Jack Daniels Invitational Barbecue

A fun fall day to spend at this festival, Weather permitting of course! Many champions come together to compete on a large scale. Although you don’t rate their bbq, you certainly get the feel of the excitement watching them bring their bounty into the judging tent!
Lots of other bbq vendors, corn on the cob on a stick and kettle corn booths set up! Live music and craft booths selling their fall festival flairs to choose from.
Love the samples… That is certainly part of the fun at this festival!
Set in a small town you can stroll through the old timely stores and buy your country treats.
Have brought in restrooms with clean restrooms to make your day pleasurable… No outhouses for us girls!
Parking affordable and close by.

The damp weather did not effect the day much, but you had to come prepared. One of the best things of this event is the Fall Peak colors as you drive in from any direction. Coming from Chattanooga area we chose to take the scenic drive down the old highway from Monteagle through Sewanee.
As you arrive into town you can start seeing the smoke and smelling the BBQ. This is a very small town but everyone seems to be selling parking. $ 5-​$ 10 mostly. We parked very close to downtown.
The square is fully covered with tents and vendors as you walk in, live country music is playing. All the downtown shops are open and plenty to explore and see in the town. However, food is in our mind and we continue down to the food tents and competition area. Lots of free samples, but I did not see any from the competitors which was a disappointment. But still plenty to see and try. They also have food instructions, vendor demos, Etc
I do wish they would move this so it is not the same weekend as Tennessee vs Alabama. We left early to catch the game as I am sure many do. At the least put a big screen up for the crowd.
Lynchburg is a great small town and one you should visit. Jack Daniels is a short walk and free tour.
Great day.

Every year on the fourth Saturday of October, teams, judges, and fans some 25,000 strong descend on the tiny town of Lynchburg, Tennessee for one of the most renowned and prestigious barbecue competitions in the world. We headed south to the Lynchburg Hollow to bask in all of the smoke-​filled glory that is known simply as «The Jack.»
Pro tip: Don’t get suckered into the $ 10 parking way out at the Moore County high school and taking the shuttles. The lines for the shuttles looked really long and frustrating. Trust me, it’s not worth it. Just get there early (11:00ish), drive straight past the high school and continue into town, and drive around the side streets north of the main highway. We found several Lynchburg residents offering $ 8 parking in their yards. From there it’s only a short walk to the festivities.
Interestingly, although it’s home to the Jack Daniel’s distillery, Moore County, Tennessee is a dry county. The only admission fee for this event was a voluntary donation to the Moore County high school, although I’m sure the potential alcohol sales revenue would have been much more substantial. Being the law-​abiding citizen that I am, I didn’t try to circumvent the rules in any way. Wink wink, nudge nudge.
While barbecue is clearly the main draw, The Jack also offers plenty of other non-​meat activities. We also found dozens and dozens of booths selling a lot of really cool handmade items, both decorative and edible. There was also some really great live bluegrass music in and around the town square, so every once in a while we’d find a spot in the shade to listen and cool off. After a brief warm-​up perusing the teams and the vendors, it was time for barbecue!
We decided to start things off with House of Hickory, which is a Nashville wholesale/​catering operation. Most of the other food vendors I saw seemed like catering companies as well, so no problem there. I ordered a Rib Sampler (three bones) for us all to share. These half-​mangled ribs didn’t really look that appealing. There was a good crust, which was only slightly sweet. I found no discernible smoke flavor in the meat, or any other flavors for that matter. The only thing that somewhat salvaged these ribs was the sugary glaze, but even that only made them mediocre.
Based out of Denton, Texas, I had higher hopes for the Texas Rib Rangers. Their banner boasted a «1^st Place B-​B-​Q Sauce» win from the 1999 Jack Daniel’s cookoff, but no awards from the past fifteen years. Hmm. I ended up ordering a 3-​Bone rib sampler and some brisket. They had combos available, but I saw them scooping potato salad out of store-​bought cartons. No thank you. Their ribs were big and meaty, but lacked the black smoke-​laden crust that I expected. The crust also had minimal seasoning and no smoke that I could taste either, making it fairly bland. The rib meat was decently tender though. Despite my hopes, the ribs were pretty disappointing. Instead of doing things the right way and having sliced brisket for plates and chopped brisket for sandwiches, these guys were lazy and just pre-​chopped everything. The meat was tender, but had no smoke and no other flavors beyond the tiniest pinch of salt. This was a poor excuse for brisket, and it makes me sad that this was the sole representation of Texas barbecue.
There were a few other barbecue vendors that I considered trying, but we made the mistake of filling up on fried Oreos and «refreshments.» Mediocre food aside, we actually had a lot of fun here. The Jack was worth the short drive from Nashville to Lynchburg, and I’ll definitely be back next year.