44 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 10 scored contests and 1,056 result rows. Beat one and you appear here the next morning.
Overall scores are only ever ranked against their own series — Master out of 720, Backyard out of 360 — so the overall-score records here are Master boards unless they say Backyard. The Backyard series keeps a full record board of its own.
State and provincial record books are here; outside North America, every country has its own page under Regions →
Showing the BZ record book — every record below counts only contests held in BZ. Records that can't honestly be cut by state are left out rather than shown with their national holder: power ratings, career streaks and Team of the Year are computed over a team's whole career, wherever they cooked it.
The biggest — and smallest — numbers anybody has ever put in front of six judges.
BBQ+ at W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol Feb 24, 2024
26-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
MASTERS OF FIRE at W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Jan 19, 2019
won the category with it
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
The best chicken anybody has ever turned in. 180 is the ceiling — every judge at the table handing back a nine — so a tie goes to whoever got there first.
HOT WACHULA'S at W.E.S.T. Winter extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Jan 13, 2018
won the category with it
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
The best pork ribs anybody has ever turned in. 180 is the ceiling — every judge at the table handing back a nine — so a tie goes to whoever got there first.
White Squirrel BBQ at W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Jan 18, 2020
won the category with it
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
The best pork anybody has ever turned in. 180 is the ceiling — every judge at the table handing back a nine — so a tie goes to whoever got there first.
SMOKE ON THE WILD SIDE at W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Feb 25, 2023
won the category with it
The best brisket anybody has ever turned in. 180 is the ceiling — every judge at the table handing back a nine — so a tie goes to whoever got there first.
LUNA SMOKE - Italy at W.E.S.T. - Winter Extreme South Tyrol Mar 7, 2026
finished 2nd, behind SMOKING BUTCHER
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
GRILLER INSTINCT at W.E.S.T. Winter extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Jan 13, 2018
and still beat 29 other teams
The days the judges gave nothing away. Somebody still had to win, and this is the smallest number that ever did it in a real field.
W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol Feb 24, 2024
26 teams · won with 700.5372
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Feb 25, 2023
23 teams · top score 695.9772
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Jan 19, 2019
30 teams · even the win only took 696.5828
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
BBQ+ at W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol Feb 24, 2024
over COOKLOUNGE BBQ
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
GRILLER INSTINCT at W.E.S.T. Winter extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Jan 13, 2018
over GECKO BBQ
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
BBQ+ Feb 24, 2024
from 4 contests · first in 2023
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
GECKO BBQ Jan 19, 2019
from 3 contests · 0 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
GECKO BBQ Jan 19, 2019
across 3 contests, still waiting
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
BBQ+ Feb 24, 2024
2 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
HOT WACHULA'S at W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Jan 18, 2020
won 2019–2020
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
HOT WACHULA'S at W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Jan 18, 2020
2019–2020, straight
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
BBQ LONGHORN RANCH HANDS at W.E.S.T.Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Jan 14, 2017
won it with 679.4172
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
COOKLOUNGE BBQ at W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Mar 12, 2022
the title finally came in 2022
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
HOT WACHULA'S Jan 18, 2020
2019 → 2020 · 2 titles
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
The four meats: who wins them, and who has been handed a flawless card.
LUNA SMOKE - Italy Mar 7, 2026
across 3 of the four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
Smoking Butcher Mar 7, 2026
the 2026 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
The Antwerp Smokers Feb 24, 2024
in 2 different meats · first in 2024
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
The Antwerp Smokers at W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol Feb 24, 2024
Chicken, Pork
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
The Antwerp Smokers Feb 24, 2024
the 2024 season
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
The Antwerp Smokers at W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol Feb 24, 2024
first in 2024 · 1 contests to complete the set
A perfect card in chicken, ribs, pork AND brisket. The date is the day the set was completed; the board is led by whoever needed the fewest contests to finish it.
HOT WACHULA'S at W.E.S.T. Winter extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Jan 13, 2018
Pork Ribs · Jan 13, 2018
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol Feb 24, 2024
shared by 2 teams in a field of 26
Some tables run hot. At these contests the judges handed out flawless cards all afternoon.
Longevity — the teams who keep turning up, and keep turning it in.
COOKLOUNGE BBQ Mar 7, 2026
2017 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
COOKLOUNGE BBQ Mar 7, 2026
8 contests, 2017 → 2026
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
COOKLOUNGE BBQ Dec 31, 2020
2017 → 2020, no gaps
Held jointly by 5 — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
Smoking Butcher Mar 7, 2026
the 2026 season · 1 title
Held jointly by 7 — nobody has beaten it.
