Monk: I hope you all are staying healthy and enjoying your holidays with friends and family. This will be the last post of the year from us, and we’ll be back in the new year to continue year #13 for the Barbecue Bros.

Features

This year, I started doing some writing for The Smoke Sheet weekly barbecue newsletter and my favorite featured post was on Buxton Hall’s closing. If you want to read it as well as more original writing, subscribe to The Smoke Sheet.

In the below post, our reviews from over the years were linked if you want to take a walk down memory lane.

Buxton Hall Barbecue’s Closure is the Latest Blow for NC Whole Hog Barbecue

In case you missed it, we also published our first Charlotte barbecue joints top 5 in four years just last week.

The 5 Best Barbecue Joints in Charlotte – December 2023

The Monk family went to Disney World in February and if you find yourself in a similar position and are craving barbecue, Monk has some tips and what (and what not) to eat.

Yes, You Technically Can Eat Barbecue at Disney World

Speedy took a BrisketU class in Nashville, which he recommended.

Enroll in BrisketU If You Need Help with Your Backyard Smokes

Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge in Shelby is still a must-stop for barbecue lovers heading to western NC.

Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge in Shelby Remains a Favorite

Restaurant Reviews

We’re up to 348 reviews on the site now, and in 2023 we added 21 more. Not quite our most productive year in terms of restaurant reviews, but I was consciously trying to diversify the types of posts on the site.

A few new and notable North Carolina barbecue restaurants. Longleaf Swine technically opened in Raleigh in November 2022 but Monk checked it out a few months later in January of this year and loved their classic take on eastern NC whole hog. Firehawk Brewpub opened closer to home just west of Charlotte in Mount Holly, and shows a lot of promise between the wood-smoked barbecue and their craft beer.

Longleaf Swine is a Brand New Top Tier Barbecue Joint in Raleigh

Firehawk Brewpub is a worthy addition to the Charlotte Barbecue Scene

Speaking of eastern NC whole hog, all three Bros visited Wilson County Barbecue in Portland, Maine on a rainy afternoon in June and found it to be fairly legit.

Legitimate Eastern North Carolina Barbecue in Portland? Maine?

On two separate Charleston visits, Monk hit a number of spots including Rancho Lewis (from Lewis Barbecue’s John Lewis), Rodney Scott’s BBQ, Melvin’s BBQ, and Swig and Swine.

Order the Mesquite-Smoked Beef Back Ribs at Rancho Lewis

Rodney Scott’s BBQ Maintains its Spot in the Upper Tier of Charleston BBQ

Melvin’s BBQ Switched (Back) to Wood Smokers in 2015 and Hasn’t Looked Back

How Does a Recent Trip to Swig & Swine Stack Up to Prior Visits?

The Monk family also traveled to Alabama this summer to see family and do a camp drop off, and hit a couple of spots in Birmingham: Dreamland Barbecue and SAW’s BBQ.

Dreamland Barbecue is an Alabama Institution, But How Do They Stack Up in 2023?

The Roots of SAW’s Soul Kitchen is in North Carolina Barbecue

Other Reviews

In terms of book reviews, “Smokestack Lightning” is a seminal book from the early 2000’s by Lolis Eric Elie, who co-wrote Rodney Scott’s barbecue book a few years ago. “Ed Mitchell’s Barbeque” was co-written by Ed and his son Ryan along with native-North Carolinian Zella Palmer.

Smokestack Lightning Captures the Simpler, Pre-Barbecue Boom Times in America

“Ed Mitchell’s Barbeque” Tells the Story of the Man as well as the Black Experience in the South

In terms of product reviews, we had some notable ones for the backyard grill.

INKBIRD Has Created the World’s First 5GHz Wi-Fi Smart Meat Thermometer

Grill Armor Gloves Help Protect the Backyard Pitmaster