My strategy when the Feast Portland tickets go on sale (mark your calendars now- Feast 2016 is slotted for September 15th – 18th, and the schedule comes out sometime in May 2016) is to first look at the small events. Specifically, this means immediately quickly examining what is listed in the Dinner Series, as those only have so many seats and are apt to sell out the fastest out of all the Feast events. After that, check out the Hands On Classes before browsing the rest of the events. Many events will sell out for Feast, but the other events tend to have greater capacity so you are a little safer not buying your tickets within those first few hours that the Feast website goes live with 2016 events.

My other tip is that don’t go shopping around putting multiple things in your shopping cart and then checking out. As soon as I decide I want something, I check it out right away. This saves me clicks from trying to recreate my shopping cart in case the website isn’t taking the load well. At the same time in another browser tab you know I’m reading about other events as I go through the shopping card purchase transaction.

As a backup, I have the Feast twitter feed – there are sometimes issues with the website, though I have never experienced it (then again I’m likely one of the first 100 or so people using the site since I have it set on my calendar early). There, you can tweet questions and sometimes get additional contact info for help.

This year, I pulled the immediate trigger when I saw the Aaron Franklin’s Stumptown Coffee Cookout. While many of the dinner events costs hover close to $150-$200, this one was a mere $75 and offered three hours of bbq. Usually, to get this low and slow delicious meat you would have to fly to Austin, wait in line for a few hours (even if you go when Franklin’s BBQ opens there’s a line! The first person there in line gets there around 6 AM usually!), and Aaron Franklin may not even be there. For the relatively much lower price of $75, I would save the travel, the time, and see the BBQ god himself. Sold!

So that’s how at 3:30 or so after my Lyft deposited myself and NomNerd at Stumptown Coffee Roaster’s location on SE Salmon, I was the fifth person or so in line, smelling the aroma of that smoke like Pepe Le Pew.

Once we entered, there was a small lull where we were supposed to get beverages, so I helped myself to some Buffalo Trace Bourbon neat although they were also offering cocktails and slushees (!!). There was also wine by Acrobat available, amazing Bonfire Iced Tea which I multiple cups of thanks to Steven Smith Teamakers (I may have also used the tap of this tea in the media lounge many, many times throughout the weekend and now I want my own kegarator of just tea).

Widmer Brothers Brewing also offered two of the special Feast collaboration beers they had created for Feast:

• The collaboration with Aaron Franklin: a Rauch und Kirschen Helles Lager brewed with 10 pounds of cherries smoked by Aaron Franklin
• The collaboration with Stumptown: El Injerto Coffee American Style Pale Ale with Guatemalan Finca el Injerto Bourbon coffee

PS the only one I didn’t get to try was the one from Andy Ricker, so if you see it go on anywhere, please let me know 🙁

Ok, so there was still a line to get Aaron’s wagyu brisket, ribs, and sausage along with Snake River Farm Tri-tip steak from the nation’s first and only BBQ Editor, Daniel Vaughn of Texas Monthly, plus sides of spoon bread, spicy slaw and Woodsman baked beans from The Woodsman Tavern’s Andrew Gregory. There was sliced white bread (which I ignored) and also a special Espresso Barbecue Sauce, naturally. Dessert came via Woodblock Chocolate Moonpies.

While in line (which is where I had my chocolate since it was on the way to the meat…) everyone got to admire the smoker that Aaron Franklin himself helped build and which was freshly driven up from Austin. We also were entertained by the honky tonk music from the Lonesome Billies

I ran into someone I knew from the Pacific Northwest BBQ Association judging circuit, Gary Fujino who was closely observing the bbq behind the scenes! More importantly, check out that smoker behind us!

But it was a mere 15 minute line to get this… first the “snack station” of the Tri-Tip Steak from Daniel Vaughn. Naturally I had to carefully observe the slicing of this… I should warn you now this is going to be a meatastic post too so vegetarian eyes may want to turn away now.

And now the approach to getting the sausage and that wagyu brisket (sourced from Snake River Farm) sliced for you by the man himself, Aaron Franklin. I suddenly turned into paparazzi. Somehow, I was speechless and just silently squealed but didn’t have the courage to say hi to Andy Ricker (who was also hanging out for BBQ from the man), but put Aaron Franklin in front of me and I go crazy. I’m so lucky- at my turn at the table he just pulled out a new brisket too! You can literally seeing me taking a photo with every step ha ha. If I only I had a real camera with a faster shutter speed there would be 6x as many.

The most beautiful brisket I’ve ever seen being carved into slices for me by Aaron Franklin personally

OMG that wagyu brisket, best brisket of MY LIFE.

Then the ribs

This is the BBQ OF MY DREAMS.

The end of this blogpost.

Other Aaron Franklin Stumptown Coffee Cookout coverage:

• Eater.Com How Aaron Franklin Cooked Barbecue for Portland’s Feast
• NomNerd Feast Portland Aaron Franklin Stumptown

 

Disclosure: I was granted a Blogger Pass for Feast Portland 2015 for blog post and social media coverage but I am not otherwise being compensated. I also purchased my own Feast event ticket to this Aaron Franklin Stumptown Coffee Cookout and am covering it because I just wanted to easily be pull up pictures of this spectacular meat whenever I want by searching my blog.  I will always provide my honest opinion and assessment of all products and experiences I may be given. The views and opinions expressed in this blog are entirely my own.