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
COOKLOUNGE BBQ Mar 7, 2026
from 8 contests
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
COOKLOUNGE BBQ at W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Feb 25, 2023
2017 → 2023 · won it 1×
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The contest a team never misses — on the calendar in ink, every single year.
Records held by the contests themselves rather than by the teams.
W.E.S.T.Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Jan 14, 2017
won with 679.4172
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Feb 25, 2023
2017 → 2023 · about 26 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Feb 25, 2023
6 editions · biggest 30
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Feb 25, 2023
from 6 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Mar 7, 2026 Mar 7, 2026
across 1 states and provinces
One Saturday, this many contests, every one of them lighting a fire at the same hour.
The 2026 season Mar 7, 2026
across 1 states and provinces
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The high-water mark for the sport itself — the year the calendar was fullest.
Somebody has to run the table. These are the ones who have run the most.
Luca Famigli Feb 20, 2027
2025 → 2027
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Luca Famigli Mar 7, 2026
the 2026 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Andreas Schnoell Feb 24, 2024
at 4 contests
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
How many separate teams have taken a Grand Championship at a contest this rep was running.
| Team | GCs this season |
|---|---|
| Smoking Butcher | 1 |
| Team | Category | Contest |
|---|---|---|
| Smoking Butcher | Pork Ribs | W.E.S.T. - Winter Extreme South Tyrol Mar 7, 2026 |
| LUNA SMOKE - Italy | Pork Ribs | W.E.S.T. - Winter Extreme South Tyrol Mar 7, 2026 |
| The Antwerp Smokers | Chicken | W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol Feb 24, 2024 |
| BBQ+ | Pork | W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol Feb 24, 2024 |
| The Antwerp Smokers | Pork | W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol Feb 24, 2024 |
| Westside BBQ | Chicken | W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Feb 25, 2023 |
| BELGIAN BBQ TEAM FIVE Q | Chicken | W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Feb 25, 2023 |
| White Squirrel BBQ | Pork | W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Jan 18, 2020 |
| MASTERS OF FIRE | Chicken | W.E.S.T. Winter Extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Jan 19, 2019 |
| HOT WACHULA'S | Pork Ribs | W.E.S.T. Winter extreme South Tyrol BBQ Contest Jan 13, 2018 |
| Year | Series | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 ↗ | Backyard | DAWGS BBQ 🏆 | 1,356 |
| 2026 ↗ | Master | JANKY LEG BBQ 🏆 | 2,682 |
| 2025 ↗ | Backyard | Electro-Que-ted 🏆 | 1,414 |
| 2025 ↗ | Master | GETTIN' BASTED 🏆 | 2,826 |
| 2024 ↗ | Backyard | WEEZ'S GROOVIN' BBQ 🏆 | 1,404 |
| 2024 ↗ | Master | CHUNKY BBQ 🏆 | 2,734 |
| 2023 ↗ | Master | JANKY LEG BBQ 🏆 | 2,773 |
| 2022 ↗ | Master | Uncle Pig's Barbeque Pit 🏆 | 2,761 |
| 2021 ↗ | Master | GETTIN' BASTED 🏆 | 2,804 |
| 2020 ↗ | Master | GETTIN' BASTED 🏆 | 2,670 |
| 2019 ↗ | Master | B-S BBQ OUTLAWS 🏆 | 2,774 |
| 2018 ↗ | Master | GETTIN' BASTED 🏆 | 2,840 |
| 2017 ↗ | Master | CLARK CREW BBQ 🏆 | 2,850 |
| 2016 ↗ | Master | PORKY BUTTS BBQ 🏆 | 2,846 |
| 2015 ↗ | Master | CLARK CREW BBQ 🏆 | 2,843 |
| 2014 ↗ | Master | WARREN COUNTY PORK CHOPPERS 🏆 | 2,936 |
| 2013 ↗ | Master | WARREN COUNTY PORK CHOPPERS 🏆 | 2,940 |
| 2013 ↗ | Master | TRUEBUD BBQ 🏆 | 2,940 |
| Category | Entries | Avg score | Avg winning score | Perfect 180s | 180s per 1,000 entries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brisket toughest room | 191 | 160.24 | 175.35 | 0 | 0 |
| Pork Ribs | 203 | 164.21 | 176.83 | 3 | 14.8 |
| Pork | 191 | 164.32 | 177.36 | 3 | 15.7 |
| Chicken | 199 | 165.65 | 177.01 | 4 | 20.1 |
Sorted by average score — the category at the top scores lowest across the whole field, which usually means the judges are hardest to please there.