ACM BBQ THROWDOWN

Las Vegas, Nevada is a wild and fun place to practice all of your vices. Throw in a barbeque competition with great weather and this becomes the perfect weekend. The Academy of Country Music held their nationally televised award ceremony Sunday night. To celebrate this event a festival was held all weekend. This festival included a ‘Kansas City Barbeque Society’ sanctioned barbeque competition. One hundred and twelve teams from all over the country participated in this smoky battle. The fun began Thursday with all the teams checking in and a party at Hooters later that night. We had a great time at the Hooter’s party visiting with all our barbeque friends and eating great chicken wings Meat inspection was held Friday with another party at Mandalay Bay that night. The true competitors had to show restraint at this gathering because they would begin cooking that night. Saturday was judgment day. Ms. Goofy and I donned our judge’s badges and sampled and scored some of the best barbeque in the nation. The finale was held Sunday night with the Academy of Country Music awards

The barbeque competition was held in the parking lot of Mandalay Bay Casino. This was a huge lot that contained more than just the BBQ competitors. A huge stage showcased some of the hottest Country music stars of the day. I have to admit that I am country music challenged and did not recognize any of the performers names. That did not stop a lot of adoring fans from enjoying this venue. Jack Daniels was one of the sponsors and had an area set up to help lubricate and refresh these admiring fans.

There were plenty of booths to offer food and nourishment for the Country music fans. We had to try the deep fried corn bread. They looked delicious. Somebody needed to turn up the temperature on the fryolater because these were little grease grenade bombs ready to explode with intestinal discomfort. QN4U had a barbeque booth to satisfy the need to sample Brent Walton’s award winning smoked meats. In the convention hall there were lots of vender's demonstrating and selling numerous country themed products.



What country festival would not be complete without a mechanical bull? I could not get Ms. Goofy to ride this time. We probably should have visited the Jack Daniels booth a little longer. A lot of the festival attendees were wearing traditional country garb. It is a good thing the temperature was in the low 80’s for these two cowgirls.



Most important to us was the barbeque competition.. Saturday was judgment day and it was time to put on our game faces. I would like to tell you what hard work it is to taste the best barbeque in the nation but you know better. We do take the judging serious and believe that we are fair in our scores. The votes were tabulated and later in the evening the winners would be announced.

Harry Soo of the ‘Slap Yo Daddy’ barbeque team was crowned Grand Champion. He took home a huge cardboard check for 10,000 dollars. After this weekend of over indulgence the salad bar will need to be visited. Las Vegas is a great place to hold a BBQ competition. The Academy of Country Music held a great party.