For those headed to Lynchburg, Tennessee, for the Jack Daniel’s BBQ World Championships, Pitmaster Christie Vanover has some tips for how to get the most out of Lynchburg.
This week’s BBQ Tips Podcast shares information about team load-in, the parade, Barbecue Hill and the extra activities you should make time for.
Table of Contents
We have been talking about the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Barbecue Invitational for the past three weeks.
Today, instead of talking to you about the contest itself and like the judging and the cooking and all of that. I want to talk to you about the event.
Because when you show up as a first time team, it can be really overwhelming. There’s just so much like energy going on at the Jack. It’s indescribable. So if you’re there for the first time, it can be really intimidating.
You’re up against teams who have already won world championships. Everybody there at least has one grand championship. So it’s some stiff competition.
But the Jack is just magical. And I want to kind of outline what you’re going to expect when you get there. Some kind of tips to be prepared for so that when you show up, you’re not so overwhelmed and you can focus on your cook when it comes down to that.
But I also want you to be able to, like, soak everything in and really enjoy the Jack Daniel’s experience. And for those of you who are not cooking, or maybe who are not judging and just want to come to the event, I’m going to share some of the activities so you know what’s going on down in Lynchburg as well.
What to do on Wednesday
So if you are cooking the Jack, I highly recommend that you try to show up on Wednesday. There are some pros and cons to that approach.
The pro is that you’re going to have all the time you need to be fully set up to just be in place, and then also to enjoy Lynchburg. The con to that is, if you are in a travel trailer and you need water for your showers and your dishes and toilets and all that stuff, you do run the risk of running out of water.
But they do have capability to where you can add more fresh water. I think they even have somebody who can come around and even empty your tanks for you, if I’m not mistaken. So just make sure you have all that coordinated.
But if you’re staying in a hotel, definitely coming Wednesday is going to be easier for you because then, like I said, you have time to have everything set up.
Also at the Jack, it’s gotten a lot better now, but when the Jack used to be at the end of the month, it rained every year. Like just without a doubt, it was the Jack. It was raining. That was like just a running joke for decades.
Well, now that they moved it to the earlier part of the month there’s still a chance for rain. It’s Tennessee in October. But it doesn’t seem to be as bad. At least not the past couple years.
We haven’t had as torrential downpours, but that’s another advantage of showing up early is if it is muddy, it just makes load in really kind of messy and it slows things down a lot.
So if you’re crunched for time for some of your entries or some of your prep work, it’s just better to come in on Wednesday.
Check in before parking
Like I said, if you can make it happen, awesome. Otherwise, try to get there early Thursday morning as you can. So when you pull up, when you show up in Lynchburg with your rig, you’re going to actually first need to go to Main Street.
All of this is in the rules and the check in information, but there’s a check in point that you have to go to on Main Street.
And it’s just this like huge empty parking lot. You go in there, you check in with a Jack Daniels team, a couple things are going to happen. They’re just going to, you know, write down your KCBS number and all that kind of stuff. Make sure that they have that correct.
They’re also going to check your fire extinguisher. Be sure to read the rules. You do have to have a certified fire extinguisher. So bring that with you. They’ll check that and then they’re going to tell you where you need to go.
And then at that point you will drive to Wiseman Park and somebody should meet you there and then drive you to your spot.
Wiseman Park is actually where the whole competition happens. It’s this big, beautiful park. It’s a mix of green like beautiful lush grass. And then there’s like dirt areas and hopefully it’s not raining and they’re not muddy areas, but there’s a couple different areas where teams get assigned their spots.
So kind of in the kind of center of the park is the judge’s tent. And it is huge. You can’t miss it. It’s this big gray tent that says Jack Daniels.
But the different locations in Wiseman Park, there’s a whole ring of trailers that are kind of down by the river. It seems like that’s where a lot of the big world champion teams usually park. Like Heavy Smoke, Iowa Smoky D’s, Cool Smoke, Blues Hog, Gettin‚Äô Basted, Loot N Booty. All those teams always seem to like park over there.
To me it’s a little bit tight. The spots are a little bit narrow. I mean, everybody technically has the same size spot, but it’s just really packed in over there. But that’s kind of like the prestigious area of like the big championship teams.
