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Featured Replies

John Mueller has gone to the great pit in the sky.  He was a conflicted person but, when he was on his game, he could smoke the crap out of a brisket.

 


 

Edited by Hornius Emeritus

he lived hard. I’d been worried about him for a while. the last time I saw him was in georgetown and he looked damn rough. 

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He did not go gently into that good night, I have no doubts. 
 

RIP brother. There’s no tax man in heaven. Probably lots of them in Hell though. 

Was always a big fan and went to all of his joints in austin. When he was on, there was no one better. No one could coax more flavor out of oak and black pepper than JM.

On the rare occasion I make a bbq sauce, I still always make that JM style sauce gravy for bread dipping.

He made his mark on his own terms. Always treated me well. See you on the other side.

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Sorry to see people mocking him less than an hour from his death. He had his demons with alcohol and money management, but his beef smoking abilities were second to none and he always seemed kind to me and my friends. I probably owe him 20 lone stars from all the times he walked up with a half full case when I was standing in line or at a picnic table. RIP John. 

31 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

JM style sauce gravy for bread dipping.

Any hints would be appreciated.

Well John. I hope you can finally find some peace.

When you were on your game you were great.

I will drink a Bud Light remembering the good old days.

1 hour ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

John Mueller has gone to the great pit in the sky.  He was a conflicted person but, when he was on his game, he could smoke the crap out of a brisket.

 


 

Holy shit thats him on the right, also!!????

 

cancer?

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Fuck.

 

Y'all remember the Eat for a Cause event he came down to Houston for back in like 2014? That's the John Mueller I chose to remember.

4 minutes ago, GreenspointTexas said:

Holy shit thats him on the right, also!!????

 

cancer?

Maybe but cirrhossis is a possibility

RIP.  Ate at his establishments twice, and they were both great.  Never got stabbed.  Seemed like a troubled guy, hope he finds some peace.

The best brisket I’ve ever had was from him at the trailer off congress back in 2006 or so. The barbecue world lost one of its best. 

Shoeless Joe goes to that great pit in the sky.  Only had his stuff once not being local to Austin post grad but damn it was good.  

Best BBQ I have ever had. His beef rib is the best piece of meat I have ever had. 

 

Rest easy John.

This was the first real bbq I ever had after moving here, ‘06 or so when nobody GAF about rankings or south Austin in general.   RIP.  

“LeAnn Mueller said she thought her older brother had found his footing, and was shocked to learn of his death.”

Doesn’t sound like some sort of long term illness some are hinting at.

1 minute ago, Gil Bang said:

what's the origin of the "stabby" thing?

He threatened to stab you if you took a beer out of his cooler. They were free, but only he was supposed to go in there and hand them out. Some people took the comment as intended. Some people took it seriously. I took the free beer that he handed to me. 

 

Damn. RIP.

My favorite pic of him was the one with him wearing a blazer (and tie?) for some TV thing behind a podium? And the behind the scenes photo shows he's just wearing random shorts with it behind the podium.

Any hints would be appreciated.

Sauté diced white onion in a stick of butter and brisket drippings. Add Heinz ketchup, white vinegar, garlic powder, and plenty of coarse black pepper.

John was the BBQ savant. Troubled but none better. He knew me from Shaggy and always treated me like a VIP when I stopped by. 

I tip my hat.

(Any business that I had between me and him is between me and him.)

Edited by Steel Shank

When people my age go out early....  Especially those who can create art.... 

Ouch.

 

 

RIP John.

36 minutes ago, PantsTent said:

“LeAnn Mueller said she thought her older brother had found his footing, and was shocked to learn of his death.”

Doesn’t sound like some sort of long term illness some are hinting at.

Agreed.  And him moving to DFW and taking on the Hutchins gig.  But still, he didn't look great in recent pics.

Damn the second pic on the bottom tweet is rough to see

 

Edited by bluto

1 hour ago, PantsTent said:

“LeAnn Mueller said she thought her older brother had found his footing, and was shocked to learn of his death.”

