“It’s a beast. It’s an amazing, beautiful, sexy beast,” says Ben Lambert, owner of the newly opened JNL Barbecue in Austin, about barbecue culture in Texas.

In beer news, the folks at Martin House Brewing Company in Fort Worth are teaming up with Heim Barbecue for a bacon burnt ends stout that will be released in December.

“I’m never going to touch the ribs or the sauce,” says Pizzitola’s BBQ’s new owner:
https://twitter.com/subtlefoodie/status/1192215660891430917?s=11

We had a great time at our annual barbecue festival in Austin. Here are a few choice recaps from the Smoking Ho, Kelly Yandell, and Austin 360.

A reporter from the Gonzales Inquirer followed the Baker Boys to the Texas Monthly BBQ Fest and recounted his full weekend in great detail.

The most creative pitmasters in Austin and Houston will duke it out against one another to see who reigns supreme in the throwdown hosted by Saint Arnold Brewing Company on November 17.

The Hill Country was the focus for BBQuest season 2:

The Dallas Observer described the pulled pork at the new Pappas Delta Blues Smokehouse as “so juicy that it feels like a barbecue magic trick of flavor.”

BBQ on the Brazos, formerly of Cresson, has opened its Fort Worth restaurant. Look for a grand opening celebration around Thanksgiving, says owner John Sanford.

Naaman’s Championship BBQ trades Texas for Arkansas after moving to the other side of the street in Texarkana.

Barbecue Summer Camp is coming to Texas A&M this June. Spots are limited and in high demand, so Foodways Texas doles them out via a drawing. To be eligible for the drawing, you must become a Foodways Texas member by November 15.

What’s it take to keep a good fire going?
https://twitter.com/thesmokesheet/status/1191384105331519488?s=11

A former employee of Kiolbassa in San Antonio swiped a pallet full of their sausage valued at $6,000 and used some to pay off a debt. Now that’s some hot meat.

Roasting coffee beans is a new obsession to go along with smoking meat for Miller’s Smokehouse in Belton.

Joey Chestnut ate 27 brisket sandwiches in ten minutes in Austin, and went home with a $2,500 check.

Well, of course they can:
https://twitter.com/robertsietsema/status/1192810578705821696?s=11

Might as well call this article about the world’s largest meat producer “JBS declined to comment.” No comment on fines, a price-fixing allegation, ranchers’ complaints, or the fact that they have the second-highest rate of serious injury of any company (not just meat producers) in the country.

There’s a new barbecue newsletter coming out, and this one is from Southern Living’s BBQ editor, Robert Moss.

Matt Barry of Charlotte’s Midwood Smokehouse answered a few questions about barbecue, including what it takes to be a great pitmaster.

Shots fired in Memphis, but the team from Texas didn’t leave with a win:

The Willamette Week listed its favorite barbecue spots in Portland, Oregon, including several Texas-style joints.

“A pit fire is different from a campfire. It smells different,” says Matthew Register of Southern Smoke in Garland, North Carolina. “There are cumulative aromas of pig grease, sugar, and smoke. There’s a sweetness in it.”

Wilson’s Bar-B-Que, a beloved barbecue joint in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was badly damaged by fire, but they plan to rebuild.

Who’s up for a whole camel roast?
https://twitter.com/marlo95t/status/1189610851034193920?s=11