Official Convention BBQ Sauces to be Announced
Posted on 04/26/2012 @ 11:45 AM
PHOTO GALLERY: Barbecue Sauce Judging
In February, the Charlotte in 2012 Convention Host Committee called upon BBQ sauce makers to compete to become the convention’s official mustard- vinegar- and tomato-based BBQ sauces that will showcase the different BBQ styles from around the Carolinas and be sold in Charlotte in 2012’s online merchandise store. Thirty different brands submitted sauces, some in multiple categories. We had a total of 28 tomato-based entries, 13 mustard-based and 15 vinegar-based entries.
The convention’s official mustard- vinegar- and tomato-based BBQ sauces will be announced next week. Sign up for updates at http://charlottein2012.com/involved/signup/
After the submission deadline in late February, our staff conducted several fact-finding meetings to decide best how to judge all of our entries. We had a lot of good advice from North Carolina BBQ Society President and Judge Jim Early, South Carolina BBQ Society judge Lake High, Holy Smokes BBQ book author John Shelton Reed, and many others on the best way to judge the sauces. We ended up using a South Carolina BBQ Society judging sheet.
Each of our six judges tasted and rated one of the three types of sauce. They judged each sauce on a scale of 1-20 in four different categories – aroma, taste, after taste and overall impression. To start, each judge smelled each sauce to determine what type of aroma it had – sweet, sour, pleasant, unpleasant, etc. After they rated the aroma, they put a little bit of sauce on their tongue to determine the taste. The sauces ranged from very sweet to spicy and got a number according to how balanced the sauce seemed. Then they judged the aftertaste of each sauce. Did the taste linger? For how long? Was the aftertaste pleasant? Finally, the judges gave the sauce an overall score.
Many thanks to our panel of judges – Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx, Charlotte in 2012 Convention Host Committee Executive Director Dan Murrey, Charlotte Observer food editor Kathleen Purvis, pitmaster team and South Carolina BBQ Society judges Brian and Sherry Teigue, and the Executive Chef at Charlotte’s Mimosa Grill Jon Fortes.
