Our good friends at Green Mountain Grills supplied me with a 28 lb. bag of their new Premium Fruitwood Blend Pellets to try out and give a review on. Now fans of Drapers BBQ know that we are huge GMG fans. We love our Daniel Boone’s and our Jim Bowie’s. I personally have held off using GMG’s branded pellets for 2 reasons. Number one is there is not a dealer close to me and pellets are like propane when you need them you need them quick. Number 2 was their lack of fruit-wood flavors. I love apple, peach and cherry flavor pellets when cooking on my GMG. The folks at GMG have heard our requests and developed a fruit-wood blend. How would they compare to some of the pellets I have been using? Well let me tell you.
I opened the bag for the first time and I was greeted with a fruity aroma. I could not make out what fruit (as it is a blend) but it did smell sweet. The pellets were lighter in color that the other brand I was using previously. I don’t know that this makes a difference at all but thought I would report it anyway. The pellets appeared to be well made. They were solid and not crumbly and a variety of different sizes from half and inch to an inch long. GMG claims that they have less dust than other brands of pellets. I would tend to agree with that. I have only ever used 2 other brands and GMG appeared to have less dust. No scientific test to back that up just my 2 eyes checking.
I cooked 2 different meats with these pellets on 2 different days. I had a 5 hour rib cook at 230 degrees the entire cook and a 12 hour brisket cook at 225 degrees the entire time. I added a few different pellets at the end of the brisket cook just to make sure that I did not run out but do not think I used much if any of those. All in all I got 17 hours of cook time from a 28 lb. bag. I was pretty pleased with that pellet usage and the usage was right in line with what I usually use.
Results. That is what we are all about at the end of the day. Were the ribs and brisket good? How was the smoke ring? How was the flavor? These are the true tests of how good the pellets really are. 
Lets start with my ribs. Excuse the bragging here but I do think these were right up there with some of the best ribs I have ever made. Tried some new things with this cook. I tried a new blend of spices (Drapers AP as a base), did not wrap them, and the pellets. Look at that smoke ring. It is huge. The ribs did not have an over smokey flavor. You could really taste the meat and the rubs used. My eight year old son ate half a slab and he is like Mikey from the old Life cereal commercial. He won’t eat anything. Now for the brisket. It was a good brisket not a great brisket but a lot factored into that. I think I put a little to much rub on it and left it on about 30 min to and hour too long. The bark was a little crusty and I don’t think I got the smoke penetration I was looking for. It was a little roast beefy but good.
I have only one request for the good folks at GMG. I would like to see the breakdown of the fruit-wood blend and what type of fruit-wood it contains. The pellets performed very well during both cooks and I would not hesitate to use them again. With the fact that GMG gives you 8lbs more that the leading pellet brand for the same price it is a no-brainer to go pick a bag up. Check your local retailers for some new GMG Fruitwood Blend Pellets. I highly recommend them.
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