The heartbreaker
2.1708
points from the title
Came within 2.1708 points of the Grand Championship at The 18th Annual Burnt Offering BBQ Contest (COMPETITORS SERIES) (Oct 7, 2022).
Whiskey Tango 'Que
Whiskey Tango 'Que is a competition barbecue team with 6 Kansas City Barbeque Society (KCBS) contests on record between 2021 and 2024. Their best overall finish is 2nd of 10 at The 18th Annual Burnt Offering BBQ Contest (COMPETITORS SERIES) (2022), and they have finished Reserve Grand Champion once. They finished #1182 in the 2024 Master Series Team of the Year standings.
At a glance (the record in numbers)
Rating
1470
Unranked — needs 5 rated contests, has 42 invitational or side-series contests not counted
Contests
6
in the data
First seen
Oct 8, 2021
latest Apr 12, 2024 · 2.5 years on the trail
Grand champs
0
1 reserve
Category wins
0
1 podium
Overall top-10s
1
17% of 6 contests
Avg finish
top 77%
overall standings
Best overall
672.0692 / 720
Competitor Series · The 18th Annual Burnt Offering BBQ Contest (COMPETITORS SERIES)
Perfect 180s
0
Walk rate
67%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±7.87
spread of their Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Chicken
avg 164.17 · weakest Brisket (158.40)
Road miles
59
across 6 mapped stops
Schedule strength
61%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1577)
Purse competed for
$29K
listed at 4 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
won from 5 state-championship entries
Master avg
647.20 / 720
4 Master contests · 0 GCs
Team of the Year (rank per category by season — the year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 ↗ | Master | #1182 (60 pts) | #1242 (60 pts) | #1317 (60 pts) | #850 (155 pts) | #1204 (60 pts) |
| 2023 ↗ | Master | #1552 (58 pts) | #977 (133 pts) | #1680 (58 pts) | #1557 (58 pts) | #1288 (63 pts) |
| 2022 ↗ | Master | #1309 (60 pts) | #1341 (60 pts) | #1404 (60 pts) | #1348 (60 pts) | #1333 (60 pts) |
Overall rank by season
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The teams rated closest to Whiskey Tango 'Que, each with one reason worth a look.
Whiskey Tango 'Que 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 142 rated teams sit within a point of it.
#4,653 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1501
They've been 1501 at their best, 31 points above where they sit today — they're arriving at this rating from above.
⚔ Compare careers#4,650 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1470
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 6, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Compare careers#4,670 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1470
Both teams' first contest in the data came in 2021.
⚔ Compare careers#4,651 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1470
Their last contest in the data was back in 2020, 4 years before Whiskey Tango 'Que's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careers#4,699 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1469
Level with Whiskey Tango 'Que on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Compare careers#4,680 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1469
Their last contest in the data was back in 2019, 5 years before Whiskey Tango 'Que's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Compare careersBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 174.2972 | 157.6800 | 164.17 | top 61% |
| Pork Ribs | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 169.1200 | 158.8344 | 162.66 | top 62% |
| Pork | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 174.2856 | 157.1200 | 163.68 | top 70% |
| Brisket | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 162.8572 | 150.7772 | 158.40 | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small (<20 teams) | 2 | 0 | top 60% |
| Medium (20–39) | 4 | 0 | top 86% |
Repeat visits (contests they've cooked twice or more)
| Contest | Visits | Best | GCs | Avg finish | Last visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BBQ Boots & Brew | 3 | 26 | 0 | top 82% | Apr 12, 2024 |
More numbers
Busiest season
2022
3 contests
Contests a season
1.5
across 4 seasons in the data
Most contests held in
CA
6 of 6 contests
Contests visited
4
1 of them more than once
Opponents faced
96
finished ahead 28 times, behind 139
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
20241 milestone
- Most recent contest BBQ Boots & Brew
20231 milestone
- Career-best single call (Chicken)174.2972 BBQ, Boots & Brew
20226 milestones
- Peak power rating (1491) BBQ, Boots & Brew
- First overall top-10 The 18th Annual Burnt Offering BBQ Contest (COMPETITORS SERIES)
- First overall podium The 18th Annual Burnt Offering BBQ Contest (COMPETITORS SERIES)
- First Reserve Championship The 18th Annual Burnt Offering BBQ Contest (COMPETITORS SERIES)
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score672.0692 The 18th Annual Burnt Offering BBQ Contest (COMPETITORS SERIES)
- Career-best overall score672.0692 The 18th Annual Burnt Offering BBQ Contest (COMPETITORS SERIES)
20212 milestones
- First tracked contest 17th Annual Burnt Offerings BBQ Contest (COMPETITORS SERIES)
- First call 17th Annual Burnt Offerings BBQ Contest (COMPETITORS SERIES)
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -12.3 | Horse Town Brew N Que Festival | Jun 3, 2022 |
| -9.2 | BBQ, Boots & Brew | Apr 8, 2022 |
| -5 | BBQ, Boots & Brew | Apr 28, 2023 |
| -3.9 | BBQ Boots & Brew | Apr 12, 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) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 77% | 91.2% | 91.2% |
| 2023 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 79% | 90.7% | 90.7% |
| 2022 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 33% | top 69% | 93.3% | 90.3% |
| 2021 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100% | top 100% | 68.6% | 68.6% |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 12, 2024 | BBQ Boots & Brew 🏅 Perris, CA | 30 / 39 (656.5144) | 34 (159.9428) | 31 (159.4288) | 8 (174.2856) | 32 (162.8572) |
| Apr 28, 2023 | BBQ, Boots & Brew 🏅 Perris, CA | 26 / 33 (653.0172) | 10 (174.2972) | 28 (158.8344) | 28 (160.5028) | 24 (159.3828) |
| Oct 7, 2022 | The 18th Annual Burnt Offering BBQ Contest (COMPETITORS SERIES) 🏅 unrated Riverside, CA | 2 / 10 (672.0692) | 3 (167.4516) | 4 (166.3432) | — | — |
| Jun 3, 2022 | Horse Town Brew N Que Festival 🏅 Norco, CA | 36 / 37 (637.1088) | 33 (157.6800) | 32 (161.7144) | 36 (157.1200) | 34 (160.5944) |
| Apr 8, 2022 | BBQ, Boots & Brew 🏅 Perris, CA | 26 / 29 (642.1488) | 28 (159.4288) | 12 (169.1200) | 22 (162.8228) | 28 (150.7772) |
| Oct 8, 2021 | 17th Annual Burnt Offerings BBQ Contest (COMPETITORS SERIES) unrated Riverside, CA | 19 / 19 (494.1252) | 6 (166.2284) | 8 (160.4912) | — | — |
An unrated contest — an invitational, or a Competitor or Kosher Series board — is in the record but doesn’t move the power rating.