Giant slayer
34
teams beaten in one weekend
Took the Grand Championship over a 34-team field at Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship.
- May 24, 2025
GRILL HUB
GRILL HUB is a competition barbecue team with 7 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2023 and 2026. They have won 2 Grand Championships, most recently at the Big Smoke Bonnyville (2026), and finished Reserve Grand Champion once. They are ranked #2286 of 6,491 teams in the KCBS power rankings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1528
peak 1528 · rated over 5 contests
Contests
7
in the data
First seen
Sep 16, 2023
latest Aug 14, 2026 · 2.9 years on the trail
Grand champs
2
1 reserve · wins it all 29% of the time
Category wins
5
5 podiums
Overall top-10s
3
43% of 7 contests
Best top-10 run
3
straight overall top-10s, still running
Avg finish
top 37%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
86%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±10.11
spread of their Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Pork Ribs
avg 168.76 · weakest Brisket (153.22)
Road miles
433
across 7 mapped stops · furthest 94 mi
Schedule strength
28%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1538)
Purse competed for
$5,000
listed at 1 contest — purses, not winnings
Master avg
644.28 / 720
5 Master contests · 0 GCs
Backyard avg
339.41 / 360
3 Backyard contests · 2 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 GRILL HUB, each with one reason worth a look.
66 rated teams sit within a point of this rating, so a place on this list means the numbers match — no more than that.
#2,296 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1527
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 7, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#2,281 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 100%
- Peak
- 1528
5 straight overall top-10s says this rating is a moving target.
⚔ Compare careers#2,279 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 71%
- Peak
- 1528
Their last contest in the data was back in 2022, 4 years before GRILL HUB's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#2,294 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 40%
- Peak
- 1532
They were already cooking in 2014, 9 years before GRILL HUB's first contest.
⚔ Compare careers#2,287 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 29%
- Peak
- 1529
Level with GRILL HUB on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#2,298 of the rated field
- Contests
- 7
- GCs
- 1
- Top-10s
- 29%
- Peak
- 1529
Their rating is built on 1 Grand Championship in 7 contests, alongside a 29% overall top-10 rate.
⚔ Compare careersFamiliar foes (most-met opponents in overall standings — one meeting per contest)
| Opponent | Meetings | Ahead | Behind | Win rate | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mc Que It | 5 | 4 | 1 | 80% | ⚔ compare |
| MOTLEY QUE | 5 | 3 | 2 | 60% | ⚔ compare |
| SMELLAQUE | 5 | 1 | 3 | 20% | ⚔ compare |
By meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 9 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 177.7028 | 159.4172 | 166.91 | top 50% |
| Pork Ribs | 9 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 175.4516 | 159.9772 | 168.76 | top 32% |
| Pork | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 166.8572 | 153.1200 | 158.84 | top 80% |
| Brisket | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 162.2972 | 146.2172 | 153.22 | top 85% |
“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) | 2 | 1 | top 10% |
| Medium (20–39) | 3 | 1 | top 55% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Big Smoke Bonnyville | 2 | 1 | 1 | top 10% | Aug 14, 2026 |
| Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship | 2 | 1 | 1 | top 41% | May 24, 2025 |
More numbers
Busiest season
2026
3 contests · 1 GC
Contests a season
1.8
across 4 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
AB
7 of 7 contests
Contests visited
3
2 of them more than once
First title
May 24, 2025
Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship
Opponents faced
70
finished ahead 77 times, behind 55
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20263 milestones
- Career-best single call (Chicken)177.7028 Big Smoke Bonnyville
- Peak power rating (1528) Big Smoke Bonnyville
- Most recent contest Big Smoke Bonnyville
20259 milestones
- First category win (Chicken) Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship
- First overall top-10 Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship
- First overall podium Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship
- First Grand Championship Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship
- First multi-meat day Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score335.4288 Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship
- Biggest field won (34 teams) Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship
- First Reserve Championship Big Smoke Bonnyville
- Career-best overall score663.3488 Big Smoke Bonnyville
20232 milestones
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📈 Biggest rating jumps
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| +17.2 | Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship | May 24, 2025 |
| +15.8 | Big Smoke Bonnyville | Aug 14, 2026 |
| +11.2 | Big Smoke Bonnyville | Sep 6, 2025 |
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -8.7 | Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship (formerly Porkapalooza BBQ Festival) | Sep 16, 2023 |
| -7.7 | Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship | May 25, 2024 |
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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 100% | top 7% | 95.9% | 95.9% |
| 2025 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 100% | top 8% | 93.8% | 93.5% |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 79% | 88.2% | 88.2% |
| 2023 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 83% | 88.6% | 88.6% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 14, 2026 | Big Smoke Bonnyville Bonnyville, AB | 1 / 15 (345.1200) | 1 (177.7028) | 1 (167.4172) | 13 (157.7028) | 11 (162.2972) |
| May 23, 2026 | Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship (ONE MEAT CHICKEN) Calmar, AB | — | 9 (167.3828) | — | — | — |
| May 23, 2026 | Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship (ONE MEAT RIBS) Calmar, AB | — | — | 4 (174.2628) | — | — |
| Sep 6, 2025 | Big Smoke Bonnyville Bonnyville, AB | 2 / 15 (337.6800) | 4 (165.1316) | 1 (172.5484) | 12 (166.8572) | 13 (154.2172) |
| May 24, 2025 | Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship Calmar, AB | 1 / 34 (335.4288) | 1 (168.5944) | 1 (166.8344) | 26 (157.7144) | 27 (155.9544) |
| May 25, 2024 | Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship Calmar, AB | 31 / 39 (634.7544) | 24 (165.7144) | 24 (164) | 25 (158.8228) | 35 (146.2172) |
| Sep 16, 2023 | Embers and Ice Pitmaster Championship (formerly Porkapalooza BBQ Festival) Sherwood Park, Edmonton, AB | 24 / 29 (638.2176) | 24 (162.2516) | 6 (175.4516) | 27 (153.1200) | 28 (147.3944) |