The Jack 2010

     LYNCHBURG (pop. 361), Tennessee – It was the location and the Jack Daniel’s legend that first attracted me. The ancient distillery in bucolic rural Tennessee is host to the world’s most prestigious and selective barbecue competition,
the Jack Daniel’s World Championship International Barbecue Competition.
They gather annually in the autumn leaf season to
compete in “The Jack,” as it is known, sporting imaginative names like Jack’s Old South, Doctor Porkenstein, Parrothead Smokers, Guzzlin’ Gourmets, Que Ball BBQ, Smokin Clones, IQUE and Smokin’ Triggers, part of more than 100 American teams that took on 21 international teams from countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Estonia, Germany, Puerto Rico, Switzerland and the United Kingdom who earned the right to compete.

     “Barbecue competition is serious business and the rules for winning are strictly enforced,” said one of the high-profile judges, television celebrity Kelly Sutton, morning news anchor at Nashville’s WZTV. To compete at “The Jack”, domestic
teams must have in the past year won a state championship. “Being on the professional barbecue circuit is a way of life and many people spend their whole lives trying to get to ‘The Jack’,” said Lynne Tolley, great-grandniece of Jack Daniel. Ms Tolley, a successful cookbook author confided that she keeps her ancestor’s Tennessee whiskey in her pantry. “I use it as a substitute for vanilla flavoring.”

Any award at The Jack is a victory. Because the level of competition is very high, winning carries enormous prestige. Lynchburg is dear to all who have precious memories of the rural South. Everything is somehow directly tied to Jack Daniel’s and a tradition of genuine hospitality. Down here, it’s called Americana.

     To read more about this exciting trip by Doc Lawrence and many stories told about the South, visit our Adventure and Culture Sections on Wines Down South!