50 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 47 scored contests and 6,407 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 MT record book — every record below counts only contests held in MT. 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.
Piggin' Whiskey at Montana Pitmaster Classic Aug 23, 2024
39-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
B-S BBQ OUTLAWS at Nile Beer-B-Q Oct 14, 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.
AMERICAN HEROES BBQ at Montana BBQ Cook-off Jun 11, 2021
won the category with it
Held jointly by 6 — 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.
PRAIRIE SMOKE & SPICE BBQ at Montana BBQ Cook-Off Jul 5, 2014
won the category with it
Held jointly by 10 or more — 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.
QUAU at Montana State BBQ Championship at Montana Fair Aug 11, 2015
won the category with it
Held jointly by 10 or more — 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.
MONTANA OUTLAW BBQ at Nile Beer-B-Q Oct 14, 2017
finished 2nd, behind PARROTHEAD SMOKERS
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
LONESTAR SMOKE RANGERS at Montana BBQ Cook-Off Jul 6, 2013
and still beat 21 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.
Montana Pitmaster Classic Aug 28, 2026
39 teams · won with 706.8460
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
Dillon Days Blowin' Smoke BBQ Cook Off Jul 3, 2026
26 teams · top score 704.5600
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
Montana BBQ Cook-Off Jul 6, 2013
22 teams · even the win only took 650.2858
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS Jun 13, 2025
21 contests · best 709.1200
Anyone can catch one good day. This is the highest anybody has averaged across a real career.
MONTANA Q at Carnivores Classic May 30, 2014
over RUB Q LONG TIME
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
WYO SMOKE SHOW at Miles City Cowtown Cookoff Jun 14, 2024
over SMOKIN' BOXERS BBQ
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS Jun 22, 2019
from 21 contests · first in 2014
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
JO-BAWB'S BBQ Jun 25, 2016
from 10 contests · 0 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
JO-BAWB'S BBQ Jun 25, 2016
across 10 contests, still waiting
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
MONTANA OUTLAW BBQ Aug 22, 2025
5 titles from 33 contests
Winning often matters more than winning a lot. This is how often a team turns up and takes the whole thing.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS Oct 14, 2017
the 2017 season
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS Jun 22, 2019
8 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS at Montana BBQ Cook-off Jun 22, 2019
won 2014–2019
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The contest a team has made their own — turning up every year and taking it home again.
MONTANA OUTLAW BBQ at Montana Pitmaster Classic Aug 23, 2019
2017–2019, straight
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
Bushmaster BBQ at Montana Pitmaster Classic Aug 25, 2023
won it with 705.2116
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
Beer Belly BBQ at Miles City Cowtown Cook Off Jun 14, 2019
the title finally came in 2019
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.
MONTANA OUTLAW BBQ Aug 27, 2021
2016 → 2021 · 5 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
Brinkerhoff BBQ Jul 3, 2026
in 1 state
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.
LONESTAR SMOKE RANGERS Jun 23, 2018
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
LONESTAR SMOKE RANGERS Aug 11, 2015
the 2015 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
MONTANA OUTLAW BBQ Aug 26, 2022
in 3 different meats · first in 2018
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
Rhythm n QUE Aug 5, 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.
MONTANA OUTLAW BBQ at Montana Pitmaster Classic Aug 26, 2022
first in 2018 · 17 contests to complete the set
Held jointly by 3 — 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.
PRAIRIE SMOKE & SPICE BBQ at Montana BBQ Cook-Off Jul 5, 2014
Pork · Jul 5, 2014
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
Montana Pitmaster Classic Aug 25, 2023
shared by 3 teams in a field of 44
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.
MONTANA OUTLAW BBQ Aug 22, 2025
2013 → 2025
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
BIG PIG BBQ Jun 12, 2026
2013 → 2026 · 15 contests
Rigs wear out and cooks retire. These teams were still turning in boxes more than a decade after their first one.
MONTANA OUTLAW BBQ Aug 22, 2025
33 contests, 2013 → 2025
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
BIG PIG BBQ Dec 31, 2019
2013 → 2019, no gaps
Held jointly by 6 — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
MONTANA OUTLAW BBQ Oct 14, 2017
the 2017 season · 1 title
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
MONTANA OUTLAW BBQ Aug 9, 2024
from 33 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
MONTANA OUTLAW BBQ Aug 22, 2025
22 from 33 contests
Consistency, stated as a percentage. Turn up, and this is how often you were still standing at the end.
PARROTHEAD SMOKERS at Montana BBQ Cook-off Jun 11, 2021
2013 → 2021 · won it 3×
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.
Montana Pitmaster Classic Aug 25, 2023
won with 705.2116
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Montana BBQ Cook-off Jun 10, 2022
2013 → 2022 · about 28 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Montana Pitmaster Classic Aug 28, 2026
8 editions · biggest 44
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Montana Pitmaster Classic Aug 28, 2026
from 8 editions with a champion on file
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Montana Pitmaster Classic Aug 27, 2021
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.
Jul 6, 2013 Jul 6, 2013
across 1 states and provinces
Held jointly by 10 or more — nobody has beaten it.
One Saturday, this many contests, every one of them lighting a fire at the same hour.
The 2024 season Aug 23, 2024
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.
Steven Flewallen Aug 28, 2026
2021 → 2026
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Steven Flewallen Sep 12, 2025
the 2025 season
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Del Anderson Jun 12, 2026
at 8 contests
How many separate teams have taken a Grand Championship at a contest this rep was running.
| Team | GCs this season |
|---|---|
| SMELLAQUE | 1 |
| COCAMOKE SMOKE BBQ | 1 |
| Brinkerhoff 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 | 1,219 | 161.06 | 177.23 | 11 | 9 |
| Pork | 1,227 | 162.78 | 177.51 | 12 | 9.8 |
| Pork Ribs | 1,222 | 162.95 | 177.11 | 6 | 4.9 |
| Chicken | 1,219 | 163.31 | 177.39 | 10 | 8.2 |
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.