49 all-time KCBS records — every one with a holder, a number, and the date it was set, read out of 35 scored contests and 4,801 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 WV record book — every record below counts only contests held in WV. 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.
D’Qued Barbeque at Forks of the Buffalo BBQ Throwdown - Day 2 May 21, 2022
13-team field · won the contest
Four meats, six judges, one afternoon. The biggest total anybody has ever assembled.
Mad Hatter BBQ at WV Coalfields Cookoff WV KCBS State Championship Jun 6, 2025
won the board
The Backyard board runs on its own scale, so it keeps its own record — pooled with Master it would never surface at all.
WHO CARES BBQ at Almost Heaven BBQ Bash Jun 16, 2017
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.
Under the Radar at City of Welch Coalfields Cook-off Jun 11, 2021
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.
SWEET & SAVORY BBQ at Smokin' on the Buffalo BBQ Brawl - Day 2 May 15, 2021
won the category with it
Held jointly by 8 — 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.
CHECKERED FLAG 500 BBQ at Almost Heaven BBQ Bash Jun 19, 2015
won the category with it
Held jointly by 8 — 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.
Uncle Pig's Barbeque Pit at Forks of the Buffalo BBQ Throwdown - Day 2 May 21, 2022
finished 2nd, behind D-Qued BBQ
A day this good takes a Grand Championship almost anywhere. These are the ones that ran into somebody having a better one.
Under the Radar at WV Hunting Heroes BBQ Throwdown Apr 21, 2023
and still beat 14 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.
Almost Heaven BBQ Bash Jun 13, 2025
30 teams · won with 698.2516
What it cost to walk. At these contests a total that wins most weekends was only good enough for tenth.
Almost Heaven BBQ Bash (OPEN FORMAT) Jun 19, 2026
29 teams · top score 699.3484
Judging tables are not interchangeable. At these contests the whole field scored high — not just the winner.
WV Hunting Heroes BBQ Throwdown Apr 21, 2023
15 teams · even the win only took 670.1712
The other end of the same measurement: the contests where hardly anybody got a good card all day.
ROCKY TOP BARBEQUE at Almost Heaven BBQ Bash Jun 16, 2017
over WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ
Not a contest so much as an exhibition — the runner-up in each of these was closer to tenth than to the winner.
ALE YEAH BBQ at Country Roads BBQ Clash Day 1 Jul 16, 2021
over CHUNKY BBQ
A whole weekend — four meats, twenty-four judging cards — decided by a rounding error.
Grand Championships, reserve finishes, dynasties and droughts.
Under the Radar Sep 9, 2023
from 10 contests · first in 2021
The headline record of the sport: how many times a team has walked away with the whole thing.
LEM'S MEAT VARNISH Jun 17, 2022
from 13 contests · 0 titles
Second overall is the hardest place to finish. These teams have done it more than anybody.
LEM'S MEAT VARNISH Jun 17, 2022
across 13 contests, still waiting
The cruellest record in the book. Every team here has stood on the stage second, and never once first.
Under the Radar Jun 18, 2021
the 2021 season
Held jointly by 4 — nobody has beaten it.
The best year anybody has ever had. Four in a season is a career year; these went past it.
Under the Radar Sep 9, 2023
6 titles in all
A dynasty at one contest is one kind of record. Winning at thirty different ones is another kind entirely.
Swine 'N' Roses BBQ at WV Coalfields Cookoff Jun 9, 2023
won 2022–2023
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.
CHUNKY BBQ at Almost Heaven BBQ Bash (OPEN FORMAT) Jun 13, 2025
2024–2025, straight
Defending a title once is an achievement. Nobody on this board gave one up willingly.
SPITTIN' FEATHERS BBQ at Almost Heaven BBQ Bash Jun 15, 2018
won it with 690.8000
Every Grand Championship counts the same in the standings. Not every one means beating this many people.
HIGH ON THE HOG OHIO at WV Coalfields Cookoff Jun 9, 2023
the title finally came in 2023
Proof it is worth going back. Every team here cooked for years before the call finally came.
CHUNKY BBQ Jun 13, 2025
2021 → 2025 · 4 titles
Staying good is harder than getting good. These teams were winning contests more than a decade apart.
Under the Radar Sep 9, 2023
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.
