The hickory-smoked allure of Alabama’s Conecuh sausage
Evergreen, a 20-square-mile South Alabama town with a population of 3,591, according to the 2020 U.S. census, may not have the history of Birmingham and Selma, Huntsville’s U.S. Space & Rocket Center, or the SEC splendor of Tuscaloosa and Auburn, but it does have a statue of a giant pig enthroned on a lawn chair armed with a grilling fork. He sits outside the Conecuh Sausage plant, home to hickory-smoked links that inspire unparalleled devotion.
Henry Sessions started the company, originally called Sessions Quick Freeze, as a meat-processing facility and cold storage locker in Evergreen 75 years ago. A few years later, he started processing and packing meats, and quickly became known for his hickory-smoked sausages. The company pivoted from storage to production, changed its name to Conecuh Sausage in 1986, and relocated to its current spot right off I-65’s Evergreen exit, about halfway between Montgomery and Mobile.
Even when they’re not on their way to Florida or visiting a South Alabama sausage festival, locals love Conecuh too — and during football season, it’s their meat of choice. On Saturdays, the autumn air is thick with the aroma of grilled sausage emanating from backyards, living rooms, and stadium parking lots.
The Deep South doesn’t play around when it comes to pork. In a region where plenty of anthropomorphic pigs beckon passersby to sit down and enjoy a pulled-pork sandwich or plate of smoky ribs, Conecuh sausage stands above the rest.The company uses a secret blend of seasonings, and the Sessions family, which still owns the brand, has kept the recipe the same since Henry conceived it. Conecuh sausage’s strength lies in its subtlety.
While the ingredients are important, Conecuh sausage’s defining factor is its hickory smoke. “I’m sure [the hickory] is probably locally grown there in Evergreen, but it’s the process of getting that smoke into the sausages” that distinguishes the brand, Webb says. “I guess it would be equivalent, you know, to have an old hickory smokehouse on the farm. And they put that farm flavor all over their sausage.