Giant slayer
30
teams beaten in one weekend
Took the Grand Championship over a 30-team field at Maryland State BBQ Bash.
- Aug 9, 2019
BEARDED BBQ
BEARDED BBQ is a competition barbecue team with 11 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2013 and 2022. They have won 1 Grand Championship, at the Maryland State BBQ Bash (2019). They are ranked #5020 of 6,491 teams in the KCBS power rankings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1462
peak 1462 · rated over 9 contests
Contests
11
in the data
First seen
Sep 27, 2013
latest Oct 14, 2022 · 9 years on the trail
Grand champs
1
0 reserve · wins it all 9% of the time
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
1
9% of 11 contests
Avg finish
top 78%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Current form
590.20 ▼
last 5 Master vs avg 596.50 (-6.30)
Walk rate
18%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±56.33
spread of their Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork
avg 157.73 · weakest Pork Ribs (138.05)
Road miles
4,869
across 11 mapped stops · furthest 979 mi
Schedule strength
36%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1548)
Purse competed for
$38K
listed at 3 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
1 🏅
won from 3 state-championship entries
Master avg
596.50 / 720
6 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
295.70 / 360
2 Backyard contests · 0 GCs
These overall scores sit on different scales (Master out of 720, Backyard out of 360), so they're kept separate — averaging them together would be misleading.
This team cooks the Backyard series — its own boards, records and Team of the Year are here.
Team of the Year (rank per category by season — the year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to BEARDED BBQ, each with one reason worth a look.
128 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#5,014 of the rated field
- Contests
- 9
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 22%
- Peak
- 1500
They've been 1500 at their best, 38 points above where they sit today — they're arriving at this rating from above.
⚔ Compare careers#5,001 of the rated field
- Contests
- 9
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 11%
- Peak
- 1463
Careers of much the same size, 9 contests to 11, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#5,039 of the rated field
- Contests
- 9
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1507
Both teams' first contest in the data came in 2013.
⚔ Compare careers#5,025 of the rated field
- Contests
- 9
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1462
Their last contest in the data was back in 2018, 4 years before BEARDED BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#5,030 of the rated field
- Contests
- 10
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 10%
- Peak
- 1462
Level with BEARDED BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#5,032 of the rated field
- Contests
- 10
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1462
This is the highest they've ever been rated, 10 rated contests in — a team sitting at its own career peak.
⚔ Compare careersBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 168.6056 | 142.8916 | 155.91 | top 82% |
| Pork Ribs | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 167.4744 | 20 | 138.05 | top 77% |
| Pork | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 167.9656 | 149.2000 | 157.73 | top 70% |
| Brisket | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 154.8572 | 133.6688 | 145.38 | top 86% |
“Calls” = top-10 category finishes (getting called to the stage). Scores here are the final weighted totals KCBS publishes; per-criterion appearance/taste/tenderness marks aren’t in the public results feed.
By field size and state
By contest size
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (20–39) | 8 | 1 | top 80% |
| Large (40+) | 1 | 0 | top 67% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland State BBQ Bash | 3 | 1 | 1 | top 74% | Oct 14, 2022 |
| Barnesville BBQ & Blues | 2 | 19 | 0 | top 85% | Apr 20, 2018 |
More numbers
Busiest season
2017
3 contests
Contests a season
1.4
across 8 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
MD
5 of 11 contests · 4 states in all
Contests visited
6
2 of them more than once
First title
Aug 9, 2019
Maryland State BBQ Bash
Opponents faced
318
finished ahead 127 times, behind 265
Longest layoff
2.2 yrs
May 2, 2014 → Jul 23, 2016
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20221 milestone
- Most recent contest Maryland State BBQ Bash
20211 milestone
- 10th tracked contest Maryland State BBQ Bash
20196 milestones
- First overall top-10 Maryland State BBQ Bash
- First overall podium Maryland State BBQ Bash
- First Grand Championship Maryland State BBQ Bash
- First state championship Maryland State BBQ Bash
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score328.5600 Maryland State BBQ Bash
- Biggest field won (30 teams) Maryland State BBQ Bash
20181 milestone
- Career-best overall score638.2516 Barnesville BBQ & Blues
20171 milestone
- First call Downtown Jonesboro BBQ Festival
20133 milestones
- First tracked contest Downtown Jonesboro BBQ Fest
- Career-best single call (Chicken)168.6056 Downtown Jonesboro BBQ Fest
- Peak power rating (1495) Downtown Jonesboro BBQ Fest
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +18.6 | Maryland State BBQ Bash | Aug 9, 2019 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -13.6 | Smokelawn | May 2, 2014 |
| -12 | Maryland State BBQ Bash | Oct 14, 2022 |
| -9.6 | Barnesville BBQ & Blues | Apr 21, 2017 |
| -7 | The Harpoon Brewery BBQ Festival | Jul 23, 2016 |
| -4.8 | Maryland State BBQ Bash | Oct 15, 2021 |
Scores over time (% of a perfect score — tap a meat to add it)
Overall finish over time (top-% of field, lower is better)
Where they finish (overall)
Best vs average (by meat)
How entries end (by meat)
Season by season
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 127% | 79% | 79% |
| 2021 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 92% | 85.3% | 85.3% |
| 2019 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0% | top 3% | 91.3% | 91.3% |
| 2018 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 76% | 88.6% | 88.6% |
| 2017 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33% | top 80% | 86.6% | 85.1% |
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 85% | 85.2% | 85.2% |
| 2014 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 97% | 65.7% | 65.7% |
| 2013 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 67% | 87.2% | 87.2% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 14, 2022 | Maryland State BBQ Bash 🏅 Belair, MD | 38 / 30 (284.4688) | 33 (149.0972) | 37 (135.3716) | — | — |
| Oct 15, 2021 | Maryland State BBQ Bash 🏅 Belair, MD | 23 / 25 (306.9260) | 31 (142.8916) | 9 (164.0344) | — | — |
| Aug 9, 2019 | Maryland State BBQ Bash 🏅 Belair, MD | 1 / 30 (328.5600) | — | — | — | — |
| Aug 10, 2018 | Maryland State BBQ Bash Bel Air, MD | — | — | — | — | — |
| Apr 20, 2018 | Barnesville BBQ & Blues Barnesville, GA | 19 / 25 (638.2516) | 19 (163.9884) | 11 (167.4744) | 18 (160.0228) | 24 (146.7660) |
| Sep 29, 2017 | Downtown Jonesboro BBQ Festival Jonesboro, AR | 22 / 33 (623.2916) | 28 (146.2628) | 14 (163.9772) | 9 (167.9656) | 30 (145.0860) |
| Aug 11, 2017 | Maryland State BBQ Bash Bel Air, MD | — | — | — | — | — |
| Apr 21, 2017 | Barnesville BBQ & Blues Barnsville, GA | 27 / 29 (602.7200) | 26 (155.9540) | 28 (150.2516) | 28 (155.4628) | 28 (141.0516) |
| Jul 23, 2016 | The Harpoon Brewery BBQ Festival Windsor, VT | 22 / 26 (613.7252) | 21 (159.4284) | 25 (147.9772) | 21 (155.4396) | 21 (150.8800) |
| May 2, 2014 | Smokelawn Hot Springs, AR | 38 / 39 (473.0172) | 25 (161.0856) | 39 (20) | 25 (158.2628) | 34 (133.6688) |
| Sep 27, 2013 | Downtown Jonesboro BBQ Fest Jonesboro, AR | 32 / 48 (628.0112) | 13 (168.6056) | 36 (155.3484) | 39 (149.2000) | 31 (154.8572) |