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Hungry for more BBQ? Click here to read certified BBQ judge Adrian Miller's BBQ history and restaurant roundup.

Want to make BBQ at home? Click here for recipes from some of our favorite restaurants.

With so many local barbecue spots to choose from, it can hard to decide where to go. Here, a breakdown by house specialties. Bonus: Keep reading for the quick list of Colorado's BBQ competitions.

Bison Spareribs
Bison tends to be leaner than beef or pork, but the lower fat content makes smoking the meat a challenge. However, Big Hoss's and Big Papa's do it up right, serving bison ribs that are always flavorful and never tough.

Beef Brisket
Beef brisket—a mighty cut that comes from the cow's chest—is difficult to barbecue, requiring lengthy cooking times. But you'll taste how good "low and slow" can be in Country Time BBQ's thick-cut slices that smell of hickory, oak, and fire. Brickyard BBQ also serves sliced brisket with a lighter smoke flavor and a crispy outside edge—don't miss dunking bites into the mildly spicy sauce. The savory and tender brisket at Whole Foods' Smokehouse is sliced before your eyes—and it's delicious.

Chicken
Here's a secret: The best barbecued chicken is cooked bone-in to keep the meat moist. Both Hog Wild and Big Papa's embrace this technique, and it shows. Pieces arrive whole (not shredded or chopped), tender, with the skin tanned from prolonged smoking. For a twist, check out "The Bob," a skewer of smoked chicken breast pieces marinated with jalapeños and wrapped in bacon, at Yazoo BBQ Company.

Hot Links
This is a generic term for highly spiced beef or pork sausage. We were surprised by the wide variety offered locally. Of all the options, we prefer the coarsely textured pork links at Country Time BBQ and Smokey Jackson's BBQ, as well as Wolfe's Barbecue's juicy beef sausages. We're also captivated by the hot link appetizer at Jim N' Nick's, where dark, spicy sausage comes with slivers of jalapeño, Dijon mustard, saltine crackers, and a dollop of pimento cheese.

Pork Shoulder
Pork shoulder, a tough cut that requires lengthy cooking time, is usually served chopped up or shredded by hand (often described as "pulled"). The best servings include pieces of the bark, the outer layer of shoulder meat that has the most smoke and all of the dry rub spices. Bark or otherwise, don't miss the pulled pork at Big Hoss, Bono's, Country Time BBQ, Famous Dave's, Jim N' Nick's, or Whole Foods' Smokehouse.

Pork Spareribs
Pork ribs in Denver tend to fall into two categories: the St. Louis style-cut with the rib tip of meat and cartilage removed, or the plain sparerib with the rib tip attached. Big Papa's and KT's dish up meaty St. Louis-style ribs with decent amounts of dry rub spices. Or, find excellent full ribs at Country Time BBQ (deeply smoked with hickory and oak wood), Jim N' Nick's (chewy and slightly sweet) and M&D's Café (the mouthwatering "small ends"). If you're looking for baby back ribs—a smaller, meatier rib cut from the back and not the belly—make a trip to Hickory House Ribs.

Colorado BBQ Competitions

If you're looking for a front-row seat at a Colorado barbecue competition, you'll have to hit the road for most of them. Here, a sampling of the summer's major events—be sure to check the festival schedule because many of the events offer classes on cooking and judging barbecue a day or two before the actual competition.

Boats, Blues, and BBQ, Pueblo, June 6-7
Pueblo puts on a good show and tasty barbecue on the historic Arkansas Riverwalk. There's tons of food to sample and an ample amount of live music. This family-friendly event also includes an ice cream-eating contest and a competitive cook-off for kids. www.puebloharp.com

Colorado BBQ Challenge, Frisco, June 13-14
Now in its 15th year, this competition draws thousands to Frisco's main strip. With a scenic backdrop, competitors from several states vie for bragging rights in high-altitude barbecue cookery—not an easy feat. Bonus: Don't miss the live pig race. www.townoffrisco.com/bbq

BBQ at the Summit, Dillon, August 8-9
This is Colorado's largest (and the world's highest at 9,156 feet) barbecue competition. Here, competitors vie for top honors in categories ranging from barbecued chicken and barbecue sauce to salsa and dessert. Along with a top-notch live music lineup and five people's choice awards, the event always cooks up something unexpected, like the regional Elvis Presley Impersonator Contest. www.bbqatthesummit.com

Hungry for more? Check out the website of the Rocky Mountain BBQ Association for the very latest on barbecue contests in Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico. rmbbqa.com/

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