Day One Recap

I unfortunately need to keep this short because I'm dead tired and about ready to fall asleep. Today started at 5:45 AM Chicago time and it's now 1:00 am Buffalo time the next day and I'm still going, but not for much longer...

First things first, my highest compliments go out to Matt Reynolds and the entire wing hunt crew. If you haven't looked at Matt's site to see the cast of characters that he's pulled together, click here to go there now and take a look - they are a very interesting bunch of folks and all very very cool people. Their stamina over the past weeks is absolutely amazing as each individual has consumed on average 850 wings over the stretch and even hit 11 wing restaurants in one single day. Their collective devotion to the wing is deeper than any that I've ever seen before.

Steve and I had an absolute blast meeting up with the crew for the very end of their tour and I think we were able to give them a breath of fresh air as they came down the home strech. Our time at the first joint was amazing because we got to demonstrate wing eating techniques, catch (or attempt to catch in my case) wings in our mouth in the parking lot, and at one point I was able to have about a 20 minute chat about my love of the wing. It felt like a deep fireside chat about life at a camp or something.

You can see all of our pictures from Day One by clicking here.

Overall, I think Steve and I safely put away over 120 wings during the day today and this is just the beginning. Here's what our agenda looks like for Day 2:

• 9:00: Drive to Niagra Falls to see the sights
• 12:00(noon)-10:00PM: At the National Buffalo Wing Fest
• 1:00: 0.5K Running of the Chickens - gotta see this
• 2:00: Hot Sauce Recipe Contest
• 5:30: Bleu Cheese Bowl Competition
• 6:00: USA Chicken Wing Eating Championship

We'll be posting all during the day tomorrow so stay tuned.

Peace, love, and grease!

Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth

PS: My favorite picture of Day One, Hunter Al Castor outside of Duffs having a smoke.

Wing Judging

In the midst of the wing judging as we speak, some good, some not so good. But overall a great time! Will post pictures later tonight.

Scott and Steve before judging

During Judging

Scott Judging

Scott Lowery inducted into Hall of Flame

At a private ceremony Drew Cerza and the Mayor of Buffalo has just crowned Scott Lowery and his late partner Jim Disbrow as the newest members of the Hall of Flame.

Done with Duffs

Just leaving the last official stop on the tour, Duffs at the corner of Sheridan and Millersport. Great experience overall, I liked the wings more than Steve did. This was the final stop on the tour and it seemed like a bitter sweet ending. Speaking of endings, The Mighty Thor decided to order up 15 death wings at the very end. They were exceptionally painful for most of us except for Ron who calmly put away 4 wings. To give some perspective the hot were classified as 35000 scoville heat units and the 150000 scu.

Outside of Duffs (they started making wings at about the same time as the Anchor Bar)

The "death" wings from Duffs.

Ron calmly putting away 4 death wings

See all of the great pictures that we were able to get from Duffs

Will post more later, we're off to the baseball stadium for an invite only event put on by the wing king.

Wings wings wings

Stop number one (Buffalo Brewpub is finished, and wow was it amazing. I really don't know what to say right now it is so surreal. The wing hunters are dragging to the finish line but it seemed like we boosted their spirits a bit. We started off by sampling four different wings. We walked them through several wing eating techniques, had a twenty minute "fireside" chat about the state off the wing industry, and capped things off with some wing toss out in the parking lot. After several failed attempts, Steve actually caught one. Now we are on our way to the next place, Duffs.

Outside the Buffalo Brewpub

Scott with the owner of the Buffalo Brewpub

Scott demonstrating a wing eating technique

Steve catching a wing in his mouth in the parking lot.

See the rest of the pictures from the Buffalo Brewpub.

PLG

Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth

Best Wings in Buffalo?

Saw a sign with that claim already at the airport. Will post picture tonight.

First New Experience

Decided to rent a car at the airport. 60 bucks per day at the counter, jumped on Priceline and got it for 30 a day. Nice ride, in and out in less than 30 minutes. I love the internet and buffalo.

Our new ride!

Steve and Scott in the ride.

Arrived in Buffalo

Things have gone well so far. Met Steve at O'Hare at about 730 and boarded the flight to Buffalo. Now we're on our way to the hotel to pick up our new Cluckbucket gear and to meet up with Matt and the Chicken Wing Hunt crew at Bar Bill Taven. Will post again from there.

Here's the rest of today's agenda:

• 1:00: Meet up with the wing hunt team at Buffalo Brewpub
• 3:00: Journey with the wing hunt team to Duff's
• 5:00: Private pre-show reception at the National Buffalo Wing Festival
• 7:00: Judging in the "America's Greatest Wing Sauce Competition"

Peace, love, and grease (plg)

Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth

The Wing Tour Begins

Its official. I'm off to Buffalo for the weekend events. I just arrived in Chicago for an evening layover. I'm craving wings! Must hold out till tomorrow.

