Cindy Simmons of Lucky Dog BBQ and the Look-a-Like Colonel Sanders
While the original Colonel Harland Sanders Sanders would be celebrating 122 years on September 9th, 2012, BourbonBlog.com celebrated with this look-a-like Colonel Bob Thompson on September 8th for his real 83rd Birthday during the Kentucky State BBQ Festival.
Bob is former major of Lawrenceburg, Kentucky he best look-a-like, an official spokesperson for Kentucky Fried Chicken and Ambassador for the World Chicken Festival. Thus, Colonel Bob has KFC’s permission to be Colonel Sanders.
The Chicken Birthday Cake designed and created by The Twisted Sifter of Danville is not really made of chicken, there are cornflakes atop to give if a “breaded.” The cake and the cupcakes created by Twister Sifter were delicious! The cake was presented by Cindy Simmons of Lucky Dog BBQ.
Chicken Birthday Cake from Twisted Sifter, Danville Kentucky
The Original Colonel Harland Sanders, Founder of KFC
Hosted and Produced by Tom Fischer Filmed and edited by Patrick Kramer
BourbonBlog.com joins Kentucky State BBQ Festival Founder Brad Simmons and learns what makes this BBQ Festival unlike any other in the country!
Attendees actually get to taste Championship Quality from famous pitmasters including Carey Bringle, Moe Cason, Shelly Hunt, Craig Kimmel, and Melissa Cookston.
At many BBQ festivals and competitions across the country, BBQ is served but not by the actual pitmasters.
The 2nd Ever Kentucky State BBQ Festival in Danville, Kentucky in Constitution Square
Ok, so this isn’t the real Colonel Sanders. This is Colonel Bob Thompson of Lawrenceburg and he is a look-a-like, an official spokesperson for Kentucky Fried Chicken and Ambassador for the World Chicken Festival.
Colonel Bob has KFC’s permission to do and and does a mighty fine job!
the Original Colonel Harland Sanders of KFC in 1968 at the age of 77, he died in 1980 at the age of 90
Hosted and Produced by Tom Fischer
Filmed and edited by Patrick Kramer
BourbonBlog.com invites to eat the best BBQ you’ll ever find with the biggest names in the BBQ biz cooking for YOU this weeekend at the” 2nd Ever Kentucky State BBQ Festival ” in Danville Kentucky Sept. 8-9 !
This year, BourbonBlog.com is proud to be the official online media sponsor of the Kentucky State BBQ Festival, and we’re including some of our own video segments from last year’s 2011 Fest below!
Come join us as 6 Champion BBQ Pitmasters, 9 bands, BBQ Cooking Demos, and a huge kid’s entertainment area come together for the benefit of Heart of Kentucky United Way in Danville, Kentucky!
All the events are happening Constitution Square in Downtown Danville and admission and parking are free! All you gotta do is come taste and buy the BBQ, reasonably priced.
Last year, over 25,000 people attended and we’re expecting quite a crowd again this year. Don’t worry, there is plenty o’BBQ for all of y’all.
The 2nd Ever Kentucky State BBQ Festival benefits Heart of Kentucky United Way. It will be held at Constitution Square in Downtown Danville, KY on Sept. 8 & 9, 2012 and features Pitmasters who have won on TLC’s BBQ Pitmasters as well as three time Memphis in May champion Melissa Cookston.
This is an eating festival and a rare opportunity to taste BBQ from these pitmasters as many BBQ events are only reserved for judges.
Here’s who is cooking for us..
Memphis May Champion Melissa Cookston of Memphis BBQ Co. of Horn Lake, MS, TLC BBQ Pitmasters finalists Moe Cason of Ponderosa BBQ, Des Moines, IA and Craig Kimmel of Firehouse BBQ, DeLand, FL, Carey Bringle, the Peg Leg Porker from Nashville, TN, Shelly Hunt of Desperado’s BBQ of Angola, NY and Brad and Cindy Simmons of Lucky Dog BBQ of Danville, KY.
Moe was a finalist on Season 2 of BBQ Pitmasters Competition for the $100,000 Grand Prize and the Kingsford Cup trophy.
