Thirty-three professional cook teams gathered in Tifton, Georgia on March 2, 2019 for the GBA’s 6th Annual Rhythm and Ribs BBQ Festival. More than $10,000 in prize money was awarded to the winners, in addition to the now famous “Sqealbert” trophies.
Budmeister BBQ returned to usual form after some time off from the GBA with the Grand Championship for their pork entry. Rescue Smokers won Reserve Grand Champion for the second week in row after finishing 1st in loin, 7th in pork, and 1st place in ribs. Rescue Smokers also had the only 600s of the day in both the loin and ribs preliminaries.
Rescue Smokers finished first in loin, followed by East Coast BBQ for their first time in finals. Weekend Warriors rounded out the top three in loin.
In the pulled pork category, Budmeister BBQ came in first place. Pot’s BBQ finished second, with Ashley Home Store, led by Jack Fallin, taking third place.
Rescue Smokers also took the rib category. In their first finals, Smoking Outlaws finished second, with Budmeister BBQ coming in third place.
The GBA returns with the last double points event of the year in Ashburn on March 23, and the last sanctioned contest of the season in Donalsonville on April 6. Acworth hosts an event “In Association With” the GBA on May 11 that is open to any team with at least one current GBA member, but the results will not count towards the Team of the Year standing.
The full results for each category and Pro reserve scores can be found at the following links:
Loin, Pork, and Rib Results
https://gba.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/Contest%20Results/Tifton%202019%20scores.pdf
Reserve Scores
https://gba.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/Contest%20Results/Tifton%202019%20reserve.pdf