CluckBucket.com announces u-Cluck-2: an educational resource for wing lovers worldwide

Greetings fellow lovers of the wing. Labor Day 2007 is almost upon us and this year that marks two very significant events for the world of the wing - the exciting conclusion of the Great Chicken Wing Hunt (Matt Reynolds' two-week documentary tour through the wing promiseland) and the 6th annual National Buffalo Wing Festival (Drew Cerza's popular two-day tribute to the wing). Sharing with the excitement and momentum of these amazing events, we at CluckBucket.com are proud to release a new online resource for wing lovers worldwide: u-Cluck-2.

u-Cluck-2 (which stands for University of Cluck 2.0) is a gift to wing lovers worldwide from the Original Brothers of Wing, Scott "The CluckBucket" and Steve "The Vanilla Cluckilla" Roth. In the initial release of u-Cluck-2 you will find seven video demostrations of wing eating techniques that have been paramount to the our enjoyment of wings over our 40+ combined years of wing consumption. In the compilation of videos, classic techniques such as The Smash, The Small Bone Twist, and the Badlands Booker Spin Move are paired up with newbies like The Finger, The Plunger, The Scooby Doo, and last but definitely not least, Scott "The CluckBucket" Roth's own creation and personal/crowd favorite - The Grenade.

In addition to the wing eating technique videos, the initial release of u-Cluck-2 also contains an updated Chicken Wing Dictionary. Back in 2001, the we published the initial Chicken Wing Dictionary which has been used by millions (if not thousands or hundreds) to brush up on their wing lingo and assure that they are constantly up-to-date with the latest wing nomenclature. The current release provides new and old wing lovers alike a chance to standardize their wing commentary on a generally accepted set of terms.

The current u-Cluck-2 site is only the beginning as many more exciting features will be added over the coming weeks and months.

Visit u-Cluck-2

PS: As a side note, you may be wondering to yourself - if this is University of Cluck 2.0, where was University of Cluck 1.0? Well, stop wondering, it simply didn't exist, we just thought that the name "u-Cluck-2" was pretty catchy so we had to make something up...

Peace, love, and grease!

Scott "The CluckBucket" Roth
http://www.cluckbucket.com/

Democrat & Chronicle: Audio Slideshow

Here's a great audio/picture slideshow from the Great Chicken Wing Hunt's stop in Rochester, NY.

Enjoy the show!

Democrat & Chronicle: Audio Slideshow

Capital News 9 | 24 Hour Local News | HEADLINES | "Great Chicken Wing Hunt" rolls through Albany

Coverage of the Wing Hunt's stop in Albany, NY.

Capital News 9 24 Hour Local News HEADLINES "Great Chicken Wing Hunt" rolls through Albany

Wing Hunt | WTVH-TV CBS 5 Syracuse, NY | Local News

Coverage of the rolling documentary on wheels from Auburn, NY. We'll be there with the crew in just four short days!!! Can't wait, I've already begun fasting...

Wing Hunt WTVH-TV CBS 5 Syracuse, NY Local News

The Great Chicken Wing Hunt: Roth brothers join the hunt

Blog post by documentarian Matt Reynolds about the Roth Brother's participation in The Great Chicken Wing Hunt.

The Great Chicken Wing Hunt: Roth brothers join the hunt

The Roth Brothers set to attend upcoming wing events

In an announcement long over-due (something that I'll explain later on in this post), I am proud to share with you the fact that myself (Scott) and my brother Steve, The Original Brothers of Wing, will be travelling to join up with two of the most exciting wing events ever to occur - The filming of the documentary The Great Chicken Wing Hunt and the 6th annual National Buffalo Wing Festival.

The Great Chicken Wing Hunt: During the morning of Friday, August 31st I will fly from Portland and Steve will fly from St. Louis to Buffalo, NY. Immediately after we arrive in Buffalo we will meet up with Matt Reynolds, a filmmaker who is the in the midst of filming a documentary about the buffalo wing, “The Great Chicken Wing Hunt”. We will be Matt’s guests of honor and will join a caravan of wing enthusiasts and dignitaries as we sample the deep fried delicacies of five local restaurants. These five restaurants are the culmination of the caravan’s two week journey from Manhattan and Buffalo on a quest to find the best buffalo wing in the world…

The National Buffalo Wing Festival: On Saturday, we will join the “Wing King” Drew Cerza (you may have recently seen him on Throw Down with Bobby Flay on the Food Network) at Dunn Tire Park for the 6th annual National Buffalo Wing Festival. While there, we will join the crowd in sampling wings from over 25 participating wing joints from around the country. We’ll watch the world's foremost competitive eaters battle it out in the buffalo wing eating contest, and may even participate in the 0.5K Running of the Chickens. In addition, I Steve and I will get to put our years of buffalo wing eating experience together as we serve as honorary judges in one of the festival's wing cooking contests.

