funny asking about my streak and about the numbers and all this and man there's a there's an old thing

[00:28:20] you know it's not that it's not the first one it's the last one it's you know it's all the

[00:28:23] memories in between so that's what I'm just they're like well you know what what are you trying to

[00:28:27] get to number of like man there's no no just enjoy the ride you know one day there will be one

[00:28:32] I won't make you know but trying to get to 500 though I kind of got to do have that kind of

[00:28:37] bit spark like I might get to 500 maybe we'll see but I'm sure I'll keep on going so yeah you

[00:28:43] and that's some great perspective to have particularly with football in particularly in a sport

[00:28:48] and in a conference and you know maybe even I say a team that you have some ups and some downs

[00:28:54] sometimes it'll be hard to be a fan for 500 consecutive games there in Chris that's a commitment

[00:29:02] to stick around there yeah that's a long ride home from Texas Missouri you know it's so force though

[00:29:10] but you know that was weird last year I never flown to the game and our thing is we're not

[00:29:14] to drop because it's a tailgate we got to take her you know we gotta take the coolers we got

[00:29:18] to take the tables we got to take the T-shirt you know just to be satellite and I used to

[00:29:21] bring them all but we took all this equipment to tell you you know and it was weird last year

[00:29:27] being by myself and hopping on a plane I gotta say I got I got a used to them like this pretty

[00:29:32] cool I mean I just flew to the that just flew home from Missouri an hour and a half and it takes

[00:29:37] me 14 hours so but we're still I'm fine actually this year the world looks it's we play at

[00:29:45] Oklahoma so which was the worst possible road game to hit and an early game so I got to fly

[00:29:51] back out of Atlanta Saturday morning my wife will be there to see got a little bit more

[00:29:56] other cooking and turn in so we're gonna be doing some practicing and also they get it ready for

[00:30:01] this one so all right well kind of going back to that they competition piece of it sounds like

[00:30:06] definitely a team operation it's not just you out there oh it is well yeah well there was some

[00:30:13] she pretty much does all kind of the boxing and all I'm pretty much to the cooking

[00:30:18] she kind of keeps me on a cute small point per se and I pretty much kind of and she's the

[00:30:24] taste or two I don't really taste much of the neat strange enough I mean I've been cooking it and

[00:30:27] just something about you don't feel like eating it but she does the taste since she tastes the

[00:30:32] ribs and what are you doing I pretty much you know while I was here to say and I try to get

[00:30:36] in the box and she does all the pretty stuff mix here we don't you know how many marks in there and

[00:30:40] all that kind of fun stuff did you do for your parents so it's a team effort and that's what we've

[00:30:44] earned too is you know I tried I try to do what I do and do it right she does she runs the boxes

[00:30:50] and watch he's got the box going that I'm in there and you're probably next up so well it's

[00:30:55] a team effort for us and there's some other husband life teams out there and not really

[00:30:59] on SBN maybe a couple but you see there's pretty good amount of KCBS as well so

[00:31:06] but there's some there's some trying moments there's some sometimes to there's some

[00:31:11] some head button some chest bump and so it gets a little it's okay I can't at some time but

[00:31:16] it's hot in there too right that does it out well luckily for us that's one thing I learned to

[00:31:21] travel around the south and barbecue competitions make sure to get a good air conditioner so

[00:31:27] we have a nice air conditioner on our on our trailer so but yeah we do get a little hotter in

[00:31:31] the collar sometimes it gets a little a little stressful okay and that's what it's about though

[00:31:36] and it's what people mean we're all standing there I mean it's a competition and we

[00:31:40] we when I pull up I want to win and we don't get wrong I wish everybody the best of luck

[00:31:44] but I'm there I'm there to win it you know so we protect a lot of pride we pull out with our

[00:31:49] trailer and we want to make sure we do it right and you know it's always nice to be that

[00:31:54] one walk state so so can you estimate or do you have a number on how many competitions you do in

[00:32:00] a year or maybe last year yeah we do we average about 22 a year oh now we're pretty good

[00:32:06] so we do probably the brun of ours and the spring um no not as many as you know and the summer time

[00:32:12] just because the heat is so forth and then you know we're able to squeeze in about four or five

[00:32:17] in the fall we know we try to look at the football schedule and obviously if it's a road game

[00:32:21] other than the swallow computational we don't I don't do them on road games but it was a home game

[00:32:26] and I miss our colina or like with these folks it's the two weeks the best for city

[00:32:31] well in the night game uh we can if I could cook and do football then it's a it's a great weekend

[00:32:36] for me so that's what we love to do now it kind of cuts into our tailgate and unfortunately

[00:32:41] uh could we or other folks are back there you know kind of like notice and got our spot there

[00:32:45] but uh if I go cook and then do football then that's it that's a complete weekend for me so

[00:32:50] yeah and on that particular weekend there for the the best from our city brun queue game

[00:32:56] cogs have the acronyms as I'm sure you know kickoff seven thirty so plenty of time to be

[00:33:02] there in best from our city and make it back to Colombia for the ball game no I said you got any

[00:33:06] kind of guess on how many miles or states you cover in a year doing both the football and the

