BBQ Rib Competition Judges

The stage is set and The Kentucky State BBQ Festival is excited to announce the 2015 BOBB and here are the BBQ Rib Competition Judges;

Wes Berry

Wes has ingested meaty meals at over 170 Kentucky barbecue places while researching The Kentucky Barbecue Book (2013).

In addition, he’s a Memphis Barbecue Network trained judge and has sampled barbecue in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Japan, Korea, and China.

Tim Mikeska

Raised in Taylor Texas, and son of the Dean of Texas Pitmasters, Rudy Mikeska, Tim learned to cook at an early age and grew up making sausage and catering Texas Bar-B-Q with his father.

Tim is a 5th generation master butcher and sausage maker. Rudy taught his son Tim how to make sausage when he was only 7. By 12, Tim could break down a whole beef carcass. Tim has served US Presidents, US Congress, Texas Governors, British Royalty, Texas Legislature, actors and famous musicians throughout the United States. He has also served his Texas Bar-B-Q in England, Germany, Bosnia, and Canada.

He has served events with over 21,000 guests. Tim has been featured on the Food Network’s Food Nations program with Chef Bobby Flay, The Travel Channel with Chef Andrew Zimmern, the Emmy award winning “Masters of Texas Barbecue,” the CBS Early Show and 4 books about Texas Bar-B-Q.

The Legend – Mike Mills

In the world of barbecue, Mike Mills is a living legend. Inducted into the Barbecue Hall of Fame in 2010, his 17th Street Barbecue joints in Southern Illinois are a keystone pilgrimage for the barbecue faithful and Memphis in May Championship BBQ, his outposts in Las Vegas, have established themselves as top destinations in a city of destination restaurants.

As a competition barbecue cooker he led the most triumphant team in history and is a founding pitmaster of the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party, an annual New York City tradition that draws over 120,000 people to sample the country’s best barbecue over one weekend in June. Restaurants & Institutions magazine calls him “America’s most revered pit master.”

His ribs, smoked for up to six hours over apple and cherry woods, were called Best in America by Bon Appetit magazine and he’s been featured on Good Morning America, ABC The Chew and Fox and Friends as well as has made appearances on the Food Network and Martha Stewart Radio and been hailed by the New York Times.