3 Georgia Restaurants Named Among The South's 50 Best BBQ Joints In 2023

Georgia may be best known as the Peach State, but there are plenty of incredible barbecue restaurants offering up the most delectable, flavorful barbecue you could ask for. Southern Living recently released its picks for the 50 best barbecue joints in the South, and three restaurants in Georgia made the cut:

• No. 2: Fresh Air Bar-B-Que
• No. 22: Southern Soul Barbecue
• No. 49: Fox Bros. Bar-B-Q

According to Southern Living, all three restaurants serve up some of the best barbecue around, and in a region known for its barbecue, that's saying something. Fresh Air Bar-B-Que in Jackson snagged the highest spot on the list, which states:

"Founded in 1929, Fresh Air is the epitome of traditional Georgia barbecue, and there's no other joint quite like it. [...] No brisket, ribs, or even chicken can be found on the smoke-blackened menu board. Here barbecue means one thing and one thing only: pork — specifically, 15 to 20-pound hams slow-cooked over hickory and oak. The finished pork is chopped into long shreds and dressed in a thin, tangy red sauce, and it's infused with the rich, juicy smoke flavor that you can only get from a direct heat pit."

These are the Top 10 BBQ joints in the South:

1. Snow's BBQ (Lexington, Texas)
2. Fresh Air Bar-B-Que (Jackson, Georgia)
3. Dreamland Bar-B-Que (Tuscaloosa, Alabama)
4. Louie Mueller Barbecue (Taylor, Texas)
5. Scott's Bar-B-Q (Hemingway, South Carolina)
6. Skylight Inn BBQ (Ayden, North Carolina)
7. Lexington Barbecue (Lexington, North Carolina)
8. Lewis Barbecue (Charleston, South Carolina)
9. Goldees (Fort Worth, Texas)
10. B.E. Scott's BBQ (Lexington, Tennessee)

Check out the full list at Southern Living to read up on more of the best barbecue joints around the South.