After leaving the hospital following his heart transplant in November, Josh Taylor began his road to recovery. At the time, he didn’t see himself being able to enter competitions as well as stock his homemade barbecue sauce on local shelves just eight months later.
The last month for Taylor has been filled with calling local stores like IGA and Value Liquor on 54 to get the sauce stocked, ready for to be purchased for kitchens of the community.
Customers can also find his sauce in a variety of places such as Reid’s Orchard, Hill View Farms, True Value’s (Philpot and Owensboro locations), and many others. Taylor hopes to increase his locations and to be able to provide his rubs as well.
While July started off good for Taylor, it’s been a long time getting here since his surgery in November.
“It wasn’t the joy ride that I was expecting that you see on TV. People come home and all of a sudden they’re walking miles and doing all this other kind of stuff,” Taylor said. “It’s still a big recovery process.”
He had difficulty with using his dominant hand and needed help from his wife Jill Emerson Taylor, and his team. Nonetheless, he still had a goal set for himself to get back in the groove of cooking regularly, which started with him cooking on his small grill at home.
By March, Taylor saw himself getting back to a steady pace. As he was getting better he started cooking more and delegating help when he needed to, and by May he was fit to compete in the annual International Bar-B-Q Festival.
“I thought it was going to be stressful, but because we’ve been competing together like a team — me, Jill, Steven, my uncle Ronnie — we realized that a lot of the things we just stressed about, [we said] ‘don’t worry about those things, just get the job done,’” Taylor said.
Taylor’s team competed in the pork and chicken contest during the weekend. Since this was Taylor’s first time competing in three years, he didn’t know how it was going to turn out.
Taylor placed third in chicken and second in the pork, and he immediately jumped and cheered upon hearing.
“When I got the second call, I jumped up and was screaming, and I brought the whole barbecue team, I brought the family on stage with me, and we all celebrated and it was, it was just amazing,” Taylor said.
To Taylor, moments like those are possible with the help of the following Big Daddy’s BBQ has received over the years. Since his sauce has entered stores, Taylor said he and his wife are getting messages from supporters buying it and enjoying it at home.
While Taylor said he’s blessed with the growth over time, he said there is more on the horizon for Big Daddy’s BBQ.
“Thank you for the support, but the story hasn’t ended yet,” Taylor said. “There’s still more to go.”
