Connecting the Dots...with a BBQ guy (McAdventures)

 This week on Connecting the Dots, I sit down with McAdventures, whose Instagram boasts the intriguing trio: Beer, Barbecue, and Bikes. We delve into how these hobbies enrich his life and discuss his work at Ladbrokes. Join us for a conversation that's as flavorful as it is fascinating!

Hashtags: #Hobbies #Podcast #BeerLovers #BBQ #Biking

Transcript

Speaker 3: 0:00

Well, it's week 29 since I turned 49. Almost rhymes. And I said that I'd do this thing where I chat to everybody most weeks about what they do and what makes them tick and what's interesting in this, their life. And so this week I'm chatting to a guy that's really defined on what his hobbies are. It's listed right there. He's social media. And I like, like, I like what his hobbies are. So I wanted to find out more about. his hobbies and what he does. And and so I've gone and met with him and chatted to him just before. And people sometimes say to me, Oh, you must know a lot of people. It makes it easier for you to do this. I mean, yes, I do know a lot of people, but that's not what I'm connecting. Some of the people I'm connecting here, I've known, you know, I know or I've known a long time. Sometimes I'm connecting with people that I don't know well at all, including this guy. I don't know his name. I do not know his name, it's not on his social media, and it didn't stop me from reaching out and going, Hey mate, I'd love to find out more about your hobbies and what you do. And he said sure, and it was just that easy. So, today we're going to sit and talk to a guy about his hobbies.

Speaker: 1:08

This is Mick Adventures. So, I've got you here today because I love the tagline in your Instagram, which is probably your main social media. You've got lots of social media going on. I have a little bit, yeah. But I love the, is it Beer, Barbecue, Bikes. Yeah, that's it. And while I don't know a lot about You know, any of them independently. Together, they just sound like a party. Yeah, exactly right. It just rhymed like B, B, B. Just worked out. Now, before we get into them, because I really want to chat to you about them, but let's start with where I always start with people is, what do you

Speaker 2: 1:40

do? Yeah, it's a great question. I work at Ladbrokes and Edds, or Entain is the company. So, I'm in data and analytics there. Awesome. I run a pretty large team. Which is cool.

Speaker: 1:49

And I know what, what, what's Ladbrokes do?

Speaker 2: 1:51

Yeah, it's a wagering company. So online wagering is what we primarily focus on in in Australia. And we've got some brands in New Zealand now as well, which is awesome. Okay. But yeah, pretty much a bookmaker online for the most part.

Speaker: 2:01

And for sports or do you do, you know, political

Speaker 2: 2:04

outcomes and Yeah, you definitely can. The the US elections are hot topics, so that was definitely one on there. But racing is the, the bread and butter. Yeah, gotcha. Yeah. And we're sitting down here in Deception Bay today. Why are we in Deception Bay? This is where I live. Beautiful place. Recently moved out here. Bought our first home, which is wonderful. Awesome. So, nice. Couple minutes from the, from the waterfront.

Speaker: 2:24

It's, it's a lovely spot down here. I get to run along the front occasionally and the paths down here are just amazing. Yeah, it's cool. I follow you on Instagram and I'm not even sure how I came to follow you. Well, I got that. I can

Speaker 2: 2:35

throw you a spanner here. Right, let's go. Yeah, beauty. So we were once at Sandgate Park Run. I reckon this is probably 2020, 2021. Right. I walked up and I didn't remember your name, but I recognized your face because I grew up with Steve Woolley in my teenage years. Right. And I remember you were commenting on their podcast for a little while. And yeah, I walked up to you and I was saying a name, but you were looking at me blankly because I wasn't actually saying your name for a while. Right. And that's where it was. From there, it's

Speaker: 2:59

yeah. There we go. And so forever, ever since then, I've been able to follow the journeys of, well, lots of barbecue meat. What do you, what do you call that? You know, it's not cooking. Is it smoking or does it all fall under barbecue? Yeah,

Speaker 2: 3:12

barbecuing is what we just call it.

Speaker: 3:13

Right. That's it. So tell me what your involvement is with Let's start with the barbecuing and the meat.