D’Qued Barbeque Sep 9, 2023
across all four meats
Every category win is a walk to the stage. This is the longest walk in the sport.
D’Qued Barbeque Jun 17, 2022
the 2022 season
One team, one year, and a stack of first-place calls that would furnish most careers.
Under the Radar Jun 18, 2021
in 3 different meats · first in 2021
A 180 means all six judges handed back a nine for appearance, taste and tenderness. These teams have collected them.
Under the Radar at City of Welch Coalfields Cook-off Jun 11, 2021
Pork, Pork Ribs
One perfect card is a story worth retelling. Two before the awards ceremony is a record.
Under the Radar Jun 18, 2021
the 2021 season
A whole year of turning in boxes nobody at the table could mark down.
Under the Radar at Almost Heaven BBQ Bash Jun 18, 2021
first in 2021 · 2 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.
CHECKERED FLAG 500 BBQ at Almost Heaven BBQ Bash Jun 19, 2015
Brisket · Jun 19, 2015
Where the 180 club starts. These are the oldest perfect cards anywhere in the data.
Country Roads BBQ Clash Day 2 Jul 17, 2021
shared by 3 teams in a field of 15
Held jointly by 3 — 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.
Gold-N-Blue Barbecue Jun 19, 2026
2019 → 2026
Before anything else, competition barbecue is showing up. Nobody has shown up more often than this.
OLD VIRGINIA SMOKE Jun 19, 2026
2015 → 2026 · 10 contests
Rigs wear out and cooks retire. These teams were still turning in boxes more than a decade after their first one.
CONVICTED PIGS BBQ Jun 19, 2026
20 contests, 2017 → 2026
Held jointly by 2 — nobody has beaten it.
Not just a long career — a busy one, season after season, with no quiet years in the middle.
BEER TIME BBQ Dec 31, 2026
2021 → 2026, no gaps
Held jointly by 6 — nobody has beaten it.
An unbroken run. Every single year, the rig came back out of the shed.
LEM'S MEAT VARNISH Oct 29, 2021
the 2021 season
A season spent almost entirely in a parking lot somewhere, next to a smoker.
POOR BOYS BBQ Jun 19, 2026
from 18 contests
The measure of a team that is always in it — not always winning, but always there at the end of the day.
WOLF'S REVENGE BBQ at Almost Heaven BBQ Bash (OPEN FORMAT) Jun 19, 2026
2016 → 2026 · won it 1×
Held jointly by 3 — 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.
Almost Heaven BBQ Bash Jun 15, 2018
won with 690.8000
The largest gathering of smokers the data has ever recorded in one place.
Almost Heaven BBQ Bash (OPEN FORMAT) Jun 19, 2026
2015 → 2026 · about 33 teams a year
The institutions. These contests have been feeding judges for as long as the data goes back.
Almost Heaven BBQ Bash Jun 18, 2021
3 editions · biggest 59
One big year is a fluke. These contests pull a crowd every single time they run.
Almost Heaven BBQ Bash (OPEN FORMAT) Jun 19, 2026
from 6 editions with a champion on file
The contests nobody owns. Turn up here and last year counts for nothing.
Almost Heaven BBQ Bash Jun 18, 2021
28 teams cooking for it
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
What was actually on the table. Listed purses only — KCBS does not publish who took home which slice of it.
May 1, 2021 May 1, 2021
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 2021 season Oct 29, 2021
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 Jones Jun 19, 2026
2021 → 2026
The people who make a contest a contest — table captains, score checkers, keepers of the rulebook.
Bill Jones Oct 29, 2021
the 2021 season
Held jointly by 3 — nobody has beaten it.
Thirty contests in a year means most of a summer spent beside a scoring table.
Robert McKee Jun 6, 2025
at 7 contests
How many separate teams have taken a Grand Championship at a contest this rep was running.
| Team | GCs this season |
|---|---|
| POOR BOYS BBQ | 1 |
| Marshall Mountain 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 | 710 | 163.19 | 177.87 | 8 | 11.3 |
| Pork Ribs | 1,012 | 164.48 | 176.27 | 4 | 4 |
| Pork | 810 | 165.09 | 177.25 | 8 | 9.9 |
| Chicken | 954 | 165.74 | 177.21 | 8 | 8.4 |
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.