Will fell in love with Barbecue at Joe’s Kansas City Bar-b-que, when he first tried Kansas City Burnt Ends on a road trip to Kansas City, and he knew he would dream of those sticky sweet meat morsels for months to come. When he returned home to the upper Midwest, with nary a burnt end to be found, Will bought his first smoker, determined to learn to make them himself.

 

Will is a homegrown barbecue Pitmaster who learned the trade from watching experts, experimentation, and endless hours at the pit. From Aaron Franklin's online class to Chud's BBQ YouTube channel - no source of barbecue expertise was safe from Will's insatiable pursuit. Will invested thousands of hours at the pit trying out the advice he learned from those experts - tweaking and combining techniques until he perfected a process of his own. For years, only his friends and family were the lucky recipients of his delicious talents - until he was finally convinced to bring his barbecue to the public, and Whiskey Hotel Barbecue was born.

 

Will believes that barbecue is a part of America's hard fought cultural heritage and should be celebrated. As a former history teacher, Will knows that the roots of American Barbecue are humble, and the various styles of barbecue draw from the fabric of our American tapestry: from Indigenous, African, and European cooking methods.  Once, barbecue was the answer to making otherwise undesirable cuts of meat easy to digest and delicious to eat - often the only meat available for working class and enslaved people. In today's America, barbecue is a delicacy, but one that celebrates how American ingenuity can make the most out of anything. If you have the chance to chat with Will at his pit, he'll always be happy to talk shop.