Chili and beer

They go together like milk and cookies. They go together even better when the beer is on the house.

Sunday I had the opportunity to be one of the 12 judges for Town Hall’s Chili Cook Off and it was a blast. Scott was the only one I really knew but there were a few others I’ve seen before and the whole panel of judges seemed to have a great time. None of us were doing it just for the free beer but it was a nice perk.

There were 21 chilies entered but thankfully we didn’t have to try all of them; that would have been a lot of chili! As it was, each team of 3 judges sampled 5 entries in the first round and advanced their agreed upon top 2 to the semi-finals. There we each tried the additional 6 chilies the other judging groups had chosen.

The cream of the crop was evident so it really just came down to which chili would take the top spot. That honor ended up going to Pete, but since he wasn’t in contention for a prize, second place got the $200 gift certificate. I’m not sure who took home the people’s choice award as I had to leave before the chilies were even opened up to the public for a vote to get ready for a Superbowl party. I'll have to check that out the next time I'm up there.