Here’s a little peek behind the curtain of an editor’s life. I get hundreds of press releases a day — that’s no exaggeration. I delete nearly all of them straightaway, but some catch my attention. I pass most of those onto the team here at PJ Media, but I keep the occasional one for myself.
I kept a press release for myself because it offered me a pair of VIP tickets to an event that took place near me this past Saturday. My brother-in-law and I headed up to Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, Ga., home of the Gwinnett Stripers minor league baseball team, for the Big Green EGGtoberfest.
The gates opened for VIPs an hour before they opened for the general public, and that allowed us to check out some of the tents with a much smaller crowd around us. The disadvantage of the early entry was that at 10:00, some of the cooks didn’t have food ready.
A few of those who did had breakfast-oriented dishes on hand. The first thing my brother-in-law and I tasted was bacon-wrapped monkey bread; it was so good that we went back for seconds later. Another caterer had biscuits and gravy with a twist: these folks made the gravy with chorizo. I was wary, but it was surprisingly good.
One guy had some pineapple he had smoked and was going to chop up for salsa. I asked him if I could taste it, and I told him that the pineapple was worth serving by itself. And, of course, we sampled some of the typical dishes you’d expect at an event like this: rib tips, burnt ends, bacon-wrapped dates, brisket tacos, smoked cream cheese, and even Brunswick stew (which was too chunky for my tastes).
But there were also opportunities to expand my horizons. One tent was a group of ladies who call themselves Black Girls Grilling; their enthusiasm was infectious, and I don’t think I would’ve tried smoked oxtail without their encouragement. One tent offered a twist on sushi on a Big Green Egg, including Wagyu beef with wasabi and a riff on a BLT.
Several metro Atlanta restaurants had tents in a special area of the festival, including my favorite elevated Mexican place, Superica, and another fancy restaurant that I won’t name but that I’ve seen people rave about (what that tent offered didn’t impress me). Some of the sponsors had some interesting dishes available at their tents, including Ace Hardware. A friend of mine was working the Ace tent, which featured bacon-wrapped pizza rolls that were so much fun (the VIP swag bags even included directions on how to make your own).
We got to hang out for a few minutes with a couple of the guys from Bib & Tucker, the distillery that sponsored the event. I had written about one of their bourbons a few weeks ago, and that’s how I got the tickets. Bib & Tucker had two of their bourbons available for tasting, both of which I enjoyed, and they had a pair of intriguing cocktails available, including takes on the Old Fashioned and the Arnold Palmer.
For Our VIPs: Whiskey Wednesday: Sweet Surprises in Two Whiskeys I Tried This Week
I learned a lot about Big Green Egg and its history, including that it’s an Atlanta-based company. I went into the Big Green EGGtoberfest with open-minded expectations, and I had a blast on Saturday.
I got some great perks as a VIP at the Big Green EGGtoberfest — early access, smaller crowds, and plenty of good food. You can get some pretty great perks, too, when you become a PJ Media VIP. You’ll enjoy exclusive content, an ad-free experience, and the ability to join the conversation with your favorite writers.
