Tipperary Hill Opening Round: Game 1
(1) Blarney Stone's "Hot" wings: 2
(4) Rosie's Sports Bar & Grill's "Hot" wings: 1
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Kicking off the highly competitive Tipp Hill Bracket, is Blarney Stone's hot wings (pictured left) vs. Rosie's hot wings (pictured right). This was a tight race as both sports bars featured well-above average wings. Rosie's deserves credit for outstanding wings with great meat, great skin, and a slight hint of garlic, but more so were highlighted by an intense heat and some of the hottest wings in the tournament. I also liked the fact that a few wings still had the tips on them, which was a welcomed surprise and leads to the possibility that they cut the 3-joint wings themselves, but some of the drumettes suffered as a result and were boney, small, and in some cases indiscernible. While most categories were a draw (hence the low score), Blarney Stone was able to come up solid in just about each category and pulled out a 2-1 victory over Rosie's wings that had great, slightly crispy and chewy skins, above average meat, great heat level, and delicious wings covered in plenty of flavorful Buffalo sauce.
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Tipperary Hill Opening Round: Game 2
(3) Nibsy's Pub's "Hot" wings: 5
(2) Patsy's Pizza's "Hot" wings: 0
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The next Tipp Hill match-up featured Nibsy's hot wings (pictured left) ushering in the first shutout of the tournament in a 5-0 victory over Patsy's Pizza (pictured right). Patsy's was only able to muster up a fight in the heat department, with wings soaked in plenty of tasty hot sauce that had a great Buffalo flavor, albeit vinegery. Aside from that, uninspiring chicken meat, small wings, dry skins, and a flavorless blue cheese with no celery made it easy susceptible to a defeat by the opposition. Nibsy's wings, served in a wooden basket lined with tin foil and in a pool of mouth-watering hot sauce, easily took the match-up and were by far some of the best wings in the entire tournament. Though its wings had hints of fattier meat and an exterior skin that was slightly thin, Nibsy's were otherwise flawless. Its tasty, jumbo-style wings were coated in a perfectly balanced hot sauce that made them, in my opinion, the definition of classic Buffalo wings that contained just the right amount of heat.
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Tipperary Hill Second Round: Championship Game
(3) Nibsy's Pub's "Hot" wings: 2
(1) Blarney Stone's "Hot" wings: 1
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The championship round of the Tipperary Hill bracket featured Nibsy's and Blarney Stone in a fierce battle for the 3rd spot in the Final Four. Blarney's hot wings are truly excellent and admittedly, will always be my biased wing of choice when on Tipp Hill. With a perfect amount of heat, outstanding skins, and tasty and chunky blue cheese, it's hard not to pick them, but the "oldest tavern in Syracuse" barely edged them out. While Blarney's had an excellent amount of sauce that made getting fingers messy enjoyable, Nibsy's overwhelmingly better flavored sauce was the deciding factor and helped by its jumbo-style wings that put Blarney's to shame. A battle royale going down on Tipp Hill between Nibsy's, Rosie's, and Blarney made it difficult on this wing judge, but Nibsy's was able to come up the victor over them all with outstanding Buffalo wings and deservedly earns the title of best wings on Tipp Hill.
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One division remains and the three teams in the Final Four, Change of Pace, Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, and Nibsy's Pub, await the winner of the Southside / University Hill bracket which will be revealed within the next several days. Pulled Into Syracuse's 2011 Wing Tournament Champion will be crowned within the next week so stay tuned!
