Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue : odds

I love going down to the Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue every year. The folks down there put on one of the best spectator bbq events in the World.

Another reason to love The Jack is that you can gamble on it. Here are the odds as per the BBQ Forum errr he Dusty Star Casino, Carwash and Laundromat outside of nuclear testing range in Nevada.

The Field, those teams not listed below are 75 to 1

10 to 1 Teams
Slap Yo Daddy
Smokin Triggers
Chix, Swine and Bovine
Caveman Cuisine
Spitfire

7 to 1 Teams
Jacks Old South
Meadow Valley
Parrothead
Bringing the Heat

5 to 1 Teams
A Boy and his BBQ
Little Pig Town
Pigskin BBQ

3 to 1 Teams
Quau
Butcher BBQ

2 to 1
Truebud BBQ

Even Money
3 Eyz BBQ

Music Thursday: Ready Teddy for The Jack

This weeks music selection comes to you via Lynchburg, TN. The site of this weekends Jack Daniels BBQ Contest and the home of famed musician Little Richard.

Apparently Little Richard moved to Lynchburg in January of 2008, and has been keeping a pretty low profile ever since. Since we are headed down to The Jack this weekend, I thought I would bring you some old school Little Richard. I doubt he will be hanging out in the holler, but there might be some other B list celebrity spotting. Stay tuned.....

Little Richard - Ready Teddy

Jack Draw

Today is the day. At 1 o'clock today the bungs will be drawn to see who makes it into the Jack Daniels Invitational. Check out Pellet Envy's blog for a list of the eligible teams.

Good Luck to all and we will see you in October.

The Jack 2008

A few photos from our lovely weekend in Lynchburg, Tennessee...


the 2008 logo (booooo, btw)


the welcome Jack


the single barrel club


the master rep, Linda Gould


the judging begins


Bob Battle labels his judging plate


Chef Michael Osborne, 2008 Middle Tennessee ACF Chef of the Year


the ribs


goo, goo, g'joob


the chicken


the pork


Team Bobby-Q...thanks for such gracious hospitality


Tennessee's own Dead End Society


Rob and BP with Mr. Billy Carroll of DoRagQ


the infamous Rod Gray of Pellet Envy


Mr. Johnny Trigg of Smokin' Triggers


Mike Davis, Lotta Bull BBQ


Troy Black, Learn2Q.com


hangin' with our buddy, Guy Fieri




Oh, there's more. Wanna see them all? Check out the slide show to see all of our photos from the 2008 Jack Daniel's World Championship Barbecue Competition.

It was nice to see so many of you, and nice to meet so many new folks as well! We'll see you again soon...


p.s. Happy Birthday, BP!

Music Thursday: Jack Daniels If You Please

Jack Daniel's Smoker

This weekend marks the 20th Annual Jack Daniel's World Championship BBQ Contest. This is one of the premier events in all of bbq and it holds a special place in the history of Ulika BBQ. In 2005, the founding members of Ulika headed to Lynchburg to take part in the festivities. We knew nothing about the world of competitive bbq, but we were there to just see what it was all about. We arrived on a Friday evening and began wandering around the grounds talking with some teams and taking pictures of several pits. The first person we talked with was Jerry King from Midland, Texas. He explained to us how teams got invited to the Jack and which teams were the favorites to win on Saturday. He talk to us about how teams travel the country in hopes of an automatic bid to the Jack. We talked with another team from Texas that cooked with only mesquite wood and called all fruit woods "candy". We talked with a few of the International teams and we were very intrigued that people all over the world cook bbq. One of the things that makes the Jack truly unique is the international aspect. Seventeen teams from ten different countries compete in the same categories as the US teams, and they have an added category of "Home Cookin’ from the Homeland". This is where they make a dish native to their home country. I would love to judge that category some day. But anyway...

On Saturday, we hung around the judging area and got samples fed to us from one of the table captains. After all of the judging had been completed, we wandered around and got some samples from some of the teams we talked to on Friday night. We sampled some chicken from Jerry King and brisket from the guys from Texas. Later we were able to taste some Caribbean Jerk style ribs from the Jamaican team and they were wonderful. Big Bob Gibson was there and they were handing out samples of their sauces. This is when I first discovered white bbq sauce. We also purchased some bbq and ribs from some of the vendors including Texas Rib Rangers and Music City Pig Pals. Needless to say, we had a great time. It really opened our eyes to the fun that we could have doing something that we already loved doing. We never really knew that it would turn into such an addiction.

Here are some pictures from that weekend:

The celebrity judges are always a hot topic.

Silky O'Sullivan's Table


Bill Hall


Lynchburg's own Johnny Majors


Steve Gill

Some teams have upgraded their Land Yachts:


Lotta Bull in '05 at the Jack


Lotta Bull in '08 - that ain't a bad way to travel right there. The Geer Pit remains a staple.


Field of Smoke


Judging Area


The Texas Team's Pit


Slab o ribs


Chicken turn-in box

Well, the next spring we had a pit built (a custom-designed pit made from a 250-gallon propane tank) and headed to Winchester to compete at High on the Hog (where we proceeded to finish second to last). Clearly, our enthusiasm wasn't all we needed to make it in this sport. But we've kept at it and have just finished our third season where we got a call in every competition that we entered!

Now, three years later, we are returning as spectators with several friends that are cooking. This year's experience will be quite different than our first year, and we are really looking forward to the party. Hopefully some day we can return to cook in this event where it all started for Team Ulika.

Good luck to all the teams that are competing this weekend. We are looking forward to hanging out with some friends and meeting some folks that we have only communicated with electronically.

David Allen Coe - Jack Daniel's If You Please

Odds on The Jack

For those of you that don't regularly read the bbq forum, I have the odds on The Jack.

Thanks to Turk for the info:

The 2008 Jack Daniels World BBQ Championship odds.

Even Money
Butt Rub

2-1
Coolsmoke
Twin Oak
Pellet Envy
Lotta Bull

3-1
Smokey Mountain Smokers
Jacks Old South
Carcass Cookers
Smokers Wild
2 Fat Bikers

5-1
Trigg
Habitual Smokers
4 Legs Up
I Smell Smoke
Ulcer Acres

10-1
Moonswiners
Odis and Bird
Blazen BBQ
Parrothead

20-1
Bubba and Jeff
Natural Born Gillers
Full Frontal
Stoddard and Brown

50-1
It aint Prime
4 Mile Crew
Dizzy Pig
I Que

The rest of the Field 100-1

Jack Draw

The 20th Annual Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue Contest takes place on October 24-25 in Lynchburg, TN. Today, they held the "draw" that determines which teams will get an invitation. To get into the "draw" you must first be a Grand Champion at a state qualifying event. Some states only have one contest and its winners are automatic qualifiers. In states with more than one qualifying competition, only one champion from that state is chosen - literally, by having their name "drawn" from a hat. You can get an automatic bid though by winning 7 qualifying events in one year, winning Memphis in May, winning the American Royal Open (over 500 teams) or winning the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Barbecue competition. Lastly, the newest way to get in is by being a 10 year qualifier.

This is the most sought after invitation in the bbq community, and The Jack is the premier contest in the bbq world. Congrats to all that got their name called today.

Here is a list of the teams that will be participating in the 20th Annual "Jack". I can't wait to cook in this event one day. Until then, I will just have to be a spectator.

The Jack: Real to the Bone

My friend Sarah Gilliam recently had an article published in Chile Pepper Magazine. Last year, she was at the Jack and wrote a little story to go along with David Grunfeld's photo essay.

Here is a link to the online pdf of the article:
The Jack: Real to the Bone