[00:33:12] competitions you know that's probably one of we've got to come up with and that's the big joke I

[00:33:16] get from people sometimes is when you're gonna write your book and I would like to do that because we've

[00:33:20] had some incredible road trips and stories with with our tailgate group and even on the barbecue

[00:33:26] trail but yeah that's a great question I got to look at that I don't know how many probably several

[00:33:31] two three hundred thousand miles I've done you know since 84 you know traveling the

[00:33:36] or about the culture as how these uh doing these games and since you know like said we drive

[00:33:41] it's only one of the flutters last year so what's a lot of miles you know certainly so

[00:33:46] the barbecue trail is not as not as we don't probably travel as far but we did go

[00:33:50] we qualify for the world food championship back to back years and we actually drove the

[00:33:55] lost Vegas I actually pulled a smoker in the lost Vegas the body wow competed in the world

[00:34:00] more barbecue championship back about years which we qualified through winning some SBN contest actually

[00:34:05] so that was really an excellent job we're doing that yeah great so kind of coming to the end

[00:34:11] of our time before we went to wrap up I'm gonna hit the hit the show down here but Jo Dea

[00:34:15] want to give you an opportunity here just just remind everybody we get the best from our city

[00:34:19] brew and cue festival coming up Saturday September 25th noon to not non-PM if I'm listening

[00:34:26] out there why should I come to this festival? Well obviously for the barbecue but yeah

[00:34:32] for the time for the fellowship it's it's good for you fit family friendly atmosphere

[00:34:38] you know we've got a great band we've got a good lead-up band that will be planned before

[00:34:43] the landslide we pride ourselves on being a small town that you know very friendly people

[00:34:51] going to come up and talk to you the mayor's gonna come up and and welcome you to our town

[00:34:56] and we just we love to we love to have outsiders come into our town that's the reason we put

[00:35:03] these events on is to let people that may not ever come to best from our city or may not have

[00:35:09] even never heard of best from our city give them a reason to come to our town and to see

[00:35:15] the friendly small town atmosphere that we we put out there and you know for that reason that

[00:35:21] reason alone it's worth the trip to come to Gaston County in best from our city so yeah great

[00:35:27] way to point that out to Jo Dea and just folks who don't know best from our city's in Gaston County

[00:35:32] it's about 30 miles between 30 and 40 miles a pretty duest of Charlotte it's about 40 minutes

[00:35:39] coincidentally it's about 40 minutes from hitgory almost about 40 miles as well pretty

[00:35:45] south and I'm based in hitgory so I'm gonna do my very best to try to make it down to the competition

[00:35:49] there on September 21st when I meet you guys made some of these great tailgators and the pit

[00:35:54] masters that I've met through the southern barbecue network coming up here in a couple weeks

[00:35:58] and before we go but I want to mention the low and slowest thing in the world yeah great so

[00:36:08] wanted to put you through it here at Chris just some quick one word answers for some of these

[00:36:13] questions here so first of all Chris your favorite wood and why pick-and very subtle not a strong

[00:36:22] secret okay what is your favorite protein to cook is it pork beef chicken turkey or something else

[00:36:33] probably pork I guess I do so much of it pork okay what is your favorite to actually eat

[00:36:42] brisket what's your favorite side there that's probably the best answer we've had to that

[00:36:53] yeah that's gotta say a good cold beer nothing wrong with that they're gonna get harder from here

[00:36:59] that Chris what is the best United State in these United States for barbecue

[00:37:06] what was the best the best the best day yeah oh it's our corner gotta be

[00:37:12] a sideclinical barbecue absolutely okay so what is the best Carolina style is it Eastern Western

[00:37:19] or mustard who wants a tough one I mean I'm actually kind of a vinegar fan but I mean ours is

[00:37:30] a little bit of a mix so that's my I used the word was kind of a combo if you don't have much

[00:37:36] sauce around here then you're in trouble in the in the Columbia area you gotta have a much

[00:37:39] sauce and we do a homemade one so I think it's just a personal preference whatever you like

[00:37:45] make your feel of it you know eat it enjoy good answer is it better without with without sauce

[00:37:52] that'd be better without is barbecue a verb or noun I must say a verb and that my friends

[00:38:06] is the low down from the ultimate tailgators barbecue pitmaster Chris Fulmer as well as Joe D

[00:38:12] Franklin from Bestemore City Brewing Q that's coming up September 21st from noon to 9 p.m.

[00:38:17] in downtown Bestemore City gentlemen thank you guys so much for joining us

[00:38:21] thank you happy all look forward to going to Bestemore City and appreciate so the barbecue

[00:38:25] network great great group of guys they definitely are you been listening to the low and slow

[00:38:33] barbecue show on the mesh dot TV network a podcast be sure to visit us online at lowslowbqshow.com

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[00:39:07] on the southern barbecue network trail as well as others around the region you got a big

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[00:39:21] every Tuesday more special thanks to our guest Chris Phelma for the ultimate tellgators barbecue

[00:39:26] and jodie Franklin from Bestemore City Brewing Q thanks as well to our producer Andrew moves

[00:39:32] of course we do it all with this help and with the help from the whole team at the mesh.tv

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