The Anchor Bar: Last but certainly not least, we will pay homage to the birthplace of the wing by having dinner at the Anchor Bar, the very location where Frank and Teressa Bellisimo created the first buffalo wing some forty years ago.

The Wedding Surprise: The reason why this announcement is so late in the game is because it was officially unveiled this past weekend. Back in In April 2007 Kama (Steve's finance at the time) asked Scott what the greatest wedding gift in the world would be for Steve. After much deliberation and contemplative thought, Scott arrived at what he thought would be a winner - this trip to Buffalo. Kama surprised Steve with the unveiling of the gift at the wedding rehearsal dinner on Friday, August 17. Kama first gave Steve what he thought was his gift - her ability to accurately recite the colleges and mascots that make up the Big Ten Conference - then she dropped the real bomb by asking Steve to read her one more college basketball related question. Much to Steve's surprise, the question that he was reading, actually was the agenda of the trip that he and Scott were scheduled to take to Buffalo merely three days after he and Kama got back from their honeymoon.

We hope to meet many of you wing lovers in person in Buffalo!

Peace, love, and grease!

Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
http://www.cluckbucket.com/

Cluckbucket: Chicken Wing Eating Techniques; The Washing Machine

One of the most wing knowledgeable high school students in the Portland area, Cameron "The Black Hole" Dunlap recently shared his patented wing eating technique with us. Click on the link below to learn how to do The Washing Machine...

Cluckbucket: Chicken Wing Eating Techniques; The Washing Machine

I've asked Cameron to video tape his technique and share it with us, stay tuned...

Great Rochester Wing Hunt

Details have recently been released about a leg of the Great Chicken Wing Hunt. Use the link below to learn more and join the fun in Rochester:

The Great Chicken Wing Hunt: Great Rochester Wing Hunt

Great Manhattan Wing Hunt

Details have recently been released about the first leg of the Great Chicken Wing Hunt. Use the link below to learn more and join the fun in Manhattan:

The Great Chicken Wing Hunt: Great Manhattan Wing Hunt

Interview with Matt Reynolds - Chicken Wing Documentarian

If you are a lover of the wing you've probably seen by now that a new film is in the works - a documentary that will recount the buffalo wing's rise in popularity as well as attempt to find the world's greatest buffalo wing in the state of New York. On a recent evening, I had a chance to sit down with Matt Reynolds and find out more about his passion for the wing. Here's how it went...

Cluckbucket: For the record, please state your name.

Matt: My name is Matt Reynolds. I was briefly known as Matt "Old Hickory" Reynolds in high school but the nickname didn't stick.

Cluckbucket: Why a wing documentary?

Matt: I've been looking for two years to transition from text journalist to documentary filmmaker. Buffalo wings were a subject dear to my heart. The more I thought about doing a wing documentary, the more it made sense. I believe wings are on the verge of pizza-like stardom. I also believe that I, having 1. grown up in wing country 2. lived abroad and 3. practiced journalism for eight years, am uniquely qualified to understand and interpret this moment. Imagine if you could go back to Naples in 1640 and locate the best pizza, the prototype for this food billions of people eat, film it being made, interview its chef, and document the culture that produced it. That's what I want to do for the wing.

Cluckbucket: What/where was the best plate of wings that you've ever consumed?

Matt: My best plate of wings was Danny Boys, Newark, New York, 1992-1994. Some say atmosphere counts heavily in determining the quality of a wing. Not as a separate consideration. But that it actually affects the taste and how you remember the taste. It may be so -- Danny boy's had a 10 cent wing night that epitomized the best of wing culture: young women in tight stonewashed jeans, beer, pot-smoking in the parking lot, bar games such as table shuffleboard and darts. And yet I really believe there was something special about their wings -- big, juicy wings. Crispy, but not too crispy. Very hot (they called them suicidal) but still buttery as a medium. (pet peeve: when a bar cranks up the heat with peppers (good) but then takes it up another notch by removing the butter (bad)). Their pepper of choice was the habanera.

Cluckbucket: Do you always hold true to the buffalo wing flavor, or do you ever consume wings with an alternative sauce like BBQ, teriyaki, or others?

Matt: I occasionally try a novelty wing. I have nothing against them. I try to be objective. If someone came up with a wing better than a Buffalo wing, I would feel honor-bound as a journalist to acknowledge its superiority. But I haven't had that experience yet. I went to a bar last week with 30 flavors -- parmesan, boss sauce, jerk, et cetera. None of them were as good as their straight hot Buffalo, although the Buffalo parmesan came close.

Cluckbucket: Lastly, if I want to be involved in the documentary, how do go about doing that?

Matt: Email me at matt@chickenwinghunt.com. The trip is open to the public. All are welcome. You can learn more about the Great Chicken Wing Hunt at the following sites:
.
http://www.chickenwinghunt.com
.
http://www.cluckbucket.com/events/greatbuffalochickenwinghunt.htm

Peace, love, and grease!

Scott "The Cluckbucket" Roth
http://www.cluckbucket.com/