The booming Low ‘n Slow Texas BBQ movement will celebrate its most important events ever held in Australia in coming weeks, with two competitive events in Newcastle NSW featuring up to 60 of the best BBQ teams from Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

The World Invitational Championship will be held on Saturday 27 July, followed by the Full Throttle Ranch World Championship Open event the following day, Sunday 28 July. Combined, the competitions will offer around $70,000 in prizemoney.

The World Invitational Championship will see 37 of the world’s best competitive BBQ teams – 30 Australian teams chosen on performance from last year’s championship, plus seven New Zealand teams and two from the United States – taking part, in a ‘best of the best’ event. Prizemoney will total around $20,000.

The following day the Full Throttle Ranch World Championship Open event will see around 60 BBQ teams from across Australia and overseas competing in eight categories for a massive $50,000 prize pool.

The venue for both events is the Full Throttle Ranch at Lings Road, Buttai, near Newcastle.

US legends taking part

Taking part in both the upcoming World Invitational and Open BBQ Championships will be two of the legends of the competitive BBQ movement in the US – Phil Breeden from LC BBQ, and Bill Purvis from Chicken Fried BBQ. Between them, the pair have won dozens and US National and World BBQ championships in the past, and are regarded as the most decorated US competitors ever to visit Australia.

Bill Purvis from Chicken Fried BBQ, Texas US

Phil Breeden has been involved in competitive BBQ events since 2015, and is now full-time professional competitor, having competed in 167 sanctioned US competitions, earning 16 grand championships and 19 reserves to date. Fellow Texan Bill Purvis has followed a similar path, racking up 35 grand and reserve championships across the US since 2019, including a first place in the 2023 Jack Daniels World Invitational.

• Keep as lookout for Weekly Grill podcast host, Kerry Lonergan’s upcoming interview with Phil and Bill during their Australian visit.

Australian BBQ Alliance president Grant Coleman said it was the first time a World Championship BBQ event was being held in the southern hemisphere.

“Both Phil Breeden and Bill Purvis run very successful teams in the US. They are easily the best credentialed competitors ever to visit Australia, and the seven competing teams from New Zealand are all high-performers,” he said.

Only the top 30 Australian teams, ranked on competitions held across the country during 2023, would participate in the Saturday invitational event.

“It will be interesting to see how the US competitors and those from NZ handle our beef over here,” Mr Coleman said.

While this year’s event is open to invited guests only, plans for next year’s World Championship will see the public welcome to attend.

“Our goal next year is to see 80 or 100 teams competing in the 2025 Southern hemisphere World BBQ Championship – that’s our goal,” he said.

Master Class to precede competitions

Also during their Australian visit,  US visitors Phil Breeden and Bill Purvis are conducting BBQ Master Classes in Sydney and Brisbane. The first event was held in Sydney yesterday, but the Brisbane Master Class will take place on Sunday 21 July at Easy Times Brewing Co, Woolloongabba.

Designed for serious Texas BBQ fans and competitors, the Masterclass will cover meat selection, trimming, injection and seasoning, fire management, boxing and presentation, and the finishing process.

• Tickets are still available for the Brisbane Masterclass. The cost is $275pp, and can be accessed here