Bethel Smokers Rises to the Top at 3 Rivers BBQ Fest
Bethel Smokers of Douglas, GA, won the Pulled Pork Category and with the top score of the finals rounds captured the Grand Championship at the 3 Rivers BBQ Fest. The contest was held at the Towns Bluff Park & Heritage Center just north of Hazlehurst on the banks of the mighty Altamaha River.
Grand Champion – Bethel Smokers
Reserve Champion – Bubba Grills
First Place Loin – 92 BBQ
It was a close race for the Reserve Championship. Bubba Grills total of 1765.5 in the three preliminary rounds was just 0.2 of a point ahead of Smokin’ 42 BBQ.
Bethel Smokers score of 597.7 topped the Pulled Pork category. Mojo Smokehouse of Willacoochee, GA took second place. In third place, cooking in their first GBA contest, was Straw Boss BBQ. Sauced Hogs Smoke Shack finished in fourth place with Just Smoke N Around in fifth place. Sixth place went to Smokin’ 42 BBQ and 7th place went to Drive By Smokers. H & J Cook Team, Bubba Grills and 92 BBQ finished 8th, 9th & 10th respectively.
Bubba Grills won the Ribs category with Smokin’ 42 BBQ as runner-up. TC’s BBQ of Swainsboro, captured third and 92 BBQ captured fourth place. Rounding out the top 5 was Sauced Hogs Smoke Shack. Sixth place was taken by Mojo Smokehouse. Seventh thru 10th places went to Smokin’ AJ’s, Bethel Smokers, Just Smoke N Around and Doc & Dicies.
92 BBQ, Brad Sweet with special assistant pitmaster William, conquered the Pork Loin category. Bubba Grills took second place. Mojo Smokehouse grabbed the third spot. Sauced Hogs Smokeshack had their second 4th place finish and Just Smoke N Around got their second 5th place award. Smokin’ AJ’s took 6th place and Doc & Dicies took 7th place. Eighth went to Smokin’ 42 BBQ and 9th place went to Straw Boss BBQ. Bethel Smokers completed the top 10 in the category.
The GBA would like to thank the Hazlehurst-Jeff Davis Co. Board of Tourism and the staff of Towns Bluff Park & Heritage Center for hosting a great contest at a beautiful venue.
The GBA heads north to Acworth for Smoke on the Lake next week (May 9-10) then winds up the 2013-2014 season in Dallas GA at the Paulding Co. Stars & Stripes BBQ Cook-off & Festival on June 20-21.
Full Contest Results:
| PULLED PORK | RIBS | |||||
| 1 | 597.7 | BETHEL SMOKERS | 1 | 596.7 | BUBBA GRILLS | |
| 2 | 592.0 | MOJO SMOKEHOUSE | 2 | 594.7 | SMOKIN 42 BBQ | |
| 3 | 590.4 | STRAW BOSS BBQ | 3 | 591.4 | TC’S BBQ | |
| 4 | 589.9 | SAUCED HOGS SMOKESHACK | 4 | 589.9 | 92 BBQ | |
| 5 | 587.0 | JUST SMOKE “N” AROUND BBQ | 5 | 583.9 | SAUCED HOGS SMOKESHACK | |
| 6 | 586.6 | SMOKIN 42 BBQ | 6 | 583.6 | MOJO SMOKEHOUSE | |
| 7 | 585.3 | DRIVE BY SMOKERS | 7 | 583 | SMOKIN – AJ’S | |
| 8 | 585.0 | H & J COOKING TEAM | 8 | 579 | BETHEL SMOKERS | |
| 9 | 582.3 | BUBBA GRILLS | 9 | 574.5 | JUST SMOKE “N” AROUND BBQ | |
| 10 | 581.7 | 92 BBQ | 10 | 574.4 | DOC & DICIES | |
| 11 | 581.7 | TC’S BBQ | 11 | 574.1 | H & J COOKING TEAM | |
| 12 | 579.7 | DOC & DICIES | 12 | 573 | STRAW BOSS BBQ | |
| 13 | 578.7 | SMOKIN – AJ’S | 13 | 572.4 | DRIVE BY SMOKERS | |
| 14 | 569.9 | OLD HENRY’S BBQ | 14 | 570.2 | R K BQ | |
| 15 | 567.0 | R K BQ | 15 | 554.3 | OLD HENRY’S BBQ |
| LOIN | ||
| 1 | 595.1 | 92 BBQ |
| 2 | 593.6 | BUBBA GRILLS |
| 3 | 590.9 | MOJO SMOKEHOUSE |
| 4 | 588.8 | SAUCED HOGS SMOKESHACK |
| 5 | 587.9 | JUST SMOKE “N” AROUND BBQ |
| 6 | 587.6 | SMOKIN – AJ’S |
| 7 | 582.4 | DOC & DICIES |
| 8 | 579.3 | SMOKIN 42 BBQ |
| 9 | 578.3 | STRAW BOSS BBQ |
| 10 | 573.7 | BETHEL SMOKERS |
| 11 | 572.4 | H & J COOKING TEAM |
| 12 | 568.8 | R K BQ |
| 13 | 568.1 | DRIVE BY SMOKERS |
| 14 | 567.1 | TC’S BBQ |
| 15 | 557 | OLD HENRY’S BBQ |
| Reserve Scores | |||||||
| Loin | Pulled | Ribs | Total | ||||
| 1 | BUBBA GRILLS | 591.4 | 582.3 | 591.8 | 1765.5 | ||
| 2 | SMOKIN 42 BBQ | 579.3 | 586.6 | 599.4 | 1765.3 | ||
| 3 | MOJO SMOKEHOUSE | 590.1 | 590.9 | 583.6 | 1764.6 | ||
| 4 | 92 BBQ | 591.8 | 581.7 | 589.9 | 1763.4 | ||
| 5 | SAUCED HOGS SMOKESHACK | 588.8 | 589.9 | 583.9 | 1762.6 | ||
| 6 | JUST SMOKE “N” AROUND BBQ | 587.9 | 587.0 | 574.5 | 1749.4 | ||
| 7 | SMOKIN – AJ’S | 587.6 | 578.7 | 583 | 1749.3 | ||
| 8 | BETHEL SMOKERS | 573.7 | 595.8 | 579 | 1748.5 | ||
| 9 | STRAW BOSS BBQ | 578.3 | 592.5 | 573 | 1743.8 | ||
| 10 | TC’S BBQ | 567.1 | 581.7 | 591.5 | 1740.3 | ||
| 11 | DOC & DICIES | 582.4 | 579.7 | 574.4 | 1736.5 | ||
| 12 | H & J COOKING TEAM | 572.4 | 585.0 | 574.1 | 1731.5 | ||
| 13 | DRIVE BY SMOKERS | 568.1 | 585.3 | 572.4 | 1725.8 | ||
| 14 | R K BQ | 568.8 | 567.0 | 570.2 | 1706.0 | ||
| 15 | OLD HENRY’S BBQ | 557 | 569.9 | 554.3 | 1681.2 | ||