The Smuggler's Comp Trail: Two Festivals Down, a Kiwi Crew Crashes the Party
⚓ SMUGGLER'S LOG — ENTRY No. 464
Dated this 30th day of September, 2026.Today the manifest's heavy with good news from both sides of the ditch. Two festivals wrapped in the last fortnight, a Kiwi crew turned up to crash an Aussie comp and very nearly stole the whole show, and the 2025–26 championship season has officially closed the books. Let's chart the course.
The season that was: ABA Championship, FINAL
The 2025–26 Heat Beads Australian Barbecue Alliance Championship leaderboard is locked in as final. Dusty Que takes out the season with 416.95 points, just ahead of Smooth N SmOakey Salad Dodgers (409.11) and Butterbeard BBQ (399.89) rounding out the podium. Butcher's Axe BBQ — whose name will look familiar to anyone browsing our rub shelf — finished a strong 9th with 369.15 points. Genuine congratulations to every team on that leaderboard; getting through a full season with four-plus sanctioned cooks under your belt is no small effort.
Two festivals, two Grand Champions
With the old season closed, the new one's already firing. Two festivals ran back to back in the last fortnight and both are in the books:
Meat Noosa Queensland Open BBQ Championship (19 September, Noosa QLD) — Grand Champion went to Grillas In The Mist, with the Reserve Grand Champion going to a name that made me do a double-take: BEERS Championship BBQ, sailed all the way over from New Zealand for the honour. That's the trans-Tasman spirit right there — a Kiwi crew turning up on Australian soil and taking home silver on their first crack at it.
Kangaroo Valley Craft Beer & BBQ Festival (20 September, Kangaroo Valley NSW) — The Jacks Creek BBQ Team took Grand Champion, with Big Smoke BBQ close behind as Reserve Grand Champion. Both outfits are proven hands — Big Smoke has form as a past national champion, and it showed.
Well done to every team who fronted up at either event. That's the whole reason Darryl keeps this log — so nobody's win goes past unnoticed.
Full results: ABA Championship Leaderboard · Meat Noosa results · Kangaroo Valley results.
What's next
The tour keeps rolling straight into October: BBQ @ The Bend (2–4 October, Tailem Bend SA), Low n Slow Smoke Off Gerogery (Friday 9 October, Gerogery NSW — also sanctioned as an SCA steak cookoff), and the National BBQ Championships Forbes (17–18 October, Grinstead Oval, Forbes NSW) all on the calendar. If you're anywhere near any of those, get amongst it and cheer the teams on.
Updated 7 October 2026: this post originally listed the Gerogery Smoke Off as 10 October and Forbes as a single day on 17 October. We re-checked both live with the organisers' own listings — Gerogery is Friday 9 October, and Forbes runs across two days, 17–18 October. Corrected above. Thanks for bearing with us.
On the New Zealand side, the NZBA's "After Beechmont" leaderboard is unchanged since our last check — Cook Cartel still holds top spot on 41 points, with Rum and Que right behind on 39. We'll keep watching for the next round.
Recipe: Festival-Day Beef Skewers
Serves: 4 · Prep: 20 min (+ 1 hr marinate) · Cook: 10 min · Total: ~1 hr 30 min
Gear: skewers, hot grill or BBQ, tongs
Ingredients:
- 600g beef rump or sirloin, cut into 3cm cubes
- 2 tbsp Butchers Axe Bullseye Beef Rub
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
- Blues Hog Original BBQ Sauce, for glazing and dipping
Method:
- Toss the beef cubes in the oil and Bullseye Beef Rub, cover, and let it sit for at least an hour (overnight in the fridge is even better).
- Thread onto skewers, leaving a little breathing room between cubes so the heat gets all the way around each piece.
- Grill over high, direct heat for 8–10 minutes total, turning every 2 minutes, brushing with a thin layer of Blues Hog Original in the last 2 minutes only.
- Rest for 2 minutes, then serve with extra sauce on the side for dipping.
Darryl's tip: cut the cubes roughly the same size so they all hit medium-rare together — nothing worse than half a skewer overcooked chasing one stubborn corner piece.
The Smuggler's Secret
Before the rub even touches the beef, tip it into a dry pan over low heat for 30–60 seconds and give it a gentle shake — blooming a rub this way wakes up the dried spices and rounds off any raw, dusty edge, the same trick a good curry cook uses on whole spices. Let it cool for a minute before it goes anywhere near the meat. It's a five-second step that makes a shelf rub taste like it's been sitting in a spice grinder five minutes ago.
Community love
Congratulations again to Grillas In The Mist, BEERS Championship BBQ, The Jacks Creek BBQ Team and Big Smoke BBQ, and to every crew who competed at either festival. Catch the next round of the tour throughout October — full dates above.
Grab the gear
Butchers Axe Bullseye Beef Rub and Blues Hog Original BBQ Sauce — both stocked and ready for your own backyard cook-off.
Next haul's a beauty — keep the smoker warm.
— The Rub Smuggler ⚓ The whole haul's at the Rub Hub →