This post contains affiliate links. Please see our disclosure policy.

This was my first visit to the National Capital BBQ Battle in Washington, D.C. and I will just skip to the chase… it was a great event! We were lucky enough to attend Sunday as the weather Saturday was not kind to the guests. The day was filled with music, people, and of course BBQ. So, sit back, grab a cold IPA, and enjoy this post for the 2015 National Capital BBQ Battle.

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Fired up and ready to get some BBQ!

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle

The rain from the previous day made way for some unseasonably cooler weather with a nice cloud cover. Perfect for a day spent downtown drinking beer and eating copious amounts of BBQ!

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
View of the Capital

First up was the section of the event featuring some of the nationally known BBQ Pitmasters.

We got to Mryon Mixon’s setup first. He has a line of smoker’s you can look at and of course lots of his famous BBQ to taste!

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Myron Mixon smoker

His team was putting out some serious brisket. It was amazing watching them put out so much BBQ to let the people taste.

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Myron Mixon’s Brisket

We ended up getting several samples of his Brisket and His Pulled Pork BBQ. There was no consensus on which was better as both tasted so good!

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Sampling some Myron Mixon Brisket and Pulled Pork BBQ

Next up was Cool Smoke which is the competition BBQ Team led by Richmond, VA’s own… Tuffy Stone!

Unfortunately, we made it to Cool Smoke before they submitted their tray to the judges. As a result Tuffy was busy getting that ready and we were not able to taste any of his BBQ! We will just have to make a trip down south and visit one of his Q Barbeque restaurants!

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Tuffy’s dad holding down the Cool Smoke station
2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Pit master Tuffy Stone himself

Several bands were mixed in throughout the festival. This Les Paul’s Big Sound Experience was pretty cool and located centrally to a lot of other activities.

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Live music

One of our favorite stops was the Military Chefs Cook-Off (benefitting USO Metro). This competition within the competition featured four branches of the US Military, Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard, pitting chefs from each against one another to determine a winner at the end of the weekend. As you entered in this section you got a ticket, tasted each of their BBQ selections, and then at the end gave your ticket to the branch you liked the most. Great idea!

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Military Chefs Cook Off

The Army Chef has some great pulled BBQ Chicken Sliders…

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Army up first

The Navy chef had some terrific Pork Tenderloin mixed with a BBQ sauce.

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Navy up next

The Air Force chef had two selections: First was Grilled Pork Tenderloin with a Watermelon Salsa and the second was Grilled Chicken with a Sriracha Mayonnaise.

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Air Force

The Pork Tenderloin with the Watermelon Salsa was getting our winning ticket until…

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Air Force the front runner

…we got to the Coast Guard table! First, this guy (wish I remembered his name) was full of personality and really made spending time at the table fun. Second, the food was great!

They had two choices: Jamaican Jerk Chicken with a Mango Sauce (my favorite) and a Caribbean Pork Tenderloin with Black Beans. The Coast Guard got our tickets!!!

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
National Guard brought it home

Next up was a really cool tent featuring the Alabama BBQ Trail. We walked through the tent and got a history lesson of Alabama BBQ and a list of all the well known Pit Master’s there.

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Alabama BBQ Trail

One of them featured Dreamland BBQ which is a restaurant Debbie and I have eaten before when visiting my son in Alabama. I just so happened to be wearing the shirt!

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Representing Dreamland BBQ

Now we made our way to the other side of the festival and to some of the local teams competing in the BBQ Battle. First up were some new friends of ours Old Virginia Smoke (OVS).

The Safeway BBQ Battle was kind to OVS on this day! They were 1st in ribs, 2nd in pork, 1st in the Safeway meaty rib contest, & national pork grand champions!!!

OVS is one of the teams sponsored by Dizzy Pig BBQ.

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Kim and Leigh Anne from Old Virginia Smoke
2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Lucas from Old Virginia Smoke

Next up, we met Jenny Windsor from Black Cat BBQ. Jenny is part of a two person team (the other being her husband Jack) and is a member of the Dizzy Pig family.

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Jenny Windsor from Black Cat BBQ

Jenny was showing us how she used the Big Green Egg to cook their competition Pork Butt using Dizzy Pig’s Tsunami Spin.

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Competition Pork Butt discussion

So, as we are early birds and got to the festival as it opened we had yet to eat much else other than small samples. Our friends were all busy preparing their BBQ for the judges so we had to figure out a place to get something to eat… at a BBQ festival… this shouldn’t be a hard task!

Looking around we noticed an very long line in front of BBQ Masters. We started to make our way there…

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Barbeque Masters from Georgia

Pit Master Eric Smith (pictured below) new what he was doing to draw a crowd. The grill was loaded with Chicken, Baby Back Ribs, and giant Beef Ribs. He continued to mop the grill surface causing a flare up and lots of smoke which caught everyone’s attention. As I waited in line my hope was the food would live up to the “smoke and fire”.

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Eric Smith – Pit Master at work
2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Barbecue Pit Masters – Eric Smith

I wanted all of us to get a taste of the BBQ from BBQ Masters so I got a full rack of ribs. The ribs lived up to Eric’s flare (pun intended) and were delicious.

The BBQ sauce they used had peaches in the mix and that sweetness mixed with the savory sauce was incredible. Really good BBQ at this stand for sure!

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Full Slab

After a day of walking around and eating BBQ I was feeling a bit “crispy” and “fat”. However, I kept on smiling… how could you not with a day like this behind you!?!?!

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
Felt a bit crispy & fat

The family was jumping for joy after our day the 2015 National Capital BBQ Battle. Look forward to seeing all of you there next time. Maybe I will be competing by then!

2015 National Capital BBQ Battle
What a great day!

 

 

About Chris

teaching you how to grill using your 5 senses. Grilling by Feel.

You May Also Like

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.