Doesn’t sound like some sort of long term illness some are hinting at.

One thing that can get long-term alcoholics is an esophageal hemorrhage.  All the guzzling gives you essentially varicose veins of the esophagus.  Those can rupture (especially if you're heaving up after a rough evening) and you can exsanguinate through your mouth.

Talented dude, and could be super nice when he wasn't in a stabby mood. I will always have fond memories of his tomahawk pork chop.

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He knew his cue.

He always treated me and my family well.

He had his demons. A good number of them.

Peace, John.

Damn. Never followed him after his joint on Manor Road closed, but I went there often and missed the hell out of it. Enjoyed his posts on shaggy.  RIP.

Remember at the Alamo Bowl Tailgate where all those people were loading up all their little portable Webber’s with a full bag of charcoal and lighting on fire, causing a 4 ft flame and Shaggy had JM’s smoker on a trailer, cranking out world class Q.

9 hours ago, Mez2 said:

Y'all remember the Eat for a Cause event he came down to Houston for back in like 2014? That's the John Mueller I chose to remember.

A seminal moment in my bbq education.  Bringing a headlamp was the best decision I could have made.  Captain Stabby just had me follow him around all night peering the light over his shoulder when he'd check the meats and fires.  And poor Wes, he'd just bought the Pappa Charlie's trailer and that thing was spic and span.  Then John said go and within the blink of an eye there was so much salt and pepper thrown around that place there's probably still pieces of cracked pepper wedged it the joints of the sheet metal.    

Last saw him a few years ago at Black Box.  I said hello from the next table.  He said "WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING" 

RIP Legend. Thanks for not stabbing my father in law

Edited by Lazarus Bocanegra

Hadn't eaten at one of his places since the south 1st trailer around 2012 but it was good stuff every time I went. Took family there several times. 

He used to be a regular at the downtown Round Rock bars I would frequent in the mid 2010s. Many times I'd be at the bar and in would walk John, always with that Under Armor hat, and he'd sit at the bar and order up. Made small talk a few times but never mentioned bbq to him. 

Heard recently he was at Hutchins in Frisco so thought about heading up there to check it out. Poor fella, those pics of him at Hutchins didn't look like him at all. At least his suffering in life has ended. 

Back in the east 6th street days, he was waiting on his trailer inspection and couldn't officially be open. However, you could text him an order for cash pickup.  He texted me to pick up at Kellee's Bar next door around 10am.  I showed up and he's at the bar by himself and had at least a dozen empty bottles in front of him. We went back to the trailer and packaged up my order. He didn't act like he'd even had one drink. Seemed perfectly sober and cordial.  He gave me a couple of beers to go from the cooler.  Since he wasn't going to be open for a couple of days, I realized that the free beer he gave away was just the beer he hadn't drank yet that day.  I knew right then that's how he'd go. You're pretty much past the point of no return when that's your daily lifestyle. 

RIP to John. Was always nice to me and was a master of his craft. Truly one of the greats. 
 

His battle with his demons is over. 

RIP John.

That Alamo bowl tailgate was epic, which was the only time I've ever met him. On that cold ass day, his q was on-fucking-point. 

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There were two things that would piss him off:

1. Get beer out of his cooler. He would always bring you one eventually

2. Walk behind his pits. And if you raised the lid to take a look you would get stabbed.

I'll never forget him chasing off this hipster douche in a fedora. The cunt went behind the pits, raised the lid and started poking brisket and licking his fingers. 

"Get the fuck out!!" Here comes John with a butcher knife.

Back in 2013, I took my groomsman to John’s place for lunch on my wedding day. I reached for a Lone Star and he told me, “I was to aggressive” and proceeded to serve the rest of the line before me. Then came back and handed me a beer and said, “now you can have one.”

We ordered a pile of meat and he found out that it was my wedding day and gave our group 1/2 off the meal.

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