Pitmaster Moe Cason, Ponderosa BBQ Team
Melissa Cookston
Yazoo Delta Q
Nesbit, MS
Melissa Cookston of Yazoo Delta Q, BBQ Nesbit, MS
She says she is often referred to as “The Queen of BBQ.” However, she doesn’t eat BBQ very often, but she loves to cook it! Melissa recently won Grand Champion at Memphis in May and won a round of BBQ Pitmasters dubbed as BBQ Pitmasters best show ever. She is the most successful female competitive Pitmaster in BBQ history.
Shelly Hunt
Desperados Barbecue
Angola, NY
Award-winning Pitmaster Shelly Hunt of Desperados Barbecue in Angola, NY cooks on a Genuine Friedrich Smokehouse.
Pitmaster Shelly Hunt BBQ
Carey Bringle
Peg Leg Porkers BBQ Team
West Tennessee
Pitmaster Carey Bringle, Peg Leg Porkers BBQ Team
With deep-seated roots in the West Tennessee BBQ culture, Carey developed an appreciation for BBQ at a young age. Having parents who grew up in Memphis, it was inevitable. To say that his family had a passion for it is an understatement. He always knew he would cook BBQ.
In 2008, his Peg Leg Porker Memphis Wet Sauce was named the #2 BBQ sauce in the country by Bon Appetit magazine. Over the past few years, “I have been honored to cook for many special events at the request of my good friends the Lobel family, owners of Lobel’s of New York. These events have included Croton under the Stars, Esquire Magazine’s ‘Best Of’ party and Food & Wine Magazine’s ‘Classic at Aspen’. Most recently, I was a featured Pitmaster at BBQ I.Q., the first ever BBQ event hosted by Blackberry Farm, Travel and Leisure Magazine’s #1 rated resort in North America for 2011.”
Craig Kimmel
Firehouse BBQ, Deland, Florida
Craig has been competing in BBQ contests for 12 years. He has won 12 Grand Championships and over 200 awards for his barbecue. His proudest accomplishments include 3rd place Brisket and 5th in Pork at the 2007 Jack Daniels World Championship and the 2010 TLC BBQ Pitmasters Best Brisket & Seafood. For more info, see the Craig Kimmel page at KYBBQFestival.com
Pitmaster Craig Kimmel, Firehouse BBQ
Videos filmed and edited by Patrick Kramer, hosted and produced by Tom Fischer Copyright 2011
BourbonBlog.com and Oxford Dreamer LLC assume no liability arising from attendance, consumption of BBQ or any other connected claims as a result of your potential attendance at the KY State BBQ FEstival or any event we promote on this site, our affiliate sites, social media sites etc.
BourbonBlog.com‘s Tom Fischer recently became the first to ever taste the complete Blanton’s collection in Warehouse H on cammera (in the video below).
We now meet the man and company responsible for making a line of Blanton’s Cigars to compliment each of these Blanton’s labels.
Meet William A. Mobley of Kentucky Gentlemen Cigar Company of Lawrenceburg, KY who blends the cigars with the Blanton’s Bourbon. His line includes Blanton’s Original, Blanton’s Special Reserve, Blanton’s Black & Gold, and Blanton’s Straight from the Barrel. If you can’t find a bottle of some of the export only Bourbons in the USA, you can always smoke the cigar.
Williams also shows us how spray bottles of Blanton’s Bourbon are used to enhance the palette as the cigars are smoked. Every few draws, spray that palette!
The filler for most of these cigars are mainly Dominican & Nicaragua while the wrappers range from Connecticut Shade, Natural to Maduro.
The smoke ranges from mild to the medium to full bodied depending upon the strength and proof of each of these labels.
Blanton’s Cigar video filmed and edited by Patrick Kramer.
Warehouse H video filmed and edited by Scott Hendrickson.
BourbonBlog.cominterviews Melissa Cookston is one of the Country’s preeminent Pitmasters, and is the most successful female competitive Pitmaster in BBQ history. She says she is often referred to as “The Queen of BBQ.” However, she doesn’t eat BBQ very often, but she loves to cook it!
