Good Morning! 

It was a week full of grill releases, which is always exciting. It started out with Weber unveiling their new grills for 2025. They released Smoque, a new pellet smoker, that they priced under their Searwood pellet grill, at $699. They are positioning it as Smoque is for smoking and the Searwood is for smoking and grilling.

They also released new Spirit gas grills, which are their least expensive models. They gave the Spirit a number of upgrades, with my favorite being Boost Burners. There’s an extra setting on the gas control knob to turn on an extra burner for added searing power. It’s a feature that we first saw on Weber's new Q+ portable gas grills last year, and it’s neat to see feature carried over.

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Those are the grills that Weber released this week, but they are likely working on a new built-in grill called Horizon. Many grill companies are moving towards outdoor kitchen models, and currently Weber only sells the Summit as a built-in in the US market. It will be interesting to see what Weber can come up with for outdoor kitchens, especially if it’s purpose built for that.

Traeger also had a big release this week with the Woodridge. Much like our initial info on the Horizon from Weber, we’ve actually been tracking the Woodridge release since January of 2023. It’s their new entry level model, where the Pro Series used to sit. The biggest surprise that I didn’t anticipate is the Woodridge Elite model has an infrared side burner on it. It’s priced less than the mid-tier Ironwood grill, but it’s seemingly the better buy.

Have you noticed lately that it's hard to find reliable product reviews? I know that's the case with grills, outside of sites like Smoked BBQ Source, Amazing Ribs, Hey Grill Hey, and of course CookOut News, there's a lot of fake/bad reviews. I've even seen grill recommendations for grills that are discontinued. There was a good article this week on the reason behind it from the Washington Post (subscription required) that I was quoted in.

Char-Griller released a new value priced charcoal kettle grill. It’s a 22” model priced at $129 that has some nice features at that price point. It has an ash catch can at the bottom for easy cleaning, a temp gauge in the lid, and top and bottom vents for heat control.

Big Green Egg has a new website that looks better, and is more focused on the online shopping experience. The company they worked with on the redesign, Netalico, wrote a blog post about how they scoped and executed the update. It's an interesting behind the scenes read.

Finally, Camp Chef's parent company, Revelyst, has appointed Simon Waters to the newly created role of President, Licensing and Entertainment. Camp Chef is no stranger to licensing with their recent Guy Fieri Woodwind Pro, so we'll see how they expand that strategy into more areas.

Enjoy the Weekend! Go Lions!

Wes Wright

Founder and CEO

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Sponsored By Big Green Egg

At Big Green Egg, we’re not just the best Kamado grill on the market; we are a lifestyle brand dedicated to enhancing outdoor entertaining. The Big Green Egg believes in bringing families, friends and neighbors together to cook over live-fire. Our “EGGhead” community of loyal fans create memories with the delicious and diverse food they can prepare on their Eggs. 

With a rich 50-year history and a strong presence as an iconic brand in the outdoor kitchen industry, we are committed to providing our customers with premium products and a seamless experience, both online and offline. And we are now hiring for our headquarters location in Atlanta!

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