47 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 16 scored contests and 2,580 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 DC record book — every record below counts only contests held in DC. 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.
APORKALYPSE NOW at Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 24, 2017
33-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
Team Meat Coma at Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 24, 2017
won the category with it
Held jointly by 9 — 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.
Mispillion Meat Works at Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 24, 2023
won the category with it
Held jointly by 4 — 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.
GETTIN' BASTED at Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 25, 2022
won the category with it
Held jointly by 5 — 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.
Cool Smoke at Safeway National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 21, 2014
won the category with it
Held jointly by 5 — 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.
BLUE & GRAY BBQ at Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 21, 2025
finished 2nd, behind 3 Eyz BBQ
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
QUBED at Safeway National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 22, 2013
and still beat 41 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.
Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 26, 2026
31 teams · won with 703.3828
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 22, 2024
36 teams · top score 704.0116
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Safeway National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 22, 2013
42 teams · even the win only took 682.8570
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
APORKALYPSE NOW at Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 24, 2017
over ALQUEMY - VA
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
APORKALYPSE NOW at Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 25, 2016
over BULL RUSH BBQ
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
APORKALYPSE NOW Jun 24, 2017
from 6 contests · first in 2015
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ Jun 25, 2022
from 7 contests · 0 titles
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ Jun 25, 2022
across 7 contests, still waiting
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
APORKALYPSE NOW Jun 24, 2017
3 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
APORKALYPSE NOW at Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 24, 2017
won 2016–2017
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
APORKALYPSE NOW at Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 24, 2017
2016–2017, straight
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
QUBED at Safeway National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 22, 2013
won it with 682.8570
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.
3 EYZ BBQ at Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 21, 2025
the title finally came in 2025
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
APORKALYPSE NOW Jun 24, 2017
2015 → 2017 · 3 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
3 EYZ BBQ Jun 21, 2025
in 1 state
Held jointly by 6 — 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.
WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ Jun 21, 2025
across 3 of the four meats
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
JACK'S OLD SOUTH Jun 21, 2014
the 2014 season
Held jointly by 6 — nobody has beaten it.
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
Team Meat Coma Jun 25, 2022
in 1 different meat · first in 2017
Held jointly by 6 — nobody has beaten it.
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
Mispillion Meat Works at Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 24, 2023
Chicken, Pork Ribs
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
Mispillion Meat Works Jun 24, 2023
the 2023 season
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
Titans of BBQ at Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 26, 2026
first in 2026 · 1 contests to complete the set
Held jointly by 5 — 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.
Cool Smoke at Safeway National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 21, 2014
Brisket · Jun 21, 2014
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 24, 2023
shared by 6 teams in a field of 29
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.
RIBS BY ANDY Jun 27, 2026
2013 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
RIBS BY ANDY Jun 27, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 16 contests
Rigs wear out and cooks retire. These teams were still turning in boxes more than a decade after their first one.
RIBS BY ANDY Jun 27, 2026
16 contests, 2013 → 2026
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
RIBS BY ANDY Dec 31, 2019
2013 → 2019, no gaps
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
Mispillion Meat Works Jun 24, 2023
the 2023 season · 1 title
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
OLD VIRGINIA SMOKE Jun 26, 2026
from 9 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
GOOD GOOGLY GOO BBQ at Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle (ONE MEAT RIBS) Jun 26, 2026
2022 → 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.
Safeway National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 22, 2013
won with 682.8570
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle (ONE MEAT RIBS) Jun 27, 2026
2022 → 2026 · about 29 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle Jun 23, 2018
3 editions · biggest 42
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Giant National Capital Barbecue Battle (ONE MEAT RIBS) Jun 27, 2026
from 9 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Giant National Capital BBQ Battle Jun 22, 2019
31 teams cooking for it
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
Jun 24, 2023 Jun 24, 2023
across 1 states and provinces
One Saturday, this many contests, every one of them lighting a fire at the same hour.
The 2023 season Jun 24, 2023
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.
Alex Jr Brown Jun 26, 2027
2019 → 2027
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Bill Jones Jun 24, 2023
the 2023 season
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Alex Jr Brown Jun 27, 2026
at 10 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 |
|---|---|
| Titans of 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 | 414 | 161.65 | 178.58 | 5 | 12.1 |
| Pork | 413 | 163.84 | 177.67 | 5 | 12.1 |
| Pork Ribs | 497 | 164.20 | 178.52 | 4 | 8 |
| Chicken | 444 | 164.33 | 178.46 | 10 | 22.5 |
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.