Whiskey Hotel Barbecue

06/03/2026

You’ve spoken and we’ve listened!

The overwhelming response to our small run of both Burnt Ends and Meat Candy has us thinking they should go onto the regular menu!

So, from here on out the plan is that Meat Candy will be our regular Friday Special and Burnt Ends will be available on Saturdays every week! Both of those will be served as platters with two individual sides.

Now, we’re still going to throttle how much we make to reflect overall trends, and both of these items are going to be in limited supply each day. There’s just no way around that. There is no way to make barbecue both fresh and on demand.

The menu for this week is:
Pulled Pork Sandwich
Sliced Brisket Sandwich
Whole Hog Sandwich
“Pickle” Ribs
Meat Candy (Friday)
Burnt Ends (Saturday)
Smoked Polish Sausage

Sides
Elote
Smoked Mac and Cheese
Dill Pickle Pasta Salad
Smoked Beans

05/30/2026

We had a brisket come through that wasn’t going to cook up quite right and we thought doing some burnt ends with it would be a better treatment!

So we have a small amount available today!

Also at the Baseball Tap today we’re serving:
Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Sliced Brisket Sandwiches
Ribs
Jalapeno Cheddar and Texas Hot Link sausages
Beef Burnt Ends

For sides we have
Elote
Smoked Mac and cheese
Dill Pickle Pasta Salad

Come by 202 Walnut in Cherry Valley today and see us!

05/26/2026

I have a bit of news that’ll be of interest to some of you!

While back someone asked on a post if the old Whiskey Hotel gift cards can be honored down at the Baseball Tap. Well, Ryan and I discussed it and even though the operation down there isn’t “whiskey hotel” exactly (it’s confusing, I know) and everything is being done through the Tap we decided it’d be best to honor those cards and we did figure out how to make it work with the payment system down there!

So! Come on down on a Friday or Saturday and use them at the trailer! Importantly, they can only be honored on Fridays and Saturdays at the trailer and not inside at the bar.

I don’t typically ask for post engagement, likes, comments, shares, etc, but the algorithm favors posts that do, so in the interest of getting this information in front of as many of our customers who may have cards as possible, anything would be appreciated!

Hope to see ya’ll Friday and Saturday!

05/19/2026

Alright! Many have asked for it and here’s your chance!

We’re going to be doing a limited run of Meat Candy on Saturday at the Baseball Tap!

05/18/2026

Alright, baseballtap and I are now officially in phase 1.5 of our partnership. The Whiskey Hotel trailer now lives at the Tap!

For the last few weeks, we’ve only had barbecue available on Fridays. Just, as a new joint operation we wanted a chance to get our feet underneath us and especially now that we have the Pec Thing behind us we’re ready to expand into Saturday barbecue as well!

I also want to thank my customers from Ro/Ro who’ve made it down to Cherry Valley the last couple weeks, it’s been great to see those familiar faces.

And for fans of my mustard ribs, we’ll be doing those this Saturday!

05/16/2026

Come see us out at the Pec Thing at the Winnebago County Fairgrounds!

Today and Tomorrow!

05/15/2026

05/14/2026

Thanks again Rock River Current for the piece!

Come see us at the Baseball Tap tomorrow from 12-7 or on Saturday and Sunday out in Pecatonica at the Pec Thing!

A pair of teachers-turned-pitmasters have partnered to bring Baseball Tap in Cherry Valley new barbecue with a backyard feel.
📰 Full story: https://tinyurl.com/bbqbaseballtap
📸: Kevin Haas
Baseball Tap

05/11/2026

Hey Everybody!

So, I wanted to take a quick minute to thank all of my customers who made their way to the Baseball Tap on Friday! It was great seeing so many familiar faces! I also just wanted to touch on a few points of business for the weeks ahead.

We have the Pec Thing this Saturday and Sunday, and we will have Meat Candy, as has been so often requested! Hope to see ya there! On Friday we will also be operating at the tap 11-7!

Starting the following Saturday over Memorial Day weekend we’ll be expanding into being operational at the Tap on Fridays and Saturdays for the rest of the season!

And lastly, I did just want to give an answer to a question that’s come up a few times. Namely why I chose to migrate over to Cherry Valley and not, say, open up in the Schnucks parking lot in Roscoe. Well, a while back I did reach out to the management company that handles that parking lot and frankly, they just wanted too much to make it a viable option.

But the reasons that go beyond that are more important to me. It is just the case that teamed up with Ryan we’ll be better able to deliver that which we set out to do and that is to make the best possible barbecue we can, make enough of it to where the great majority of people get what they want and deliver that consistently. With the two of us the possibilities are just so much higher than if we were pulling our respective wagons solo.

But I want to hear from you! We’ve been cooking fairly conservatively as far as specials go, bust are there any of the things we did at Whiskey Hotel that you want to see in this new venture? For example, I’d really like to get to the point where we’re doing beef ribs on Fridays, but what are you craving?

05/06/2026

So, this is the announcement we’ve been alluding to for a while now. Ryan Spears and I are teaming up by pooling our resources and time. While I’m sure folks may have plenty of questions here’s the important part: Barbecue will be available at the Baseball Tap on Fridays until after the Pec Thing on the 16th and 17th. After that, we’ll have barbecue available on Fridays and Saturdays! We’ll make further announcements to that when the time comes.

We think this is the best path forward for both of us and our businesses as well as our vision for what we both feel barbecue in the Midwest is capable of being. I know that in particular, some of our fans in the Roscoe/Rockton area may be disappointed that I won’t be more local to that market, all I can say is to kind of repeat myself and say that I believe this is the best path forward.

If you have any questions put them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them.

But! this Friday we’ll be serving:
Pulled Pork (whiskey hotel style)
Sliced Brisket sandwiches (Baseball Tap Style)
Pickle Ribs (BT style)
Teriyaki Ribs @5:00 (WH style)
Crispy Skin Pork Belly
Pork Steak

Sides:
Smoked Mac and Cheese
Smoked Rib Tip Mac
Elote

What’s better than incredible smoked meat??? MORE incredible smoked meat!

One year ago, Will (Whiskey Hotel Barbecue) and Ryan (Baseball Tap) partnered up for the first time at the Pec Thing and have continued this situationship over the year with BBQ cookoffs, Whole Hog roasting, and general meat merriment. It’s time to DTR (define the relationship) and make this meatcentric bromance official. While a new joint BBQ brand is still in development, Will will be joining Ryan at the Baseball Tap every Friday through the end of May, and Fridays and Saturdays starting in June. You can also catch them at multiple events throughout the state line and submit catering and event inquiries for all your Whiskey Hotel and Baseball Tap favorites through the Baseball Tap website.