Becoming a Certified BBQ Judge.
As of Friday August 5th the BBQ Junkie is an official Kansas City Barbecue Society Certified Judge (my badge has yet to come). Not that I have officially judged any BBQ competitions yet, but I am so ready. I felt that it was my duty as a blogger of barbeque to make sure that my standards are of highest out there, especially when critiquing restaurants and recipes.
To become an official barbecue judge you must undergo some training, which consists of a half-day class. You get to sample some great BBQ, which alone is worth the price of admission. The most difficult thing about the training is finding a barbecue judging class within driving distance of Los Angeles. I found my class through the California BBQ Association (CBBQA) website. They have listings of upcoming barbecue competitions and judging classes… but don’t worry, I will post any upcoming classes on this website. It’s a great experience that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in BBQ. You get to mingle with California’s BBQ elite as well as see some of the enormous BBQ pits that these competitors compete with.
I can’t wait to judge my first event.
If you are looking for additional information on these BBQ associations, here is a list:
California Barbecue Association (CBBQA)
visit their website
Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS)
11514 Hickman Mills Drive
Kansas City, MO 64134
Phone: 816-765-5891
1-800-963-KCBS (5227)
visit their website
Congratulations on the certification. Now get out there and judge! You’ll have a great time and eat a lot of good and not so good Q!
My wife got certified as well and we are looking forward to judging our first competition.
Another item for list of things to do! Let’s see, eat all sorts of different, competition level barbecue? Hmmm… sounds like a good deal to me!
[…] Becoming a Certified BBQ Judge. […]
Congratulations. I hope you keep us posted on your judging events. How much does it cost to take the class? Do you sign up for events or do they solicit you to participate?
Congrats on being a judge. What a great job!!!
I’m tring to organize a BBQ ribs taste off. Want to join in and use your newly earned judge duties?
Email me or contact me at my blog.
http://thenewdiner.blogspot.com/
It is something that we should plan for. My next few weeks are busy, but I am very interested in this. The CBBQA is thinking about doing a BBQ crawl… not sure how it’s going to work, but it should be fun. It would involve going to a few different BBQ restaurants. From there we could compare?
Sylvie,
The class costs was $45 and an additional $25 for membership into the KCBS. The KCBS membership is a requirement and needs to be renewed every year in order to be eligible to judge an official contest.
If there is an event coming up, you can ask to be a judge. I don’t think that it’s that difficult, but I don’t know for sure because I haven’t actually judged yet. I will keep you posted.
Congratulations at becoming a certified judge and posting your observations.
I also took the CBJ class several years ago and got hooked after my first contest. I’ve since received my Masters badge, still compete several times a year as my own team, and became a KCBS contest representative in the Midwest. This hobby has kept me busy being at contests in one capacity or another an average of over 20 weekends per year since then. At last count, it’s taken me to 15 states from Nevada to Ohio to Louisiana.
Congratulations on becoming a judge and pursuing your passion.