In addition to many trophies and championships over her 14 year competitive cooking career, in 2010 and 2011 her team, Yazoo’s Delta Q, won the Memphis in May World BBQ Championship, making her the only female World Champion.
Ponderosa BBQ Team is the name of Moe Cason’s 1 man championship barbecue team out of Des Moines, Iowa. Moe has participated in 20 contests every year since 2006. Moe Cason was a finalist on last year’s BBQ Pitmasters show on The Learning Channel (TLC) and now we’re interviewing him on BourbonBlog.com during the Kentucky State BBQ Festival in Danville, Kentucky.
Video filmed and edited by Patrick Kramer. Hosted and produced by Tom Fischer
Watch our video above of this first ever Kentucky State BBQ Festival in Danville, Kentucky. BourbonBlog.com brings you the most extensive of the festival. When we first hear about the inaugural Kentucky State BBQ Festival, we were beyond amazed that Brad and Cindy Simmons had organized it in around 8 or so weeks. You read correctly, 8 weeks to organize this! Most festivals take a year or more of planning.
With the short amount of planning, we’ll call this one a record we’ve never seen in our world…this first year’s festival attracted at least 15,000 to 20,000 attendees and a portion of the proceeds went to benefit the Heart of Kentucky United Way!
Brad brought together some of the top BBQ pitmasters in the country including Carey Bringle and Peg Leg Porker, “Dr. BBQ” Ray Lampe, Melissa Cookston of Yazoo’s Delta Q, Craig Kimmel of Firehouse BBQ, and Moe Cason with Ponderosa BBQ. Brad even brought out his own Lucky Dog BBQ of Danville, Kentucky.
Brad Simmons has been a friend of BourbonBlog.com for a while now. He came to know us a follower and subscriber to our Bourbon newsletter. Just think….if you join our newsletter and invite us someplace, we might come cover you like this too! (BTW – it is in the top right hand corner in green on this page)
Special thanks to Brad Simmons, Adam Johnson, Danville/Boyle County CVB, and all the new friends we made.
Video filmed and edited by Patrick Kramer. Hosted and produced by Tom Fischer
BourbonBlog.com‘s Tom Fischer is in the FireHouse…there ain’t no fire here, but there is a whole lotta BBQ as cooked by these firemen. FireHouse BBQ of Florida has been catering up some of the tenderest, tastiest barbecue in Orlando and Central Florida area for nearly 12 years.
BourbonBlog.com‘s Tom Fischer interview pitmaster Ray Lampe “Dr. BBQ” at the first annual Kentucky State BBQ Festival in Danville, Kentucky. You’ve probably seen Dr. BBQ on Food Network’s “Tailgate Warriors with Guy Fieri” or “Best Thing I Ever Ate.” Perhaps you’ve watched his presentations as he travels the country at BBQ festivals nationwide showcasing his recipes, books and the Big Green Egg while demonstrating his real pork shoulder, championship ribs, BBQ chicken, and championship beef brisket.
Tom and Dr. BBQ talk about BBQ, Bourbon and the aphrodisiac created by all these flavors.
Tom tells Dr. BBQ about BourbonBlog.com’s original recipe creation of the “Beer, Bourbon & BBQ” Cocktail. In case you’re wondering how it is made, watch the video and make the recipe below!
Combine a full bottle 19 oz of Jack Daniel’s Honey Smokehouse Barbecue Sauce with equal part of steaming hot water in mixing bowl. Whisk until incorporated. Let sit to cool or refrigerate.
Instructions:
Combine 2 oz. of your favorite Bourbon, 1 oz. honey-infused Bourbon, and a 1/4 oz. of BBQ Water and squeeze of a quarter of an orange in cocktail shaker and shake over ice. Strain and pour into martini glass.
Dry shake a fourth of a bottle of Hefeweizen beer (hold tight to shaker as carbonation may cause shaker to explode). Spoon beer foam over top of the cocktail to garnish.
Recipe created by BourbonBlog.com Chef/Mixologist Stephen Dennison and Tom Fischer.
