How hot was it at the 2nd annual Gettin' Sauced! competition in Austin last week, organized by Drew Thornley and Man Up Texas BBQ?

"If sweat was gold, my friend Steve would be a millionaire," one Yelp reviewer wrote of the event at Independence Brewery.

How hot was it?

The official high was 110 degrees, just two degrees short of the all-time record for any day, any time in the Texas capital. (The record was tied the next day.)

How hot was it?

Texas BBQ king Aaron Franklin waved the white flag after about two and one-half hours in the sun, and 450 servings of his delicious Tipsy Texan sandwich (chopped beef, sausage, pickles, onions). He had meat left, but he was there by himself and he was gassed. "I completely underestimated" he said.

Hot hot was it?

Finally, four days later, I can blog about it.

Heat aside, it was a very nice event. The music was good. Several vendors dispensed good BBQ, good sauce, good Big Red, and one, good cigars.

As one of 12 judges, I got to taste about 40 different BBQ sauces, most of them good. And I got to meet Addie Broyles, a fellow judge and a food writer at the Austin American-Statesman, who got her gig there within the last year. I told Addie she was probably the last journalist in America to get hired full-time by a metro newspaper.

She laughed. I wasn't kidding.

I also got to meet John Mueller, of the legendary Texas BBQ family, who said he would be opening his new Austin joint in about three weeks. Aaron Franklin once worked for Mueller.

So you taught Aaron everything he knows? I asked.

"You can't teach a line like that," he answered, pointing at the 50 or so people waiting, in the nearly all-time record heat, for Tipsy Texans.


Libby

13 years ago

Great write-up about a great event! Looking forward to next year!

Drew Thornley

13 years ago

Ha! Will do, Gary. Hopefully Oct. or Nov. That was just the date that worked for all of us and the venue. Thanks for braving the heat for us. We truly appreciate your coming down from Dallas and judging.




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