#3,791 of the rated field
- Contests
- 9
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1509
Careers of much the same size, 9 contests to 8, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careersTASTE BUDS
TASTE BUDS is a competition barbecue team with 8 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2015 and 2019. Their best overall finish is 6th of 16 at the D'Iberville BBQ Throw Down Festival (2019). Also listed in KCBS results as “TASTE-BUDS”.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1488
Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 4
Contests
8
in the data
First seen
Aug 14, 2015
latest Feb 22, 2019 · 3.5 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
1
13% of 8 contests
Avg finish
top 67%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
25%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±24.78
spread of their Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork
avg 162.08 · weakest Pork Ribs (149.67)
Road miles
1,981
across 8 mapped stops · furthest 488 mi
Schedule strength
26%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1535)
Purse competed for
$6,000
listed at 1 contest — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 1 state-championship entry
Master avg
621.44 / 720
3 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
321.10 / 360
1 Backyard contest · 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.
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to TASTE BUDS, each with one reason worth a look.
TASTE BUDS has 4 rated contests, short of the five a power ranking needs, so its rating is still close to the 1500 every team starts on and 123 rated teams sit within a point of it.
#3,760 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1504
They turned up 9 years after TASTE BUDS did, first appearing in 2024.
⚔ Compare careers#3,778 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1503
Level with TASTE BUDS on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#3,785 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1502
Fewer contests behind them than TASTE BUDS has cooked, 5 to 8, which makes theirs the less settled rating of the two.
⚔ Compare careers#3,775 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1505
Fewer contests behind them than TASTE BUDS has cooked, 5 to 8, which makes theirs the less settled rating of the two.
⚔ Compare careers#3,783 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 40%
- Peak
- 1488
Fewer contests behind them than TASTE BUDS has cooked, 5 to 8, which makes theirs the less settled rating of the two.
⚔ Compare careersBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 166.8684 | 154.8344 | 160.70 | top 57% |
| Pork Ribs | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 166.2628 | 126.7768 | 149.67 | top 66% |
| Pork | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 169.7028 | 157.7256 | 162.08 | top 56% |
| Brisket | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 159.3716 | 148.5256 | 152.56 | top 74% |
“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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small (<20 teams) | 1 | 0 | top 38% |
| Medium (20–39) | 1 | 0 | top 63% |
| Large (40+) | 2 | 0 | top 84% |
More numbers
Busiest season
2018
2 contests
Contests a season
1.6
across 5 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
LA
4 of 8 contests · 4 states in all
Contests visited
4
a different one every time
Opponents faced
187
finished ahead 57 times, behind 134
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20193 milestones
- First overall top-10 D'Iberville BBQ Throw Down Festival
- Peak power rating (1488) D'Iberville BBQ Throw Down Festival
- Most recent contest D'Iberville BBQ Throw Down Festival
20184 milestones
- First call Downtown BBQ Showdown
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score654.1488 Downtown BBQ Showdown
- Career-best overall score654.1488 Downtown BBQ Showdown
- Career-best single call (Pork)169.7028 Downtown BBQ Showdown
20151 milestone
- First tracked contest Smokin Blues & BBQ
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +7.2 | D'Iberville BBQ Throw Down Festival | Feb 22, 2019 |
| +0.5 | Downtown BBQ Showdown | Aug 17, 2018 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -13.1 | Atlanta BarB-Que Festival | Aug 14, 2015 |
| -6.9 | Bixby BBQ'N Blues Festival | May 6, 2016 |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 100% | top 38% | 89.2% | 89.2% |
| 2018 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50% | top 63% | 90.9% | 90.9% |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
| 2016 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 77% | 82.5% | 82.5% |
| 2015 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 92% | 85.6% | 85.6% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 22, 2019 | D'Iberville BBQ Throw Down Festival 🏅 Diberville, MS | 6 / 16 (321.0972) | 8 (154.8344) | 4 (166.2628) | — | — |
| Aug 17, 2018 | Downtown BBQ Showdown Hattiesburg, MS | 19 / 30 (654.1488) | 26 (159.9544) | 13 (165.1200) | 8 (169.7028) | 19 (159.3716) |
| Mar 23, 2018 | Hammond BBQ Hammond, LA | — | — | — | — | — |
| Mar 24, 2017 | Hammond BBQ Hammond, LA | — | — | — | — | — |
| May 6, 2016 | Bixby BBQ'N Blues Festival Bixby, OK | 64 / 83 (594.1824) | 37 (161.1544) | 81 (126.7768) | 52 (157.7256) | 59 (148.5256) |
| Mar 25, 2016 | Hamond BBQ Hammond, LA | — | — | — | — | — |
| Aug 14, 2015 | Atlanta BarB-Que Festival Atlanta, GA | 44 / 48 (615.9884) | 22 (166.8684) | 47 (140.5256) | 38 (158.8112) | 42 (149.7832) |
| Mar 27, 2015 | Smokin Blues & BBQ Hammond, LA | — | — | — | — | — |