49 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 48 scored contests and 6,729 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 CT record book — every record below counts only contests held in CT. 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.
Uncle Pig's Barbeque Pit at Southern New England Barbecue Throwdown - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (DAY 2) Apr 12, 2025
35-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
LO' -N- SLO' BBQ at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Aug 19, 2016
won the category with it
Held jointly by 8 — 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.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA at Connecticut Barbecue Challenge Jul 12, 2024
won the category with it
Held jointly by 2 — 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.
BLAZIN' BUTTZ BBQ at Ridgefield Gone Country BBQ Festival May 2, 2015
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.
APORKALYPSE NOW at Sun BBQ Fest Jun 3, 2017
won the category with it
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten 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.
GETTIN' BASTED at Southern New England Barbecue Throwdown - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (DAY 2) Apr 12, 2025
finished 2nd, behind Uncle Pig's Barbeque Pit
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
STUBBORN BULL BBQ at Pork In The Park BBQ Jul 13, 2013
and still beat 20 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.
Southern New England Barbecue Throwdown - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (DAY 2) Apr 11, 2026
29 teams · won with 705.1088
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
Southern New England Barbecue Throwdown - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (DAY 2) Apr 11, 2026
29 teams · top score 705.1088
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Pork In The Park BBQ Jul 13, 2013
21 teams · even the win only took 663.3484
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Jul 18, 2026
28 contests · best 704.5372
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
ACK-QUE at Ridgefield Gone Country BBQ Festival May 6, 2017
over Dr. Pearl's Medicinal Smoke BBQ Team
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
ELJEFE SMOKE at Southern New England Barbecue Throwdown - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (DAY 1) Apr 12, 2024
over SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
INSANE SWINE BBQ Aug 4, 2017
from 15 contests · first in 2015
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Jul 18, 2026
from 28 contests · 3 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
MEAT @ SLIMS Jun 11, 2016
across 8 contests, still waiting
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Jul 18, 2026
3 titles from 28 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
PADDY MCQ'S Jun 14, 2019
3 titles in all
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
INSANE SWINE BBQ at Ridgefield Gone Country BBQ Festival Apr 30, 2016
won 2015–2016
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
INSANE SWINE BBQ at Ridgefield Gone Country BBQ Festival Apr 30, 2016
2015–2016, straight
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
APORKALYPSE NOW at Sun BBQ Fest Jun 3, 2017
won it with 698.2856
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
THAT'S OUR QUE at Sam's Club National BBQ Tour Aug 19, 2016
the title finally came in 2016
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Jun 13, 2026
2014 → 2026 · 3 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
GETTIN' BASTED Apr 11, 2026
in 1 state
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Some contests hand out a state championship alongside the trophy. These teams have collected the most of them.
The four meats: who wins them, and who has been handed a flawless card.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Jul 18, 2026
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Jul 12, 2024
the 2024 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Jul 12, 2024
in 2 different meats · first in 2017
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Jul 12, 2024
the 2024 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
BOGGS HOG BBQ at Southern New England Barbecue Throwdown - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (DAY 2) Apr 11, 2026
first in 2025 · 17 contests to complete the set
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
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.
BLAZIN' BUTTZ BBQ at Ridgefield Gone Country BBQ Festival May 2, 2015
Pork · May 2, 2015
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
Sun BBQ Fest Jun 3, 2017
shared by 3 teams in a field of 73
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
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.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Jul 18, 2026
2013 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
ACK-QUE Jul 18, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 20 contests
Rigs wear out and cooks retire. These teams were still turning in boxes more than a decade after their first one.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Jul 18, 2026
31 contests, 2013 → 2026
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Dec 31, 2019
2013 → 2019, no gaps
Held jointly by 9 — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
ELJEFE SMOKE Jul 18, 2026
the 2026 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Jul 18, 2026
from 28 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA Jul 18, 2026
25 from 28 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
ELJEFE SMOKE at Southern New England Barbecue Throwdown - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (DAY 2) Apr 11, 2026
2023 → 2026 · won it 1×
Held jointly by 7 — 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.
Sun BBQ Fest Jun 3, 2017
won with 698.2856
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Southern New England Barbecue Throwdown - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (DAY 2) Apr 11, 2026
2023 → 2026 · about 25 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Sun BBQ Fest Jun 2, 2018
5 editions · biggest 73
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Southern New England Barbecue Throwdown - CAMPGROUND BBQ SERIES (DAY 2) Apr 11, 2026
from 14 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Sun BBQFest Jun 1, 2019
61 teams cooking for it
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
Apr 12, 2025 Apr 12, 2025
across 1 states and provinces
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
One Saturday, this many contests, every one of them lighting a fire at the same hour.
The 2026 season Jul 18, 2026
across 1 states and provinces
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.
Bill Wright Jul 18, 2026
2024 → 2026
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Bill Wright Jul 12, 2024
the 2024 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Bill Wright Jul 18, 2026
at 16 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 |
|---|---|
| Boggs Hogg BBQ | 1 |
| SMOKIN HOGGZ BBQ - MA | 1 |
| GETTIN' BASTED | 1 |
| BOGGS HOG BBQ | 1 |
| 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 | 1,157 | 159.93 | 175.18 | 2 | 1.7 |
| Pork Ribs | 1,295 | 161.62 | 175.07 | 2 | 1.5 |
| Pork | 1,165 | 162.49 | 176.29 | 3 | 2.6 |
| Chicken | 1,280 | 163.68 | 176.65 | 11 | 8.6 |
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.