Grizzly Coolers – Swamp Boys BBQ

2015 – A Season to be Thankful For!

BBQ Sauce, Big Poppa Smokers, Classes, Contests, Fundraising, General, Sponsors No Responses »

Dec 292015

Swamp Boys BBQ Team was blessed to have another fun, productive, and charitable year in 2015. We were able to compete in 26 contests, in AL, AZ, FL, GA, NC, TN, TX, and The Hague, Netherlands! I travelled over 24,000 miles, all in the name of barbecue!

We won 2 Grand Championships and 4 Reserve Grand Championships, and a combined 12 top-5 overall finishes.

FBA Florida State Champion 2015

We repeated as the Florida BBQ Association Florida State Champions, and finished 3rd in the FBA Team of the Year race, giving us 10 years of consecutive top 5 finishes.

On the Swamp Boys Q School front I was able to teach 5 classes in FL, IA, AZ and The Hague, NL. I truly enjoy teaching the art and science of BBQ to whoever will listen, wherever they are!

Q School Grads in Netherlands!

Swamp Boys BBQ Sauce sales also set a record, with 4 of the top 5 KCBS Teams of the Year being customers! We were also able to be accepted into the “Fresh From Florida” campaign, as a truly Florida product. I fully expect 2016 to set more records as the good word spreads.

We’re Fresh From Florida!

Through the help of the Swamp Boys Nation (all of you!) we were able to raise almost $7,000 to give directly to 2 dear barbecue friends who each experienced extreme health emergencies in ’15, to help pay their medical bills.

Robin (L) is now a Breast Cancer Survivor!

Jim (R) is recovering from Acute Pancreatitus

And as an outgoing member of Big Poppa Smokers Elite Team, I am honored to be able to present our local kidsPack USA a check for $1,000 from BPS. I regret that this will be my last act as a BPS Elite Team, as the criteria to belong has changed for 2016. However I am extremely thankful for the opportunity I have had to be a part of this charitable group of barbecuers. I hope to be able to continue to support kidsPack through other avenues in 2016.

kidsPack Lakeland

Of course all of this was possible with the help of my sponsors, who have provided me with the best products available: Deep South Smokers, Big Poppa Smokers, Compart Duroc Family Farms, Nature’s Own Hardwood Charcoal, Grizzly Coolers, GrillGrates, Butcher BBQ, BBQ Guru, 3 Eyz BBQ. I fully recommend all of these products with no reservations. Please talk to me if you have questions about any of them. I will be happy to help! And most of all thank you to my family! Without the love and support of my wife and daughters none of this could have happened. I love you guys, forever.

Meet My Sponsors: Grizzly Coolers

Sponsors 1 Response »

Jun 232015

I’ve been blessed in that I have been able to secure product sponsorships from companies that I use and believe in. Over the next couple of months I am going to highlight each one and share why I chose them and what makes them great. This first installment will be on Grizzly Coolers; they have been a Swamp Boys sponsor since early 2013.

I rely heavily on my coolers. At any given pro Barbecue contest I will have over $500 in top quality meats, sauces, injections, drinks, and food that I need for the weekend. My coolers have to hold ice and keep my stuff cold. The longer the better. The less ice I have to buy means more money in my pocket. In the beginning I used the coolers from the mega-mart stores because they were inexpensive. Of course I learned you get what you pay for in coolers. Driving 12 hours to a contest with the cooler in the back of my truck, and finding the cooler has nothing but water, soggy meat, and a little ice is not a good thing. Having to stop midway to buy and add more ice is also not a good thing. That doesn’t happen with a Grizzly Cooler. My Grizzly 150 Cooler stays in the bed of my truck 24/7, and has a reported ice retention of over 11 days. I personally have experienced ice retention of over a week in my travels, and that is more than good enough for me. It very well may have continued to 11 days but I quit keeping track. In the black, hot bed of my truck in the FL sun, and opening and closing daily. I don’t need any bad surprises when I open the lid, and I don’t get any with my Grizzly Cooler.

Durability is another important factor in my Grizzly Coolers. The mega-mart coolers would last me a season if I was lucky. I used to have a cooler junkyard in the back yard filled with coolers with broken hinges, latches, and cracked bottoms and lids. Not any more. Grizzly Coolers come with a LIFETIME WARRANTY. Not 1 year like the mega-mart coolers. Not 5 years like that company based on a fictional snow creature. Lifetime Warranty.

And the final reason I chose to align myself and Swamp Boys with Grizzly Coolers is they are Made in America. If there are 2 similar products with similar prices, and one is made in the Philippines supporting their economy, and the other is made in America supporting our economy, it’s a no-brainer. Be American, act American, buy American. Buy Grizzly.

BBQ Pitmasters Season 4 Selects Swamp Boys!

BBQ Pitmasters, Media, Sponsors 4 Responses »

Feb 122013

Swamp Boys has been selected as one of the teams competing on the Destination America TV Show BBQ Pitmasters! Details haven’t been released yet but as we can we will fill you in. Thanks to all of my sponsors who have helped us get to this point: BBQr’s Delight, Butcher BBQ, 3 Eyz BBQ, Wicked Q, and Grizzly Coolers!

BBQ Pitmasters on Destination America

Grizzly’s Invade Central Florida

Contests, General, Sponsors 1 Response »

Feb 112013

Three Grizzly’s have made their way to central Florida and I love it. I received my coolers from Grizzly Coolers for Swamp Boys BBQ Team today and they are awesome! The build quality is the best, the gasket is really thick, the ice retention is longer, and the price is competitive (if not lower) than the competition. Not to mention they come in colors and have a LIFETIME warranty!

Waiting for me when I got home from work

The 150 has lots of room!

Grizzly’s Invade Florida

A big “Thank You” goes out to the crew at Grizzly Coolers who make these. It is so great to own quality products that are proudly made in the USA! Be sure to stop by my cook site and check them out for yourself. I also have a brochure you can have if you want one. Love these coolers!

Swamp Boys Welcomes Two New Sponsors!

Sponsors No Responses »

Feb 072013

I am proud to welcome two new companies to the Swamp Boys family of sponsors, Wicked Que and Grizzly Coolers.

Jeff Campbell is a long time BBQ friend of mine who has formulated many of the products he sells. He has some great stuff, some of which I use in contests. Give them a try and I think you’ll find out why I use it.

My second new sponsor came about as a direct need that wasn’t being met. I’m not mentioning any other brands but I wasn’t able to meet my needs with a quality ice cooler. That is until I found Grizzly Coolers. Take a look at their web site and check out their extremely well-built products. Leaders in ice retention. Lifetime Warranty. Made in the USA. ‘Nuff said. Come by my site some time and take a look at them.