August Swine in Sugar Hill not only serves up barbecue plates based on time-honored recipes and techniques, but the new restaurant also tells a fascinating story, a mini-history of a Southwest Georgia family’s devotion to farm-to-table dishes.
The new restaurant – which opened Dec. 13 – is owned and operated by Christian and Deme Merritt and leans on Christian Merritt’s experiences growing up on the family farm in Albany.
“This barbecue thing has been a part of our family as long as I can remember,” said Christian Merritt, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps and worked for three-plus decades in the plastics industry before getting into the restaurant business. “As long as I’ve been on this name, I’ve been down on the farm, watching my grandfather and my father raise pigs and host pig roasts for the holidays.”…