Then if you go a little bit, I don’t even know what direction it is, but you just kind of continue down the road. There’s going to be a whole section on your left and that’s a mix of US teams, but it’s also where all of the international teams are set up.
Really nice flat area there, a mix of grass and dirt. But there’s a lot of teams there.
And then off to the right side is like these whole I think they’re baseball fields usually, or softball fields. But it’s all grass area over there.
That’s where I usually park. And I love that space because it’s just a little more area. You have a little bit more breathing room. It’s just not quite as congested.
Those are kind of the three main areas. They’re all pretty equidistant to the turn in tent, unless you’re kind of way back on that left kind of area. It’s a little bit further. But again, you’ve got like flat surfaces to walk on. You’ve just got to watch out for crowds and stuff and just just pre time your turn in.
And it’s nowhere near as far as the American Royal. The turn ins at the American Royal are mega far like it’s the whole Kansas City Speedway. So the Jack is not that bad for turn ins, but it’s definitely a little bit spread out.
Once you get settled, you’ll have your kind of area that they mark off of some flags, so you know where to set up. If you rented a porta pot, that should be there for you. Usually, Wednesday they’re running electricity still. So if you got electricity, that should be there and they’ll help you get that all connected. If you need any assistance.
But the Jack team is going to be running around with golf carts, just making sure that everybody has what they need.
Explore your surroundings
Once you get parked and situated, then it’s a perfect time on Wednesday to just kind of walk the town from your site. It’s definitely walking distance to the Lynchburg square. It’s this cute little country town. There’s a couple little diners in there, I think a couple barbecue restaurants, a couple stores.
And then there is the hardware store. So this is the Jack Daniel’s store, where you can get anything and everything related to Jack except for alcohol, because Lynchburg in a dry county.
But you can get, like I said before, in some of my other podcasts, like the napkins, the glasses, the t shirts, the sweatshirts, you name it. And then there’s also in the hardware store, this whole, like, Barrel Head store.
So all of the oak whiskey barrels that they age the whiskey in, they take those and they turn them into furniture, they turn them into Christmas ornaments, they turn them into the barrel heads like that you’re going to get if you win a prize or if you’re a team.
You can also get an engraved barrel head, especially for that Jack for the 2024 Jack. So if you preordered that, the hardware store is where you’re going to pick that up.
So again, if you do all that on Wednesday, that just saves you time. So you can focus on the competition a little bit later. In addition to visiting the square, there are a couple other places in Lynchburg that you definitely need to go to.
The Distillery
One is the distillery itself like this is where a Jack Daniels is made? This is an international, global company that distributes whiskey all over the world, but it’s all manufactured right there in Lynchburg.
If you get to go up to Barbecue Hill, which we’ll talk about for Friday night, you’ll learn more about it up there. But the distillery tour is so cool because that’s where you’re going to get to see the spring, where the actual water comes from that makes the whiskey. You get to walk through the whole the whole nine yards.
It’s just it’s just a super cool experience. There’s a couple different distillery tours. There’s one that involves having a flight of whiskey at the end, and then there’s one without the flight of whiskey. So it’s up to you. If you like to drink whiskey, I definitely recommend the one where you get to have a whiskey tasting because you get to then taste like their single barrel, their rye.
I don’t I can’t remember if you get to taste the Sinatra or not, but it’s a nice selection that you get just a little flight of whiskey to taste. And then at the end of the distillery tour, there is actually a liquor store at the distillery, so you can buy whiskey there.
That’s also where you’re going to get the 2024 Gentleman Jack bottles that are engraved with the Jack Championship.
You’re going to want to pick up those I think they make I want to say like 500, and they’re numbered. So you try to get whatever number you want. Sometimes you can get the number you want, sometimes you can’t.
But just the earlier you get to the store when they have those bottles out, the better luck you’re going to have of getting, again, whatever number that you’re hoping that you can get.
So again, Wednesday, you want to walk around the town square. You want to at least check out the distillery. You don’t have to do the tour on Wednesday. You could do the tour on Thursday, but at least just kind of walk around and familiarize yourself with the area.
