Once a year Victory holds a challenge that pits employee against employee in an all battle of who can make the best chili. If you recall last year I was tapped to join a panel of judges for the chili challenge and since I did such a fine job they invited me back for another round, with out hesitation I jumped at the chance.
I brought the I Drink Good Beer gang at with me to hang out have some chili and of course try some of Victory’s finest brews. We got there around 11:30 and the bar was already filling up with people.
Before anything could get started I had to have a beer. Despite the awesome selection of IPA’s and hand pump beers I had to have the Biere de Garden since I have been on this saison kick lately.
We got back to the judges area and were given our grading sheets
With over 15 different chilis to try we had to get to work.
Judges doing judging things because they are judges.
About half way through our judging we were thrown a curve ball from the kitchen. Although he is not allowed to compete Chef Eric MacPherson brought out his own chili simply because he just loves to make chili.
After tasting all the chili’s we had to head out into the crowd and judge everyones presentation.
When I say head into a crowd I mean Crowd. You could barely walk through the place there was so many people. Victory Brewing’s owner, Bill Covaleski said “this is a good thing the weekend after Super Bowl, it gives everyone something to go out and cheer for.”
There were a lot of neat displays, I though the Lumber Jack chili had one of the more elaborate set ups. They would go on to win the judges hearts and had the best chili there.
Another entrant I wanted to point out was Udderly Delicious Chili which was run by Victory’s owner Bill Covaleski, it was a very delicious chili and was made with grass fed beef from local provider, Wyerbrook Farm.
We judged in secrecy but the most coveted award to be given out that day was the peoples pepper. Everyone that came out had a say in which chili they thought was the best.
With a total of 47 votes The A-Team with No Plan B chili would be victorious. Congrats to Berry and Jordan. I pitty the fools that didn’t beat you.
With another chili challenge in the books it is time to end the post. I would like to thank Bill and the staff at Victory for having us out, this is a fantastic event that we look forward to attending year after year. Cheers!
-Brian