Speaker 2: 3:19

Yeah, easy. So, I just have a good time really on Instagram. That's, that's it. It started off, I I got my first Weber Kettle and I was like, cool, I'm gonna try and smoke some meat in here. I did a, I did a class a couple of years back and figured out you can do a lot with the Weber Kettle at that time. And then from there I was like, well, I'm gonna start posting it just for fun and then people start commenting and giving you hints. And you just learn from there. It just goes bananas because everybody has a different way of doing something. And then yeah, here we are now cooking in the Weber and the Steak and Beer Australia BBQ and yeah, having a good time.

Speaker: 3:49

And it gets to take you places. I see you're, you know, you're posting from places where lots of BBQ people turn up and, you know, make quite the day of it.

Speaker 2: 3:59

Yeah, that's it. So we actually started that. It was maybe last year. It was a couple of us. It was, and they're all on my shirt actually at the moment if you can see. I got it myself. We've got Sam, we've got Chris, and we've got Ollie. We're all just having a chat online and we're like, you know what, there's a lot of people in Brisbane who are doing this outside of the big festivals, which is Meatstock, which we can touch on later. We don't really meet up. So we decided all to meet up at Barbecue Mafia around September last year. And then from there, we're just hanging out all the time now.

Speaker: 4:23

Yeah, awesome. And it's juicy looking meat where these, there's these layers of colour in this and juice. What is it that's different about what you guys do than, you know, somebody like me putting, you know, You know, steak on the barbecue.

Speaker 2: 4:39

Nothing different realistically and that's the beauty of it. I think that's, that's sort of what I get a kick out of on my page is you don't need all these fancy technologies, fancy tools. It's just a little bit of technique and you can just make this banger meal.

Speaker: 4:50

Right, because it looks different.

Speaker 2: 4:51

Yeah, yeah, but it's not, not different. I promise you that. A couple of little, little things here and there. A bit of fire management for myself and yeah, that's about it. And what's, what's some of your favorite meats? It's a very good question. I mean, everybody loves brisket. Everybody loves pulled pork. I say everybody, most people love those items, I think. Lamb is just underrated. Australian lamb is just absolutely beautiful. So if it's pulled lamb, if it's just your lamb chops or something like that, yeah, just can't live without it, hey. Yeah,

Speaker: 5:18

awesome. And does it get into sausages or is that a

Speaker 2: 5:22

Yeah, sausages is like a niche of a niche. So there's probably two sausage masters around here that make some really good sausages. Big Bad Small Goods and Figgin Rooster, the one on my shirt. He's given it a crack lately. Yeah. They're awesome at sausages but I'm not ready to go down that road yet.

Speaker: 5:35

Let's touch on you mentioned Meatstocks, I mentioned that before I wander away from barbecue.

Speaker 2: 5:40

Yeah cool, so Meatstocks Australia's biggest barbecue and country music festival. Right. So they travel around, they do a fair bit now, they go past Australia but we've got one at Toowoomba, there's one at, I think it's a Bendigo now, there's one in Sydney, they then do Auckland and Brazil now as well.

Speaker: 5:54

Yeah okay, and is, so is that for people, Like you to turn up to or is it people like me to turn up to and you know, just gorge on this? Yeah,

Speaker 2: 6:03

it's a good mix of both right so they've got food trucks They've got obviously music and things like that going usually over three or so days They have stuff running throughout the whole time bull riding They've got Australia's strongest the weightlifters all going along doing events over the three days you just buy your tickets as a punda and off you go. Have a good time. Yeah, awesome. That's usually what I go and do. This year I did a little cook with with Jackalope for a demo just for about a couple hours, but yeah, other than that it's for anyone to go along to.

Speaker: 6:28

And one of the, I, I see in your videos that you sometimes, what's the, the claw y thing you're holding onto? What's that called? Yeah,

Speaker 2: 6:34

that's the bear claw.

Speaker: 6:35

The, it's called the bear claw and what's it do?

Speaker 2: 6:37

So that's for, to hold on to the meat realistically. So I can either shred the meat with that one or I can hold on to the meat while I'm slicing it without really burning my fingers. If I need to get a good grip, obviously it stabs right in, and obviously it's also a very good microphone holder.

Speaker: 6:51

Which is why I see it in your videos, you've got it clipped onto your microphone, your microphone clipped onto it. Beer, let's move on to that one, your other, your other, your second B. Yes, that's it.

