2025-06-06 – 2025-06-07 · Welch, WV · 📍 88 Howard Street · State championship
Reps: ANGELA MCKEE, ROBERT MCKEE · Prize money: $10,000.00
Grand Champion: Hickory Barbeque Company (707.4404) · 11 teams
Reserve Champion: 🥈 MUTTLEY CREW BBQ
Overall totals, every team on the board — tall stacks are where the pack sat.
Every board on one scale — the bar runs last score to first, the dot is the median.
Everything below is read straight out of the results — the number on each card is the one that made it a story.
HICKORY BARBEQUE COMPANY holds the KCBS record for longest wait for a first title — 122 contests before the first GC, the title finally came in 2025, set right here. Nobody has beaten it since.
The ratings favoured the top seed the other 81 times in 100
HICKORY BARBEQUE COMPANY came in rated below the field's top team, CHUNKY BBQ, and took the Grand Championship anyway — roughly a 19-in-100 shot on pre-contest ratings.
This was Hickory Barbeque Company's first Grand Championship in the data — it arrived at their 121st tracked contest.
Wider than 88% of the 4,742 championships in the data
The champion won by 10.3776 points — a wider margin than 88% of championships in the data.
Mad Hatter BBQ won Chicken, Pork Ribs, Pork — a hat-trick.
Master Series — Pork Ribs places 3–4: TWISTED PAIR BBQ and HalaQyah BBQ tied on 171.9888 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Master Series — Pork places 5–6: TWISTED PAIR BBQ and HalaQyah BBQ tied on 173.7028 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Master Series — Pork places 8–9: Gold-N-Blue Barbecue and BLUE EYED BBQ tied on 171.4172 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker.
HICKORY BARBEQUE COMPANY took the title on 4 calls from 4 meats, with 2 outright wins — their weakest board was pork ribs at 2nd.
1 perfect 180 was scored at this contest — every judge at the table handing back a nine.
What happened at this contest that stands in the all-time KCBS record book. A gold line is a record nobody has beaten.
| Category | 1st | 5th | 10th |
|---|---|---|---|
| Master Series — Chicken | 176.5716 | 171.9656 | 161.6688 |
| Master Series — Pork Ribs | 180.0000 | 171.9772 | 163.9660 |
| Master Series — Pork | 178.8572 | 173.7028 | 167.3828 |
| Master Series — Brisket | 178.8572 | 169.6800 | 161.6688 |
| Backyard Series — Chicken | 177.7028 | 173.1200 | — |
| Backyard Series — Pork Ribs | 178.8572 | 166.8228 | — |
| Ancillary — Pork | 175.4172 | 167.3944 | — |
11 entries · top 707.4404 · median 679.9204
| # | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | HICKORY BARBEQUE COMPANY | |
| 2 | MUTTLEY CREW BBQ | |
| 3 | POOR BOYS BBQ | |
| 4 | TWISTED PAIR BBQ | |
| 5 | CHUNKY BBQ | |
| 6 | HalaQyah BBQ | |
| 7 | Gold-N-Blue Barbecue | |
| 8 | BLUE EYED BBQ | |
| 9 | Swine 'N' Roses BBQ | |
| 10 | TNT BBQ | |
| 11 | SunTan Swine BBQ |
11 entries · top 176.5716 · median 167.4172
| # | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | HICKORY BARBEQUE COMPANY | |
| 2 | POOR BOYS BBQ | |
| 3 | Gold-N-Blue Barbecue | |
| 4 | CHUNKY BBQ | |
| 5 | TWISTED PAIR BBQ | |
| 6 | TNT BBQ | |
| 7 | HalaQyah BBQ | |
| 8 | BLUE EYED BBQ | |
| 9 | MUTTLEY CREW BBQ | |
| 10 | Swine 'N' Roses BBQ | |
| 11 | SunTan Swine BBQ |
11 entries · top 180.0000 · median 170.2860 · 🔥 perfect 180
| # | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MUTTLEY CREW BBQ | |
| 2 | HICKORY BARBEQUE COMPANY | |
| 3 | TWISTED PAIR BBQ | |
| 4 | HalaQyah BBQ | |
| 5 | CHUNKY BBQ | |
| 6 | POOR BOYS BBQ | |
| 7 | Gold-N-Blue Barbecue | |
| 8 | Swine 'N' Roses BBQ | |
| 9 | BLUE EYED BBQ | |
| 10 | TNT BBQ | |
| 11 | SunTan Swine BBQ |
11 entries · top 178.8572 · median 173.7028
| # | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MUTTLEY CREW BBQ | |
| 2 | HICKORY BARBEQUE COMPANY | |
| 3 | CHUNKY BBQ | |
| 4 | POOR BOYS BBQ | |
| 5 | TWISTED PAIR BBQ | |
| 6 | HalaQyah BBQ | |
| 7 | Swine 'N' Roses BBQ | |
| 8 | Gold-N-Blue Barbecue | |
| 9 | BLUE EYED BBQ | |
| 10 | TNT BBQ | |
| 11 | SunTan Swine BBQ |
11 entries · top 178.8572 · median 168.5256
| # | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | HICKORY BARBEQUE COMPANY | |
| 2 | MUTTLEY CREW BBQ | |
| 3 | TWISTED PAIR BBQ | |
| 4 | Swine 'N' Roses BBQ | |
| 5 | CHUNKY BBQ | |
| 6 | POOR BOYS BBQ | |
| 7 | HalaQyah BBQ | |
| 8 | BLUE EYED BBQ | |
| 9 | Gold-N-Blue Barbecue | |
| 10 | SunTan Swine BBQ | |
| 11 | TNT BBQ |
8 entries · top 356.5600 · median 339.3772
| # | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mad Hatter BBQ | |
| 2 | T & S BBQ | |
| 3 | Dogpatch Q | |
| 4 | Salt and Sizzle BBQ | |
| 5 | Char-Cole Grillers | |
| 6 | Uncle Dubby's Backyard BBQ | |
| 7 | Que N Cue | |
| 8 | Ole No3 |
8 entries · top 177.7028 · median 173.1258
| # | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mad Hatter BBQ | |
| 2 | Dogpatch Q | |
| 3 | Salt and Sizzle BBQ | |
| 4 | T & S BBQ | |
| 5 | Char-Cole Grillers | |
| 6 | Que N Cue | |
| 7 | Ole No3 | |
| 8 | Uncle Dubby's Backyard BBQ |
8 entries · top 178.8572 · median 167.9714
| # | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mad Hatter BBQ | |
| 2 | T & S BBQ | |
| 3 | Uncle Dubby's Backyard BBQ | |
| 4 | Dogpatch Q | |
| 5 | Salt and Sizzle BBQ | |
| 6 | Char-Cole Grillers | |
| 7 | Que N Cue | |
| 8 | Ole No3 |
8 entries · top 175.4172 · median 167.9772
| # | Team | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mad Hatter BBQ | |
| 2 | T & S BBQ | |
| 3 | Char-Cole Grillers | |
| 4 | Salt and Sizzle BBQ | |
| 5 | Uncle Dubby's Backyard BBQ | |
| 6 | Ole No3 | |
| 7 | Dogpatch Q | |
| 8 | Que N Cue |