, nestled on a 4,200-acre estate in the Great Smoky Mountains, consistently finishes at or near the top of travel magazine and website lists of top resorts in the United States. Known for fine food, first-class accommodations and luxurious amenities, Blackberry Farm is some pretty high cotton. Normally, it caters to foodies and families by inviting guest instructors to give educational and entertaining seminars on all sorts of aspects of Southern culture.
But apparently, somebody left the back door open, because two of my favorite barbecue derelicts are taking over the joint for a weekend next month. Carey Bringle, infamously known as The Peg Leg Porker and Pat Martin of Martin's Barbecue Shack have been named as professors of pork at Blackberry Farm's BBQ IQ Weekend Aug. 7-10. I'm certain they'll be on their best behavior as they teach the hoi polloi the secrets of applying smoke to meat. However, if Pat doesn't demonstrate at least of few of his party tricks, those folks won't be getting their money's worth.
Carey and Pat will be joined by pitmasters Kenny Callaghan from New York City's Blue Smoke and Nick Pihakis and Drew Robinson of Jim n' Nick's BBQ in Birmingham. Liquid entertainment will be provided by Lamborn Family Wines out of Napa in addition to a separate tasting of fine whiskeys. Check out the full description from the Blackberry Farm website:
