Brinson’s Bar-B-Que, Millen, Georgia: The 2025 Georgia Tour

I rose with the roosters for the 83-minute drive toward Millen to meet Keith McClendon at Brinson’s Bar-B-Que for Brinson’s 9:00 am opening. I first met Keith during The Great Charleston RoadFood Crawl, but we’d communicated online for a while. Keith has been in the food business for many a decade, and knows just about everyone connected with food, from small grocers to well known chefs. He knows them and they like him, as everyone who meets him must. Here’s a shot of Keith at a later stop down the road, with that satisfied look of a man who’s had three barbecue meal before noon.

Doesn’t he look like a great guy? Keith was the perfect person to help me with my long-delayed eating tour of Georgia.

Brinson’s was stop #1 because if was over toward his home, and because it opens so early. Brinson’s is actually a few miles south of Millen at 3924 West Old Savannah Road, with nothing but fields and forests as far as the eye can see, save the blur of an occasional car whizzing by.

Brinson’s first opened 59 years ago, and it hasn’t changed much since they advanced from the shack with a chopping block and a counter to the current concrete block building. The interior is Spartan in its simplicity.

There’s no fuss or pretense about Brinson’s. They cook pork butts. On weekdays they use pellet smokers, but on weekends a guy (she mentioned his name but …) cooks over coals on their masonry pits. It’s a family place. From his perch Keith noted a crib in the back, and I saw a super-cute child rolled though to the side room in s stroller. And the people who work there could not be more genial or friendlier. They treat you like a neighbor. It’s a lovely place to eat.

I looked over the menu. (You need to bring cash, but not overmuch.)

I noted that they offer hash. Keith explained that Brinson is in a culinary transitional zone between South Carolina hash and Brunswick stew. Interesting, and well worth serious study and tasting, as you shall see.

Anticipating our ambitious schedule for the day, I ordered a child’s size sandwich and a cup of hash.

Let’s open up the sandwich.  

And here’s the hash.

You can see a transition from hash to Brunswick stew, as a few whole butter beans and corn kernels are in there, and the meat pieces retain definition. It’s delicious, by the way. a little lighter, a little eless earthy, but rich and filling. I’m going to enjoy this research.

The pork, meanwhile, was good, with fresh-smoked cooked pork. The big story, though, is their sauce. As you can see, it’s a mustard sauce, a complex one with good vinegar and excellent flavor. I have to redo my list of Best Barbecue Sauces. It reminds me of Morris Barbecue, and Parker’s, for that matter, where a great sauce makes a huge difference. I need to figure out a way to get back down to Brinson’s when they’re cooking over that pit. Lordy! Brinson’s definitely is worth a trip. I hope you’ll give it a try.

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