Fayette County BBQ Team Competes on Two World Stages
Curt and Casey Harbers of La Grange and their cookoff team CC’s Country BBQ competed at the prestigious Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational Barbecue Cookoff in Lynchburg, Tenn. last weekend.
“They invited 72 teams this year, and those 72 are world champions, the best of the best,” Curt Harbers said. “They aren’t just people who paid a whole lot of money to cook. They’re big names, known worldwide, and they know that anyone there can beat them on any given day.”
“The Jack,” as competitors call the cookoff, is invitationonly. The event takes place at the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, Tenn.
“Lynchburg is a town about the size of Schulenburg or Flatonia,” Harbers said. “It’s phenomenal what they are able to do in such a small town.”
Teams can only qualify for The Jack by winning a state championship or certain other prestigious cookoffs. CC’s Country BBQ qualified by winning the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Cookoff in 2020. The Jack Daniels Invitational was canceled last year due to COVID, so the team’s invitation was extended to this year.
The team got some good practice on a big stage at the American Royal World Series of Barbecue in Kansas City two weeks before The Jack.
“We won 18th place in brisket at the American Royal,” Harbers said. “It was exciting just to get your number called out of 476 teams that were there. We were pretty fired up about that.”
Teams competed in seven categories at The Jack – pork ribs, pork shoulder/butts, beef brisket, chicken, dessert, cook’s choice, and sauce. Harbers and his team won ninth place in pork ribs in Lynchburg – a mighty accomplishment considering the competition.
“We were a little disappointed about the other (categories),” Harbers said “It is what it is, but we came home with a ribbon and a bottle of Jack Daniels.”
Harbers said the experience made him even more eager to compete again one day in Lynchburg.
“We left a little out on the table,” Harbers said. “I want to get back to The Jack. It may take a year, it may take two years, but I want to get back. It’s not going to be easy. That’s going to be another bucket list for me. I want to do it again.”
CC’s Country BBQ team members who competed in Lynchburg included Curt Harbers, Casey Harbers, Arthur Bosque, Adam Martinez and Michelle Castillo. Curt named several others who competed with the team at the Houston cookoff in 2020 and Kansas City this year: Ryan Harbers, Gina Adams, Timmy Machala, Anthony Wessels and Charlie Schulz.
“They all helped CC’s Country BBQ along the way to get us there,” Harbers said.