Woolly Bully is a competition champion!
Willie Brown, aka The Pit Specialist, is a backyard chef who posts on TikTok and Reddit, sharing his love of barbecue and his experimentation with different styles with over 11,000 followers, (with occasional cameos from his dog Ruby). He is always working to blend his South Carolina heritage — think pork and hash over rice — with the fall-off-the-bone tradition of his adopted home of Houston, Texas.
Willie has amassed a large following because of his larger-than-life personality, and because he stays away from overpriced ingredients and complicated cooking systems, making delicious-looking food that his viewers can replicate. He is also a wealth of knowledge on sauces, rubs, and sides, and seems to have cooked with every type of charcoal briquette that exists (and some that do not!)
We first met Willie in 2025, when he tried the Woolly Bully and found that it made an immediate improvement in his cooking. With heat radiating down from the lid in addition to up from the flame, he was able to get crispier chicken skin, more evenly cooked meat of all types, and reduced cooking times, allowing him to pursue his grilling passion while keeping up with his day job as a satellite communications technician. He also explains the Woolly Bully to his viewers frequently, for which we are grateful!
In March, motivated by the quality of the food he was making and the feedback he was getting from his online followers, Willie entered the Smoke the Station Rib Challenge, a one-day rib cookoff to benefit the Damon, Texas Fire Department.
Woolly Bully was proud to sponsor Willie, sending him our (very) limited edition apron and covering some of his costs for the event. Out of all the entrants, Willie was the only one who had never competed before, but we never doubted him. On game day he showed up with a U-Haul full of grills, a couple coolers full of meat, and a smile on his face, and went to work.
Willie cooked two sets of ribs: one set on a 22" Weber Kettle with Woolly Bully, and one set on a Weber Smokey Mountain. His Kettle + Woolly Bully ribs were done in 2 hours, letting Willie serve them to spectators and guests, who voted in a People's Choice category. His Smokey Mountain ribs took a bit longer, and Willie saved those for the judges themselves.
When all the votes were counted, Willie had won both categories, completing the first-ever Damon Double!
Congratulations to Willie, and thanks for all your support of the Woolly Bully.
Follow the smoke!
Audrey & Max