For the second straight year we placed at Grill on the Hill. We backed up our best wings honors from last year’s event by winning best pork this past Saturday.

The weather could not have been better with temps in the high 60s and a sky full of sun, resulting in a large turnout at Treetops Resort in Gaylord, Mich.

Our Pure Michigan Tacos were a huge hit with competitors and attendees alike. Four 10-pound pork butts were smoked for 12 hours overnight and then rested in a Cambro a few hours until go time. For each customer, we placed some perfectly smoked pork onto their choice of a corn or flour street taco tortilla, then topped with some diced apples sautéed in Cheerwine, a drizzle of our Up North Sauce, and some crushed pork rinds.

That combination produced one of the most talked-about dishes at the event. Overall, we finished just behind team Black Sheep’s ribs for people’s choice. No matter the result, we enjoyed meeting other teams and catching up with teams we met at this event last year.

We also soft-launched our first rub, Down With the Swine, as well as our first sauce, Up North. Both received overwhelmingly positive feedback and we can’t wait to take the next step of getting them co-packed for sale.

My friends Joe Pichey from Go Blue BBQ and Trace Scarborough from Thunderbird Wings served as celebrity chefs for the event, cooking demonstrations for attendees throughout the day.

I’m already looking forward to Grill on the Hill 2020. If you’ve never been, I strongly urge you to mark it on your calendar for next year. The service and organization from Treetops Resort is phenomenal and it will quickly become one of your favorite weekends of the year.