Meat, Music & Mayhem at Grillstock's debut London festival
For the first time ever, Grillstock took its festival of ‘meat, music and mayhem’ to the capital and, thanks to over 30,000 barbecue junkies, it was a flaming hot success. Our guest blogger Gavin Smith went along to sample the delights of this fantastic food and music festival.
An incredible, edible line-up of juicy meats – slow-cooked over coals, smoked with oak and hickory flavours, and smothered in sticky barbecue sauce – meant ,it was hard to keep your eyes to yourself. Between double stacked burgers, beef brisket sandwiches with chimichurri, hot chicken wings and French’s hot dogs; it was tempting to begin a five-meal-a-day diet.
With the help of Brooklyn Brewery and the persuasive Jack Daniels, the party atmosphere was constantly kept alive with high spirits everywhere. From lager to East Indian pale ales, Lynchburg lemonades and whiskey wours, the range of American beverages accounted for all palates, sweet or sour, malty or hoppy.
Aside from filling up however, there was also a spectacular musical feast to be had. The unpredictable Fun Lovin’ Criminals took to the stage on Saturday with an energetic set, whilst Hayseed Dixie adopted a different approach, performing some well known songs, such as Eye of The Tiger and Don’t Stop Believing, to get the crowd singing along. The widely anticipated headliners, Razorlight, were the flame-grilled cherry on the cake, taking the festival home on the Sunday evening with their classics such as America, In The Morning and Golden Touch.
A major component was the chilli eating competition, and impressively it went down to the wire. Winner Joel Wood bit into the hottest chilli in the world, The Carolina Reaper, which was enough to make his competitor think better of it. Joel proudly wore his inflatable chilli-hat for the rest of the festival, which crowned him the aficionado of chilli peppers, having travelled to the far end of the Scoville Scale.
The King of the Grill was, as always, a hard fought race and despite the witty names of the barbecue pit crews, including Meatpocalypse and Priscilla Queen of the Firepit, it wasn’t enough to win them an award. Instead those in with a chance to go on to the World Food Championships in Las Vegas were Bunch of Swines for their succulent chicken AND their brisket, Brisket Case had the best ribs and Rock Pit BBQ won the pork shoulder category.
Unfortunately the Grillstock festival season is now well and truly over for the summer, but as the winter months are upon us, I’m sure we’ll all find ourselves in a Grillstock restaurant whether it’s the one in Bristol, Bath, Walthamstow, Liverpool or Leicester. After all, there’s nothing like some low ‘n’ slow Southern-style barbecue to warm you up.
