Tee Wayne Abshire and his cooking partner Brian Lipps brought home another Grand Championship BBQ cooking contest trophy last weekend at the South Carolina Peach Festival and BBQ contest.
It was a state championship, qualifying the Tee Wayne’s Smokin’ Lipps team for another draw in the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational.
The weekend prior to the Grand Championship, the team had come in with a respectable show at the Festival of Discovery in Greenwood, S.C., where it won 1st place in the Pulled Pork Category, 10th Place in Brisket, and 2nd Place in the Anything Goes Category.
Abshire said the Greenwood contest was uncharted territory, with mostly local cooks competing who knew the local barbecue style, and the St. Amant team was happy to come in 17th place out of nearly 85 cooks.
At the Peach Festival, Abshire made “adjustments” he felt were needed to make an even better showing.
The tweaking paid off as the team smoked its way the next weekend to a 1st Place Chicken, 9th Place Ribs, 4th Place Pulled Pork, and 6th Place Brisket showing. The accumulated point total gave the team the Grand Championship in a field of about 50 cooks.
For the “barbecue year” which runs September through August, the team now claims four Grand Championships, and seven Reserve Championships.
The latest victory is the farthest from Louisiana the team has ventured to date, and it came on a trip to visit Abshire relatives in North Carolina.
