Welcome to the Barbecue Tours Web Site!
This site is dedicated to the
pursuit and enjoyment of smoked meats. We are a
small group of friends and barbecue enthusiasts (fanatics?). Since
1999, we gather for our annual road trip/pilgrimage with a common objective:
Barbecue!
We research and plan these three-day tours to experience
the barbecue culture of a selected region. We drive the area, eat at 6 to
7 places each day, and find local recreation in the evenings. We love talking to the owners/pitmasters
about the art and
craft of making great barbecue. Make no mistake, the era of craft-made
barbecue that is cooked on wood-fired pits and using traditional methods is
coming to a close.
There's not much point in complaining about high-tech barbecue. It serves a
purpose, and it's here to stay. And no doubt the quality of it will keep on
improving. But as the old barbecue joints slowly disappear, each one that
remains becomes a bigger treasure.
-- Robb Walsh
Tour History
2008 marked the 10th
anniversary of our barbecue tours. To celebrate, we planned a barbecue
and baseball excursion across the state of North Carolina. Most of the
places we visited exhibited a level of focus and dedication to craft that
puts them in the top tier of barbecue joints anywhere.
We returned to Central Texas
in 2007, after a seven year absence. The barbecue crew had grown, and
many had not experienced a comprehensive sweep of these fertile barbecue
grounds.
We
were happy to get back to our Texas roots in 2006, when we drove westward from DFW out to
the "Big Country" of Abilene, San Angelo, Sweetwater, and the surrounding
areas.
The 2005 Kansas City tour
was our 7th, and our
first out-of-state tour. Because
of the high concentration of barbecue places, we were able to experience the
offerings at 20 of the local restaurants.
The 1999 through
2004 tours were conducted in various regions across the state of Texas.
We experienced mostly ribs, brisket, and sausage...
However, we also encountered barbecued: pork chop, pork steak, pork loin, pulled-pork,
mutton, cabrito, beef rib, prime rib, sirloin, beef-steak, and more.
We still have quite a bit of territory to
cover... Our goal is to experience all of the major barbecue styles before
our journey is finished. And, well, Texas is a BIG
state! In addition, we still need to travel to
Memphis, The Carolinas, Georgia, and Kentucky.
For
more information and/or
results from a particular tour, click on the link in the left-hand pane of
this window.
Additionally:
