The second annual Sip & Swine BBQ Festival took place at Coolray Field over the first weekend of March, and InsuranceHub was excited to be the title sponsor of the event. Sip & Swine is a two-day BBQ festival and competition, and the goal of the event—besides eating some great BBQ—is to fundraise for the Home of Hope at Gwinnett Children’s Shelter.
Home of Hope is a shelter that provides housing, food, and care for children and their single mothers who are in need of a place to stay. All of the proceeds from Sip & Swine go to the Home of Hope.
Live music from groups like Georgia Red Clay and Laughlin floated through the air, mixing with the smoky scent of barbeque. The bands jammed out as the attendees (about 8 – 10 thousand people total) wandered around, enjoying the food and the wares from the many vendors who came out. From warm, doughy funnel cake to delicious lemonade, there was something tasty for everyone. And, of course, there was the top-notch BBQ! There was even a Bike Show at the event, hosted by Kicks 101.5.
Of course, it’s not enough to just eat the barbeque. The mission is to find the best barbeque! Sip & Swine is fully recognized by the Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS), so the barbeque competition is super official. The KCBS oversees more than 400 BBQ competitions nationwide.
BBQ teams competed and were judged in four different categories (Chicken, Pork, Pork Ribs, and Beef Brisket), and they all brought their best recipes and their game faces. There were two types of teams—the Pros and the Backyard. The Pros competed in all four categories, while the Backyard competitors competed in all of the categories except for Beef Brisket. There was an overall winner for the Pro, the Backyard, dessert, and “Anything Butt” categories.
And the winners are:
- Pro Overall: Atlanta Barbeque Store
- Backyard Overall: Bunch of Butts
- Anything Butt Overall: Midnight Burn
- Dessert Overall: E.T.’s BBQ
There was also a People’s Choice BBQ Competition from 11:30 – 1:30 on Saturday. The teams from the official BBQ competition were all a part of it. In the People’s Choice segment of the competition, festival attendees could purchase a “Taster Kit” for $10 to sample BBQ from each of the competing teams and then submit their choices for the best BBQ in each category. This year’s winner was Village Porkers.
Congrats to all of the winners of this year’s Sip & Swine BBQ competition!
The event raised over $50,000 for Home of Hope, so, all in all, we’ll call the 2017 Sip & Swine a success on both the fundraising and the BBQ fronts! The wonderful people at Home of Hope work hard to help the kids and moms who need them, and we’re thrilled that we were able to do our part to support them.