Miss Mary Bobo’s
Another thing I highly recommend is that you eat at Miss Mary Bobo’s. They have seatings two times a day at 11 a.m. and at 1 p.m.. You definitely need to get reservations, but it’s family style. There’s usually, I think, like ten people to a table.
They bring out usually fried chicken and then a second entree, like it could be meatloaf or ribs or fried catfish, and then a huge array of sides. The fried okra is my favorite. I love it. And same with the whiskey apples. They make these cinnamon apples that have Jack Daniels Whiskey in them. They’re so, so good. Then you also get refills of your drinks and you get dessert and coffee.
It’s just a really cool vibe of just sitting around the family table with fellow Pitmasters. Some you may know, some you may not. And just like, you know, just be there in the spirit of barbecue and just kind of just kind of shoot the shit and stuff. It’s just it’s just a really cool vibe. So you’re going to want to make reservations for that either on Wednesday or Thursday or Friday, if you do it early enough on Friday.
Champion’s Dinner
Or better yet, I don’t know if it’s sold out yet, but there’s a champions dinner on Wednesday night that’s a really limited. I think they have like 100 tickets usually, and you get to have a cocktail hour where you get to taste different cocktails. Usually ET, the Jack Daniels ambassador, he’s usually mixing those up.
When I’ve gone in the past, the master distiller and assistant master distiller have been there as well. It’s just really like it’s swanky but laid back swanky. Like it’s just cool. It’s like whiskey tasting. And then you go to Miss Mary Bobo’s and you have the family style meal.
But in addition to Miss Mary Bobo’s chef’s cooking at this year, Heavy Smoke, Chris Schaefer, he’s a former world champion.
He’s going to be cooking the dinner as well. And I’ve talked to him. I know he’s going to be doing some pork belly and some other fun things so that dinner will happen right after the cocktail hour.
And again, it’s just a fun welcome to Jack. Just that kind of get the stress out of your vibes if you’re cooking and just like, have a really good family meal with friends.
What to do on Thursday
If you got everything set up on Wednesday, that’s perfect because that leaves Thursday to really just chill. That’s when you can do your distillery tour. You could go to Miss Mary Bobo’s. Then again, you can walk around the square if you want to.
But most importantly, if you’re a team, you need to check in. The check in hours are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and that’s where you’re going to actually officially check in to the judges and the reps, and you’re going to get your swag bag, which has tons of Jack Daniels stuff like cups and napkins and whiskey and sauce.
And it’s also where you’re going to pick up your big banner, your official Jack Daniels 2024 banner that you’ll carry in the parade. It’s got your team name on it. And that’s just a really cool, like thing to have.
The only other big thing on Thursday is that if you signed up to compete in the I Know Jack competition, which takes place on Friday, the Jack actually notifies the team members who were selected. They only select five. They notify those team members on Thursday I think at like 4 p.m.
So the head cook has to be in the area of their cook site at that time to get notified as to whether or not they’re going to be competing on Friday.
What to do on Friday
Moving on to Friday. This day goes by pretty fast, so meat inspection happens from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. they’re usually pretty quick about that. If you’re ready, you can flag someone down and they’ll inspect your meat so you can start doing your injecting, any last minute trimming all that stuff to prep it for turn in.
I Know Jack
In addition, if you are doing the I Know Jack competition, the five teams who do that need to show up at 9 a.m. for their first like little meeting, and then they start the competition.
I did that competition last year. It’s really fun. They give you a protein usually it’s Certified Angus Beef and then your and some other ingredients, and then you have to make an entree, two sides and then either a dessert or an appetizer.
In the past, the way the competition has been run is that they will just have you make whatever you want.
Last year, they actually gave you instructions like we had to do a peach cobbler. We had to do, I think, mashed potatoes, if I’m not mistaken. And then we had a steak.
And so it was more defined of what our meal had to be. I don’t know if they’re going to do that again this year or not or how it’s going to work, but it’s a fun competition.
It’s kind of like being on Chopped. You have a mystery basket of ingredients, and you have to prepare the dishes for 5 or 6 judges.
