This just in: The Tweetsie Trail now has its own official barbecue sauce.
Packing a slogan, “The More Tweet, The More Heat,” local businessman, Mike Miles, owner of The Smokehouse BBQ Company located at 1941 Milligan Highway in Elizabethton, said since his restaurant is located adjacent to the trail which runs from Johnson City to Elizabethton, it only makes sense to give his customers “a little taste of the trail.”
The sauce is Mile’s own recipe, one that he has developed over the years from an original recipe he acquired many years ago.
He has a story to tell about how he got that recipe. It involves a mysterious restaurant owner from Chicago, the man’s escape from gangsters and a tragedy that marked his arrival in the Johnson City area.
A complicated tale, Miles says he hopes to write a book one day. But for now, he adds, he will stick to serving great barbecue – pork, chicken, ribs and brisket – and the sauce that goes with it.
“Over the years, I’ve changed the sauce, tasting it and experimenting with it,” Miles said. Now, he says, he has it just right.
The sauce comes in 16-ounce and 8-ounce sizes. Customers can purchase bottles of the sauce – emblazoned with the official Tweetsie Trail logo – and bring the containers back later for a refill at a discounted price. It is available at the Smokehouse BBQ Company and at the Johnson City Farmers Market.