BBQ Heaven in Bel Air

We took the BelAirLife family to the Maryland State BBQ Bash in Bel Air Friday and Saturday nights this weekend. There is no place else I know of where you can celebrate the wonders of BBQ and the art of grill cooking as well as you can here. We went both Friday and Saturday nights. After years of convincing, we also took my Dad (aka Master Griller) with us. The main event was spread throughout the State Courthouse parking lot with overflow for contestants and exhibitors in surrounding parking lots.

While Mrs. BelAirLife took the kids to walk over to the kids section my Dad and I wandered around the contestant areas admiring all the varying setups for cooking. Now my Dad and I can do some grilling, but the full trailer setups with multiple smokers and cookers were definitely out of our league. We learned a lot from walking around and asking different contestants about their cooking methods.

Over the two days, we had ribs, pulled pork and brisket that were all fantastic. Hess’s BBQ piled the pulled pork on so high you had to eat it with a fork before you could make it into a sandwich! The crazy thin sliced and deep fried potato thing was awesome. The only complaints I heard all weekend was about the beer prices. I have to agree $4 for a 12 ounce draft is certainly on the steep side although it didn’t appear to make the lines for beer any shorter.
It’s great to have a statewide event that is so family friendly here in Bel Air. Thanks to all the sponsors and the board that worked so hard to make the Bash happen and for keeping it in Bel Air!