You’re only allowed to bring one spice from your arsenal, and you have to bring all of your like, utensils. But they provide the grills and they provide the plates and stuff that you turn everything in on.
Cocktail Contest
The other additional contests that happens on Friday – again, this is for teams who signed up and said that they wanted to do this – is the cocktail contest. And I think they pick five teams for that one as well.
They started that contest two years ago, and I’m proud to say Team Girls Can Grill took first place in that, but it’s a fun one.
You basically make a cocktail with whiskey with Jack Daniels whiskey of some sort, and you present it to the judges. For us, there were three judges, including the assistant master distiller and ET and one other judge. And really, if you’re going to do that contest, shoot me a DM and I can kind of help you out a little bit.
It’s not just about the drink, it’s also about the story. So think about how you’re going to present your drink. You’re going to mix your drink in front of these judges, and you’re going to tell the story of your drink.
It’s just really important that you have a good story to go with your cocktail, and that your cocktail tastes amazing and looks amazing because you’re going to get judged kind of on all of that.
But the champion of that gets a barrel head and wins first place as the world cocktail champion at the Jack.
If you’re not cooking in either of those categories, then you do have all morning to kind of do your own thing, whether it’s a distillery tour or getting your meats ready or whatever.
Cook’s Meeting
But by 2 p.m., all the teams need to be at the judges tent for the cooks meeting. It is required that all teams have a representative there. That usually takes like an hour, maybe an hour and a half. It seems like it’s a pretty long meeting, but there’s a lot of information that they go over.
Parade
And then following the cooks meeting is the parade. So this is where the teams are going to take their banners and they’re going to walk through the streets.
You basically leave Wiseman Park, you go through the Lynchburg Square and you walk to the distillery, and there’s usually fans waving at you. So if you’re member of the public, this is a great time to come. You’re going to see all the different teams.
The international teams usually have flags from their countries. Sometimes the the teams from different states have their state flags. We always throw candy or beads or whatever to the kids. It’s just really fun.
Last year, my father in law had a big inflatable chicken suit. Just have have as much fun as you want. Like when else are you going to be able to march in a parade at the World Championships?
Barbecue Hill
Enjoy every minute of that. Once you finish the parade and you end at the distillery, that’s where all the buses are to take you up to Barbecue Hill.
It is important that if you have your banner and stuff, somebody is going to need to probably run that back to the cook site because they don’t want banners on the buses and you’re not going to want the the banner on Barbecue Hill anyway.
So just make sure you’ve got somebody that can be a runner to run all that back to your cook site, and then run back to the buses. When you are there, you’re going to get a, wristband that’s going to be basically your your drink wristband.
Now, you do have to pre-register for Barbecue Hill, and it is only open to cooks. And I don’t know if it’s open to all judges. It’s open to some judges I know for sure. And I’m sure there’s some other VIPs that maybe get invited, so it’s not open to the public.
If this is your first time at the Jack, I highly recommend you go to Barbecue Hill. However, with a word of caution, don’t overdo it. Don’t drink too much. You’ve got a big cook for the next day.
Obviously, if you’ve been to the Jack multiple times, I know some people don’t go anymore, but to me, I don’t know. There’s just something super special about Barbecue Hill.
Barbecue Hill is basically it’s in Lynchburg. You’re going to go through a protected area that has like a gate, and then you’re going to pass the actual distillery itself. Like you’re going to just smell all the mash in the air.
It’s just it’s magical. You get to the top and the buses let you out, and then there’s going to be a photographer there to take your team picture, and then you’re going to walk into this pavilion area.
Inside the pavilion there are multiple bars. And with that wristband that you have, you have a couple of drink tickets on there so you can get your your Jack and Coke or whatever your whiskey drink of choice is. They also have just regular Cokes and stuff.
And then they have a full buffet of usually like fried chicken and sides. I think there’s been catfish before.
But you have to keep walking. And then once you get through the pavilion, you’re just going to see this beautiful view from the top of the hill of Lynchburg, and you can watch the sunset.
And it’s just, I don’t know, it makes it makes the Jack surreal. It’s like this moment that you’re just sitting there, taking it all in and you’re like, oh my gosh, I’m competing at the Jack or oh my gosh, I’m judging the Jack or whatever it may be.
