Jon and Jason Wade of Optimus Swine BBQ out of Williamsburg, Virginia have one of the hottest competition BBQ teams around. Since moving into the KCBS Master’s division a couple of years ago, the Wades have seven Grand Championships and seven RGCs in 63 competitions. They also own and operate two BBQ restaurants in the Williamsburg area, Two Drummers Smokehouse and 2 Drummers Butchery and BBQ Provisions. On Episode 256 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, we talk it over with Jon Wade about the team’s success in both aspects of BBQ and about the crossover of restaurants and competition cooking.

We’ve seen far too many good BBQ competition disappear in recent years. It’s always great to see new ones come along and we find out more from organizer Vanessa Williams about the inaugural Give Local First Charity BBQ Festival, coming up May 17-18 in West Plains, Missouri. Vanessa gives us the rundown of what teams can expect (aside from a nice prize fund of $10,000) and how the public can attend and get a taste of the fun.  

In our weekly Smoke N Magic Minute, Breana Via tells about heading to Meatstock in Sydney, Australia where Smoke N Magic will see how their American style competition BBQ stacks up against the native Aussies. 

Thanks to all our sponsors and marketing partners for making the show possible:  Blues Hog #blueshognation Royal Oak Charcoal #teamroyaloak2023 The Butcher Shoppe #alwayshandpicked  Proud Souls BBQ Kansas City #proudsoulsbbqkc #kingdomofq  The Grill Guys of Missouri Smoke ’n Magic BBQ #SmokenMagic Vietti Marketing Group   Marty "Real Sign Man" Prather #pizza

Have a great BBQ week! #SmokeEmIfYouGotEm