Tailgate Guys BBQ Show, Episode 126: Lee Hickel, Matt Bohannon
Release Date: 08/11/2021
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 358: Rough Cut Q and Grill Guys of Missouri
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
Living six hours apart as competition teammates can be a challenge. But brothers Joe and Jeff Rouse have been able to overcome the geographic challenge to become one of the nation’s top KCBS Backyard teams in recent years and, this year, are making waves in the four-meat Masters series as well. On Episode 358 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast we go “Under the Radar” to find out more about Joe (from New Jersey) and Jeff (Massachusetts) and how they’re consistently bringing home trophies as Rough Cut Q - including a recent Reserve Grand Championship to a KCBS Hall of Famer. It’s...
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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 357: Chuck Simpson, HS BBQ coach; BBQ Pit Bros 'Under the Radar'
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
Episode 357 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast brings back our popular “Under the Radar” segment where we find out more about up-and-coming competition teams. Jordan Williams and Richard Smith comprise BBQ Pit Bros out of Des Moines, Iowa. They began cooking KCBS backyard comps in 2021 and, after multiple Grand Championships and Reserves, the team has taken the plunge into the KCBS 4-Meat Masters Series in 2026. Jordan and Richard talk about the journey and how their contrasting personalities keep the team in balance. We also talk about the growing popularity of high school BBQ with Chuck...
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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 356: Heath Riles, Kevin Green
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
A few days after making history at one of the world’s biggest BBQ competitions, Heath Riles joins us on Episode 356 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast to discuss his repeat Grand Championship at Memphis in May. It was the first time in 42 years that anyone has repeated their World Championship at Memphis in May and Heath breaks down what the accomplishment means to him and his Heath Riles BBQ brand and describes the work ethic that went into preparing for his favorite competition. We also welcome back our friend Kevin Green of The Butcher Shoppe in Pensacola, supplier of A9 wagyu...
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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 355: Nick & Shannon Holman of Burnt Trees BBQ; Grill Guys of Missouri
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
North Dakota is not the warmest open-fire cooking climate in the country, but Nick and Shannon Holman are doing their best to put the Minot, N.D. team Burnt Trees BBQ on the competition map. The husband-wife duo last week came away from the 77-team Minnesota in May with a Grand Championship, their fourth in 50 career KCBS competitions. Consistency is a key for the couple, who have turned countless highway miles on the BBQ trail into quality time. The Holmans talk about they’ve been able to achieve success on Episode 355 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ podcast, also telling the story behind their...
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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 354: Tim Scheer of Blues Hog; Ryan Eftink from Smokin' Brothers
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
Memphis in May is just one week away and on Episode 354 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, we talk it over with one of the top contenders to take home the big trophy. Tim Scheer, whose Blues Hog team captured Whole Hog and overall Grand Championship honors in 2022, gives us a preview of the preparations. Those include the final days of feeding the three hogs that he raised on his east-central Missouri Marble Ridge Farm ahead of processing and and prepping the three 250-pound porkers for a date with one of his three Gateway mega-drums. Tim’s segment begins at the 12:05 mark and he also talks...
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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 353: American Royal CEO Pat Macy; Iola Underhogs coach Doug Kerr
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
After lots of anticipation and patience, it’s official. The American Royal World Series of BBQ has new dates (Oct. 1-4) and a new home (the under construction American Royal Association complex in Kansas City, Kansas). On Episode 353 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, we visit with American Royal Association CEO Pat Macy about the move and what went into bringing the event to its new complex which is not far from the old one, at Kansas Speedway. We also talk high school BBQ’s growing popularity as a team sport with Doug Kerr, a teacher at Iola High School in Kansas and the head coach...
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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 352: High on the Hog STL; Smokin' Aces BBQ
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
On Episode 352 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, we talk it over with two big winners from last weekend. First up is the story of fast-rising High on the Hog BBQ out of St. Louis, which won its first KCBS GC in Edina, Missouri, in just its sixth KCBS competition. Shawn Campbell and Rich Alexander reveal how they’ve been able to achieve big-tie success in just their second full-time season. The segment beings at the 9:02 mark. We then take a trip to central Texas to hear from Matthew Frazier and Justin Payne of Smokin’ Aces BBQ after their $5,000 GC at the Rib Cookoff Association...
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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 351: Blind Fox BBQ; Aaron Huentelman
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
The guys from Blind Fox BBQ haven’t been doing competition cooking for long, but it’s clear they rise to the occasion in big contests. Two years after finishing sixth at their first American Royal World Series of BBQ Open (444 teams) Joe Rickfels and Adam Burch won their first Grand Championship at last weekend’s 103-team Smoke in the Spring in Osage City, Kansas. Not only was it the first GC, it gave the guys a ticket into the American Royal Invitational and an auto bid into the inaugural BBQ World Cup next spring in Las Vegas. On Episode 351 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, we visit...
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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 350: Bill Toth with Dawg's BBQ
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
There are many tremendous cooks in the Backyard Division of the KCBS who often are overlooked in a competition world in which the Masters division gets most of the attention for master all four meats. On Episode 350 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast we talk it over with one of the best in the two-meat (chicken and ribs) division and that’s Bill Toth whose Dawg’s BBQ out of Minneapolis, Minn., is coming off a rare 180/180 for a perfect 360 total at the Iowa State BBQ Championships in Altoona. Bill gives the backstory on how he and wife Shelly got started in competition cooking and touches on...
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Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, Episode 349: Paul Russell; Skyler Spartan & Charlie Wallace
Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast
Everywhere Paul Russell goes in competition BBQ from his home base in Conway, Arkansas, he consistently gets the question about his team’s unique name. But Kermit’s Ex BBQ is more than a neat name and logo, it’s also a consistent contender on the KCBS circuit. On Episode 349 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Podcast, we visit with Paul about his latest success, a Grand Championship at the Kickin’ It On Route 66 BBQ Challenge in St. Robert, Mo., plus his upward trend to become a serious contender anywhere he competes. We also check in with Skyler Spartan from The Grill Guys of Missouri,...
info_outlineWe hope everyone is having a great BBQ week and is ready for terrific BBQ conversation on Episode 126 of the Tailgate Guys BBQ Show Podcast.
Lee Hickel could be the poster subject for that old Willie Nelson song “On the Road Again.” From his home base near Corpus Christi, Texas, the pitmaster of Red Mule’s Bad Ass BBQ is piling up the miles as he travels the KCBS circuit for the first time. A former IBCA Team of the Year, Hickel tells us his journey from a gas-griller just a few years ago to one of America’s best competition cooks.
Winning a Grand Championship is a goal for all who fire it up on the competition circuit. Matt Bohannon of Parts ‘R’ Smokin’ BBQ out of Harrisonville, Missouri, realized that dream last weekend and we learn his cooking story and what the GC at the Laurie Hillbilly BBQ meant. Cooking with his dad, Matt was dominant with a KCBS winning score of over 706.
Co-hosts Lyndal and Steve discuss their cooking weeks and Lyndal gives his impressions of judging a KCBS contest for the first time.
Thanks to our sponsor/marketing partners who make our show possible: Blues Hog BBQ Sauce, Royal Oak Charcoal, The Butcher Shoppe, Iowa BBQ Store, Affordable Income Tax & Payroll, DDR Fabrication, Arkassippi Smoke Live and The Arkassippi Combo, Vietti Marketing, In the Garden of Eden and The BBQ League. Special thanks to Marty “Sign Man” Prather and Domino’s Pizza, an “Official American Royal World Series of BBQ” sponsor of our team.
Have a great BBQ Week!
#SmokeEmIfYouGotEm