But it’s like, I don’t know. To me, it’s just kind of like that that little final kiss of, wow, this is really happening. So I always love to watch the sunset. And then that’s when I usually eat is after that.
In addition to the fried chicken meal, Certified Angus Beef also always has a guest pitmaster who’s cooking with them to serve up some kind of a beef sample. And this year I’m that guest pitmaster.
So we are going to be making Certified Angus Beef pastrami beef ribs. I’m super excited about it. I don’t know about you guys, but I love Dino ribs.
I love those big fat short ribs. Well, we are pastramifying them, basically soaking them in that pastrami brine. So they’re going to have kind of that flavor of corned beef. But then they’re going to be smoked. It’s going to be delicious.
So we will have those samples up there on Barbecue Hill. And right across from that is this whiskey slushy food truck thing where you can get like these whiskey slushies.
And it’s, again, Barbecue Hill is a lot of fun. There’s also live music up there, and the bands are usually phenomenal. It’s it’s just a good time. It’s a good party. It’s good camaraderie.
And then there is this metal pig that’s in the fireplace inside the pavilion. His name is Jasper, and you’re supposed to write down your regrets and put them inside of Jasper.
They pour a bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey on it, light it on fire, and it makes all your regrets go away. So that’s a fun little tradition that they have up there, too.
Then they have the buses that will bring people right back down the hill, so you can get down to the parking lot if you parked there, or you can just walk back to your cook site.
What to do on Saturday
Of course Saturday, October 12 that is the big day for the Jack. Not only for the teams, for the judges, but also for the public.
So the teams, you know your timelines. 11:30 a.m. sauce and then it just continues all the way to dessert. But there’s so much more going on in Lynchburg during that time.
There are vendors down there by the judges area. There’s vendors in the square, both craft vendors, food vendors, all sorts of vendors there.
There’s food trucks down there because the competition teams don’t serve the public. But all those food trucks, they’ve got plenty of food for the public. There are cooking demos. I know Duraflame is going to be there with Cowboy Charcoal and B&B Charcoal. They’re going to be doing lots of cooking demos.
There’s live music, there’s a 5K. There’s a country dog contest, there’s a pie auction, and that pie auction gets serious by the way.
There’s a tractor pull, there’s a military swearing in.
And then, of course, at 5 p.m., that’s when the awards happen. Everybody gathers to the big tent, to that judge’s tent, and then the awards happen. And the world champion for 2024 will be named.
I will live stream the awards like I have for the past 6 or 7 years. You’ll just go to Girls Can Grill on Facebook and you’ll be able to see them there.
Then once the awards are done, it’s time to get those final pictures. They have a nice little area outside where you can take your pictures with your teams, hopefully with a barrel head. If you got a call or even a ribbon. And then some teams leave on Saturday.
But I would say a lot of teams also roll out on Sunday. They just want to enjoy the Lynchburg area one more time.
I hope that gave you a better overall picture of what the Jack is going to be like, especially for the teams who have never been to Lynchburg for the contest.
If you’re not cooking the Jack this year, but it is your goal to cook it someday, I recommend going and just observing and experiencing the area. I was fortunate enough that I judged it for several years, so all of the like, butterflies and anxiousness were over because I’d already been to Lynchburg.
I had already fallen in love with Lynchburg. I wasn’t overwhelmed by it anymore. So when it was time to cook, that was easy. I could just do my like, normal cooking thing, and I I wasn’t as overwhelmed as a new team would be going there for the first time.
So whether you’re cooking, whether you’re judging, whether you just want to hang out with the teams or with the vendors or whatever, just experience Lynchburg,
I highly recommend you head out there. October 11 and 12 are the dates for the Jack this year. If you’re going to be there, I will see you there.
My new cookbook, Holiday Grilling is all most coming out soon. I’m going to get the draft copy this week, and my rubs are getting filled into their bottles this week as well. So both of those are coming soon and I can’t wait to introduce all of that to you guys very soon. Thank you guys so much for watching or for listening. If you’re listening on podcasts. Until next time guys, happy grilling.
