A day of perfect scores
3
perfect 180s
3 perfect 180s were scored at this contest — every judge at the table handing back a nine.
- Brinkerhoff BBQ · Pork
- SoCal Outlaw BBQ · Pork
- B' MACKIN BBQ · Pork Ribs
BBQ & Brew Festival
2026-02-27 – 2026-02-28 · Yuma, AZ · 📍 100-200 Blocks Madison Ave · State championship
Reps: MICHAEL SANTIAGO, RHONDA SANTIAGO · Prize money: $9,100.00
Grand Champion: B' Mackin BBQ (703.9428) · 25 teams
Reserve Champion: 🥈 Meat Candy Q
The contest at a glance (read off the scored boards)
How the field scored
Overall totals, every team on the board — tall stacks are where the pack sat.
612.42
median 681.02
703.94 🏆
How the meats cooked
Every board on one scale — the bar runs last score to first, the dot is the median.
- Chicken 178.86
- Pork Ribs 180.00 🔥
- Pork 180.00 🔥
- Brisket 178.30
145.67
180.00
Entries
25
4 judged meats · 1 ancillary
Top score
703.9428
Winning margin
4.5712
GC over RC
Field average
678.81
612.42703.94
median 681.02 · last place to winner
Tightest race
Chicken
3.4516 pts across the top 5
Top-10 cutoff
685.6116
612.42703.94
10th place overall
Field spread
91.5204
winner to last place
Prize money
$9,100.00
on the line
Double threats
5
teams with 2+ top-5 calls
How hot was the win?
Top 18%
beats 82% of 4707 Master Series wins in the data
Form held
Moderate
ρ = -0.59 between pre-contest rating and finish
Field strength
1619
avg power rating going in · stronger than 88% of contests
Storylines (4 found in this contest's numbers)
Everything below is read straight out of the results — the number on each card is the one that made it a story.
Photo finishes
Tie
closest of 15 calls decided inside half a point
Chicken places 2–3: LOOT N' BOOTY BBQ and Bushmaster BBQ tied on 176.5600 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Chicken places 8–9: SoCal Outlaw BBQ and Can Do BBQ tied on 171.9772 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Pork Ribs places 2–3: AJ’S SMOKEHOUSE BBQ and Meat Candy Q tied on 178.8572 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker.
- Chicken 2–3 · tie
- Chicken 8–9 · tie
- Pork Ribs 2–3 · tie
- Pork 1–2 · tie
A double category winner
2
category wins in a day
B' MACKIN BBQ won Chicken, Pork Ribs — a double, and took the Grand Championship on top of it.
- Chicken 1st
- Pork Ribs 1st
How the title was won
3 of 4
meats called to the stage
B' MACKIN BBQ took the title on 3 calls from 4 meats, with 2 outright wins — their weakest board was pork at 15th.
- Chicken 1st
- Pork Ribs 1st
- Pork 15th
- Brisket 6th
Score curves (score by finishing position — steep cliffs mean a spread field, flat lines a knife fight)
Category showdown (top / average / median score per meat)
Score distribution
Biggest rating movers (power-rating points won and lost at this contest)
Did form hold? (pre-contest rating vs overall finish — ratings called it if the dots climb to the right)
What a call cost (the score it took to finish 1st, 5th and 10th)
| Category | 1st | 5th | 10th |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 178.8572 | 175.4056 | 171.9656 |
| Pork Ribs | 180.0000 | 175.4056 | 170.8460 |
| Pork | 180.0000 | 175.4056 | 173.1084 |
| Brisket | 178.2972 | 173.1316 | 170.8228 |
Official results on kcbs.us ↗
Master Series
Overall
25 entries · top 703.9428 · median 681.0168
Chicken
25 entries · top 178.8572 · median 170.8228
Pork Ribs
25 entries · top 180.0000 · median 169.6800 · 🔥 perfect 180
Pork
25 entries · top 180.0000 · median 171.9772 · 🔥 perfect 180
Brisket
25 entries · top 178.2972 · median 169.6800
Ancillary categories
Run by the organizers alongside the sanctioned contest. These are judged on their own terms and do not count toward the overall score, so they're kept out of the meat stats above.
Ancillary — Dessert
10 entries · top 180.0000 · median 175.4114 · 🔥 perfect 180