A Look Inside The Fourth Annual Syndicate Smokedown in the Fort Worth Stockyards

A Barbecue Competition For A Good Cause

By Amanda Ogle // Apr 15, 2025

1/5

Meat Sweats Barbecue took home the Grand Champion title for the barbecue competition. (Courtesy)

The smoky smell of barbecue wafted through Fort Worth’s Stockyards Station on Saturday, April 12, all thanks to the fourth annual Syndicate Smokedown — a barbecue competition that features local pitmasters and gives back to the community.

An IBCA World Championship barbecue competition, the Syndicate Smokedown raises $10,000 in scholarships for Texas 4-H and FFA students pursuing careers in agriculture or life sciences at a Texas state-sponsored university. The Smokedown was founded in 2022 as a way to fulfill the Syndicate’s mission of making the dreams of young livestock exhibitors come true through these scholarships.

For the barbecue contest, professional judges selected winners from three categories: spare ribs, chicken, and brisket, plus awarded an overall grand champion and reserve champion. This year’s grand champion was Weston Birks and Meat Sweats Barbecue.

Panther City BBQ — Panther City Barbecue is known for BBQ twists like a brisket elote cup. (Courtesy)

The sold-out event was a great way for participants to sample Texas craft barbecue from numerous Fort Worth barbecue hot spots, plus others from around the state. Panther City Barbecue was on site with brisket taco samples, each topped with house-pickled onions and a homemade salsa verde. Their sibling outpost, Fort Worth Barbecue Company, set up right next to them with brisket pozole topped with salsa, cabbage, and fresh cilantro. Fort Worth’s Olmos Barbecue distributed chicken poppers wrapped in jalapeño and bacon, while Brix Barbecue cranked out wagyu beef belly burnt ends.

Surprising but delicious bites included a brisket Bloody Mary deviled egg from Rossler’s Blue Cord Barbecue out of Harker Heights, Texas, and a Thai chili brisket taco with beef tallow-grilled kimchi, chili lime crema, sesame seeds, and green onion from Local Craft Barbecue from Newark, Texas. B4 Barbecue from Mabank, Texas did a pork bao bun topped with grated carrots and sesame seeds, and Patriotic Pig from North Richland Hills delivered with a pork belly crostini and a whiskey peach barbecue sauce.

Aside from as much barbecue as you could handle, Syndicate Smokedown also included numerous pop-up bars, including a full one from Pendleton Whisky, a sponsor of the event and the first whiskey brand to sponsor the Stockyards and Cowtown Coliseum. Live music filled the air all afternoon and night, with Odessa-born Treaty Oak Revival capping off the night with their Texas country hits.