The smell of delicious barbecue filled the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo grounds, Feb. 22 – 24, 2018, while more than 250 barbecue teams competed in the World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest. On Saturday night, one team was named Overall Grand Champion Team — Buns-N-Roses Cook Team.
Jamie Geer was elated when his team’s name was called over the loud speaker as the recipient of the Grand Champion Overall Title. A native of Fort Worth, Texas, Geer cooks for the Houston-based Buns-N-Roses Cook Team and has been in the barbecue industry for 30 years.
“This has been a fantastic experience,” Geer said. “I am so honored and excited to win for the second time. Everybody is going to be in trouble because here I am, a second-time champion, and you bet we will be coming back next year!”
Over the course of three days, teams from across Texas and the world competed for championship titles in the following categories: Brisket, Ribs, Chicken, Go Texan and Dutch Oven Dessert.
The 2018 World’s Championship Bar-B-Que Contest winners are:
- Grand Champion Overall – Buns-N-Roses Cook Team
- Reserve Grand Champion Overall – Jasper County Go Texan
Brisket
- Champion – Buckshot BBQ
- Second Place – Manning Valley Natural Smokers
- Third Place – Steve’s Cooking Team
Ribs
- Champion – Buns-N-Roses Cook Team
- Second Place – British Bulldog BBQ
- Third Place – Operation BBQ Relief
Chicken
- Champion – The Tumble Inn
- Second Place – Madison County Go Texan
- Third Place – San Patricio County Go Texan
Go Texan
- Grand Champion – Jasper County
- Reserve Champion – Bee County
Dutch Oven Dessert
- Champion – Lingon & Dill BBQ Team
- Second Place – Comcast Business
- Third Place – Smokin’ Stokers
Specialty Awards
- Most Colorful Team – Floyd Morrow & Larkin
- Runner Up Most Colorful Team – Over the Hill Gang
- Go Texan Most Colorful Team – Grid Iron Cookers
- Runner Up Go Texan Most Colorful Team – Nueces County
- Most Unique Pit – Pit Boss
- Runner Up Most Unique Pit – Clifton Chevy Cookers
- Best Team Skit – Brazos County
- Runner Up Best Team Skit – Bad Girls Gone Wild
- Cleanest Team Area – Houston First
- Runner Up Cleanest Team Area – Floyd Morrow & Larkin