Speaker 2: 6:59

What, tell me what your involvement with beer is. It really likes it when I drink it. That's my involvement with beer realistically. So I used to sort of just pop along to craft breweries where I was living closer to the city a little while ago. They were everywhere. I had like Hodfellows, All In, Ather, all sort of within a small area of each other and that's really all it was. I just liked to drink beer. So.

Speaker: 7:20

And in, in, And I know a little bit more about the third thing than the first two

Speaker 2: 7:25

bikes.

Speaker: 7:26

Yes. You've got one?

Speaker 2: 7:28

Yeah, definitely. I've got a Harley, so 2020 Softail Street Bob. Nice. Yeah, it's good. I only ride it to work at the moment though, but it's still all right. Is it your first bike? No, it's not. I've been riding for maybe Maybe 12 years, give or take. It's my third bike along the line. So first Harley, my first Harley, that's it. And so I've always wanted a Harley. I grew up with my with my uncles having Harleys and cousins, et cetera. So that's what I wanted. One of my,

Speaker: 7:51

One of my team at work, rocked up to work the other day on a brand new breakout. Yeah. There's. There's a bit of admiration going on with that. It's beautiful, hey? Beautiful. So what next for you in the barbecue world?

Speaker 2: 8:04

Yeah, it's a good question. So I've been doing a lot of events down at J. K. Barbecue and Outdoor down in Loganholm lately. Okay. Just free events, casual people come along and have a good time. I'm planning on doing some beginners classes there as well. That's sort of where I want to go next is get a lot more into classes and demonstrations. So I've done a few demos, as I said, at Meatstock the Australian Brisket Board, I've done a demo there at their birthday recently, and then JK we've done a couple. But I just get a kick again out of teaching people that what they do is not that different to what I do. It's just a couple of little techniques here and there and then of course some really good seasonings and off you go. Yeah, awesome. So yeah, that's, that's the next plan.

Speaker: 8:37

And if somebody's wants, in this area locally, you know, we're, we're sitting down here at Deception Bay, and a lot of the people I know are around this, you know, north end Northern Suburbs area. Where can they go and get some of this, you know, great barbecue foods? Where's some of the, you know, commercial operators that are doing it?

Speaker 2: 8:53

Yeah, definitely. So here, this far north of Brisbane, Old School Barbecue at Deception Bay. Like, I wouldn't pass it up. Okay. They do some great stuff. They're loaded, they're loaded fries. Absolutely wonderful and would feed two people or one of me. Could feed three people as well even. But but yeah, their brisket is usually absolutely spot on. Their pork's spot on as well. Yep. You've got smoke and button racks at Redcliffe. Yes. They're very popular. They've got probably one of the biggest catering setups for going out to places and doing stuff. So, definitely wants to hit up. But if we're heading towards the city, places like Barbecue Mafia and Bare Knuckles Barbecue are more my favourites. Right, where abouts are they? Barbecue Mafia's at Coorparoo. Okay. Bare Knuckles is at Salisbury and they also have one at Carina now, I think it is. Yep. Yeah, awesome. Yeah, but there's plenty. Give it a Google, there's so many around. Thank you very much for chatting with me today.

Speaker: 9:37

Nah, thanks for coming down. I grew up always in awe of the Honda Goldwing.

Speaker 2: 9:41

Yeah, nice Truro. Jump on that, go to the other side of Australia, put the radio on, cup holder, off you go. Can you imagine if they legalised quads? Yeah, it'd be pretty

Speaker: 9:49

cool. That'd be fun, wouldn't it? Pretty cool.

Speaker 4: 9:51

Actually, while we were sitting there and doing the video, I said to him, I said, I don't know your name, and I'm actually going to talk about that, how that's not a it should be a blockage for people that want to reach out to people for, you know, not just this type of stuff, but you know, in business, or to find, ask a question, or ask help. You can skip past that. Be it or don't let it be a block that you don't know someone's name. And and I still don't know his name and and he liked that idea. So, it was great talking with him and he's a man of mystery, but there is no mystery about what this guy likes when it comes to hobbies. And I hope to share some barbecue meat with this guy soon.