Monk: Last week I took inventory of how I did on my 2025 barbecue resolutions. If you need a refresher or missed that, check out the post here:

Even though results were mixed for my 2025 resolutions, I’m moving forward with (slightly) new and different resolutions for 2026.

What are my barbecue new year’s resolutions for 2026?

#1 Visit the joints I’ve been putting off (evergreen)

Gymnastics travels (for the eldest Monkette, not me) take us to Greenville, NC this spring so this will be a good way to plug in some of my eastern North Carolina holes. I’m planning for some combination of Bum’s, Grady’s, Wilber’s, and Stephenson’s to be in the cards.

I also want to revisit some more classic NC joints closer to home in the piedmont, specifically in the Lexington area. It may be time to refresh my Lexington-area rankings, which I first published in 2022:

Then of course there’s still the SC joints on my list: Elliott’s BBQ Lounge in Florence, Fork Grove BBQ in Anderson, King BBQ in North Charleston, and perhaps a revisit to Palmira Barbecue in Charleston.

#2 Getting back into cooking ribs

Now that I’ve conquered whole hog (kidding), I want to get back into regularly smoking ribs and trying to dial in my process. Way back in the dark days of early COVID I pulled out the old Weber kettle from the crawl space underneath my house that I hadn’t touched in about 5 years and haven’t put it back since.

In 2026, maybe I’ll now pull out the Oklahoma Joe’s offset from the garage and between the two figure it all out when it comes to ribs.

#3 Take a barbecue trip

This one may be a little aspirational with all of my other personal travel, but I’d love to figure out a barbecue-specific trip to take in 2026. What does that look like, exactly? Maybe that’s to an out-of-state barbecue festival, something that was on my list last year but not accomplished. Or maybe its a barbecue road trip by car somewhere in the Southeast? Or perhaps its a flight to to another state to explore their barbecue. I’m leaving it open-ended on purpose.

What’s your barbecue resolutions in 2026?

Monk: I’ve never really been one for New Year’s resolutions in my personal life, but for the first time last year I put forth some barbecue-related ones. The thing with resolutions is that some may be kept but some are also forgotten almost the instant they are said out loud (or typed in this case).

With that said, let’s see how I did utilizing our patented 5 hogs scale:

Resolution #1: Visit the joints I’ve been putting off
Verdict: 3 hogs

Going into 2025: In addition to Grady’s there are a few other newer joints that I want to check out (funnily enough, all in South Carolina): the James Beard-nominated City Limits Q in West Columbia, Fork Grove BBQ in Anderson, and the soon-to-open Elliott’s Barbecue in Florence from Elliott Moss formerly of Buxton Hall Barbecue. I hope to hit those this year for the first time and maybe revisit a classic NC joint or two in addition.

The verdict on this one is mixed. In 2025 I did finally visit the twice-James Beard nominated City Limits Barbeque in West Columbia plus a couple of NC joints I didn’t identify going into the year (Dampf Good BBQ in Cary and a classic NC barbecue joint in Real Q in Winston-Salem.

But the others I identified in my resolution but did not make it to were Fork Grove BBQ, Elliott’s Barbecue, and Grady’s.

Resolution #2: Attend an Out-of-State Barbecue Festival
Verdict: 0 hogs

Going into 2025: This year, its time to try an out-of-state barbecue festival, perhaps something like the Memphis in May Festival or Holy Smokes in North Charleston, both of which I’ve done in the past and would happily revisit. Or perhaps attend one that haven’t been to such as the Windy City Smokeout in Chicago, Jack Daniel’s World Championship in Lynchburg, TN or one of the many festivals in Texas like the Texas Monthly BBQ Fest in Grand Prairie or Houston, the Red Dirt BBQ & Music Festival in Tyler, or Aaron Franklin’s Hot Luck Festival in Austin.

I did not make it to a single out-of-state barbecue festival this year, and only attended the Carolina BBQ Festival’s Fall Pig Pick’n, which was a great event but decidedly in-town and not out-of-state.

Resolution #3: Smoke my own whole hog
Verdict: 5 hogs

Going into 2025: I’ve thought over the years about doing another one but just haven’t made it happen. Well, that needs to change and this fall I plan to do just that.

I did it! My second ever whole hog was a rousing success last fall, feeding about 350 people and I’m going to run it back this coming October. Ideally, with a little more help. Recap here:

Total: 8 out of 15 hogs

What about my 2026 resolutions, you ask? Check back next week.