Smokey Pig Bar-B-Q
2520 Louisville Rd.
Bowling Green, KY
Visited November 2, 2010
Beer selection: Bud Light, Miller Lite, etc., (except on Election Day).
Food: Genuine Kentucky Barbeque.
Barbeque is one of the greatest things in life.
It’s right up there with hot summer days at the beach and cold beer… Oh and elections where entire waves of socialist, nanny-state, gun-grabbing baby killers go down in defeat.
Makes life worth living.
Part of the joy of barbeque is the wide range of regional variations in America.
Beef in the west. Pork in the east. Ribs in between. Vinegar in North Carolina. Mustard in South Carolina. Tomato everywhere else.
And that’s just the beginning.
If you dig a little deeper and get off the main highway, you’ll find all sorts of different local BBQ specialties.
Like here in south-central Kentucky, you can get your barbeque “dipped” in hot sauce.
All along the Kentucky/Tennessee state line, you’ll find BBQ joints serving “dipped” smoked meats.
The Smokey Pig here in Bowling Green, perched precariously on a cliff overlooking the Green River, is a perfect example.
Usually, the meat being dipped in this region is sliced pork or a pork chop.
But since the true barbeque test is a simple shredded pork sandwich, that’s what I ordered – with a side of Smokey Pig’s famous hot dipping sauce.
It was a good choice too – one of the best BBQ sandwiches I’ve had.
Honestly, it didn’t even need any sauce, it was already moist and well-saturated in a tomato-based concoction.
But the little styrofoam container of orange hot sauce was an eye-popping mixture of cayenne and black pepper. One dip of the meat in that stuff and my whole head was tingling.
The hot sauce really reminded me of the delicious hot sauces used on fried chicken at places like Price’s in Nashville or Keaton’s in North Carolina. The idea of applying it to pork is a mind-blowingly good idea.
I also had to try a bit of the dark sweet sauce already on the table.
And you know what? That was a pretty good combination.
The sweet and the hot really complimented the smokey flavors of the pork.
As hot as that sauce was, I could really use a beer, I thought.
But if the barbeque hadn’t already blown my mind – what came out of the friendly young guy’s mouth at the counter definitely would have.
“I can’t sell you a Miller Lite until the polls close in an hour,” he said.
Huh?
“It’s Election Day,” he helpfully reminded me.
Uh, yeah. I’m well aware of that.
But what the heck does that have to do with me downing a Miller Lite with my sandwich???
“Oh, I guess it’s because they don’t want some guy to say ‘Vote for my guy if I buy you a beer,’” he explained.
Instantly recognizing the ridiculousness of it all, he dryly quipped, “Like they can’t do the same thing with a pack of cigarettes.”
“Don’t give them any ideas,” I immediately replied.
Wow. Let’s think about this for a minute.
Kentucky politicians are so corrupt that they actually have to BAN the sale of alcohol on Election Day just so they can’t buy votes!
As my fellow soulmate in sarcasm likes to say, “Clearly, the terrorists hate us because we are free.”
Rating: Bought the Shirt!
