DIRECTIONS:

The day before smoking, prepare one recipe of Zesty Beer Butter and one recipe of Sweet and Sassy Barbecue Rub. Mix the half cup of barbecue sauce with the dijon mustard in a small bowl and set aside. Then mix the Sweet and Sassy Barbecue Rub with the cup of brown sugar and set that aside.

Using a flavor injector, inject the pork loin all over with the Zesty Beer Butter. Once all the Zesty Beer Butter has been injected into the roast, rub the roast all over with the barbecue sauce/dijon mustard mixture. Be forewarned. This is messy. Then pat the roast all over with the rub/brown sugar mixture. This is messy too, but it’s worth it. Wrap the pork roast tightly in plastic wrap place the wrapped roast inside a bowl or baking dish in case of leakage and refrigerate overnight.

Thirty minutes before you are ready to smoke, remove the pork loin from the refrigerator, soak a mixture of cherry and hickory chips, and preheat your vertical smoker to 200 degrees. While the wood chips are soaking and the smoker is coming up to temperature, wrap a smoker rack with foil and place the roast on the rack. Lay the strips of bacon across the roast wrapping it from side to side short-wise and tucking the ends under the roast as necessary. After the top surface of the the roast is completely covered, lay the remaining strip(s) of bacon lengthwise and drape over the ends. Insert a temperature probe fully into one end of the roast.

Once the smoker is up to temperature, fill the water reservoir with 6 ounces of apple juice and a pint of water, fill the smoker box with the soaked wood chips, and place the roast in the smoker. Cook the roast in a 200 degree smoker until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees, roughly 2-1/2 hours. Baste with the remaining apple juice 2-3 times during the smoking process.

When the internal temperature of the roast reaches 145 degrees remove it from the smoker, wrap it tightly in foil, and allow it to rest 30 minutes to 1 hour before slicing.