BRAWLEY, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 11/06/09 -- Pitmaster Eric Johnson and his team Mr. Bobo's Traveling BBQ Allstars, who last week won the brisket competition and placed 9th overall at the 21st Annual Jack Daniel's World Championship Invitational Barbecue, today revealed their secret ingredient: hand-picked, specially aged Brandt Beef.

The competition, which is the Crown Jewel of the professional BBQ circuit, only invites the top 82 teams from the United States and Europe to compete. Johnson and his team, who have competed successfully for 10 years, used Brandt's naturally raised, hormone-free beef to earn the title of World Champion in the brisket category.

"When Eric Johnson was selected to participate in the competition and told me he was 'counting on me to pick some winners,' I took that to heart," says Eric Brandt of Brandt Beef. "I went old school, hand-selecting the brisket and then placing it into our proprietary aging process that we pride ourselves on. We then went on to trim the brisket a few days before the cook-off and sent it overnight to New York. A few days later, when Eric called me to tell me they had just won the brisket competition and Chef Adam Perry Lang handed him the trophy for best brisket, I was jumping up and down."

In May 2008, Johnson began using Brandt brisket in BBQ competitions after touring the company's ranch in Brawley while competing in the California State BBQ Championships at The Stagecoach Festival in Indio. It was soon apparent that Johnson's talent for barbecuing combined with the all-natural Brandt Beef brisket was a winning combination as the team finished the weekend as the Overall Grand Champion. The rest of the year continued to be successful for Brandt Beef finishing fourth overall in Brisket at the Great American BBQ Contest in Kansas City, and winning the brisket state championship in New York and New Hampshire. Brandt Beef was also awarded "People's Choice" at Troy New York KCBS BBQ Contest. When asked what the 'Secret to the Secret' was, Brandt said, "When our briskets are in such high demand that I can never make enough of them, I just might share it. Until then, that secret remains a secret."

Gaining awards and being a part of winning teams is not foreign to Brandt Beef. In 2006 the Master Chef's Institute awarded Brandt Beef with the Master Chef's Seal of Excellence, the only beef in the United States to be allowed to bear the prestigious seal. In 2008, Brandt Beef became the official beef sponsor for the prestigious Bocuse d'Or USA Culinary Competition where its products were used by some of the country's most talented culinary chefs.

"I think this last competition proves the depth of quality of our family's naturally raised beef," says Eric Brandt. "It shows that our product cannot only compete in the fine dining world of the culinary elite, but in the heart of those who cherish a good old fashioned American barbecue."

Award winning Brandt Beef Brisket and Brandt Beef Meaty Back Ribs can be enjoyed at Zeke's Smokehouse in Montrose, Calif. and West Hollywood, Calif. where long time loyal fans and supporters of Brandt Beef Leonard Schwartz, Michael Rosen and Ron and Kirk Gelsinger pooled their talents to deliver the kind of authentic barbecue dishes found in Kansas City, Memphis, or Greensboro, North Carolina. More information can be found by going to: www.zekessmokehouse.com.

About Brandt Beef

Brandt Beef -- The True Natural, is a single family owned premium natural beef producer for the up-scale restaurant and retail markets. The Brandt family is dedicated to sustainable practices and is passionate about producing the most consistent, highest quality, 100 percent source verified natural beef on the market. Through cattle selection, natural feeding practices and humane treatment of animals, Brandt Beef produces a product that is unparalleled in taste, tenderness and consistency. Brandt Beef received the Master Chefs' Institute Seal of Excellence for its commitment to produce a superior natural beef product. For more information on Brandt Beef, please visit www.brandtbeef.com.