Who am I?
My name is Brian Henderson and I have a BBQ sauce problem. I can’t get BBQ sauce out of my head or off my fingers. Since I’ve been a young boy I’ve have always had a passion for the BBQ experience (food, grills, fire, beer, cookouts) and have tried a huge range of sauces. In 2007, inspired by my friend John Craven at BevNET.com (beverage industry site), I started taking a serious approach toward the review of mass market and boutique BBQ sauces. I appreciate my wife’s understanding of my BBQ problem as I’ve broken our refrigerator shelves 3 times so far 
April 26, 2009 I became a certified BBQ judge (sanctioned by a group called KCBS).
What do I look for in a great bottled BBQ sauce?
Well, someone smart said beauty is in the eye of the the beer holder, and I guess that is true here as well. In general, what I look for is a great taste, followed by high quality ingredients, natural flavors, ability to see the spices flow out the mouth of the bottle, and bold/unique flavors. Thick or thin is OK, depending on the goal of the sauce and it’s type (NC, SC, Mustard, Tomato, Vinegar, Fruity, etc). I’ve tried a lot of sauces so the ole taste buds are good enough to know when someone tries to add some Worcestershire Sauce and onion powder to a bucket of ketchup and call it gourmet. I test flavor before AND after cooking - something which is fairly unique in the field of BBQ Sauce Reviewing.
Where are you located?
I live right outside Boston. Home to some great sports teams, but not really home to “World’s Best BBQ.” I try to grill throughout our cold and sometimes snowy winters… so there.
Awesome, how can readers help you?
What we would really appreciate is links from other websites… if you can’t send a link, please click on one of the Google Ads below the individual blog post title. Visiting sponsors helps to cover my costs (propane, sauce, web hosting, URL, etc). Clicking a link doesn’t give you a virus or anything… it gives the site a little LOVE. Also please follow my Twitter tweets - I try to find funny things people say about BBQ Sauce and share it with the world. Also when I put up a new review I also give a Tweet. Also when I announce free sauce giveaways… another way to stay in touch is to subscribe via email.
How We Review
Each review is conducted as scientifically as possible using similar meat types and grilling approach.
Upon request the sauce can be applied to the meat of the manufacturer’s choice if it happens to be made for a particular style of cooking.
Presently the test I conduct consists of applying the sauce to chicken and pork ribs as recommended by the BBQ sauce vendor. When no directions are provided, we rely on traditional methods of applying the sauce towards the end of the cooking cycle so that the flavor of the sauce is activated, yet remains intact. I have been asked about our style and our cooking fuel, and it’s actually grilling, and - dare I say it - propane (covering 90% of American households that are too impatient to do the low slow style BBQ).
The Basic Principles of a BBQSauceReviews.com Review:
Smell/Aroma
Does it smell good, like fresh ingredients, or like chemicals and something unnatural.
Taste (before and after cooking)
Need to get a sense of comparison before torching the meat with sauce applied. Does it retain flavor through the heat of a grill. A weak sauce will sometimes succumb to the flame and end up tasting like tomato and sugar. A great sauce transforms into something different, the heat “activating” the flavors together until you taste something you can’t get enough of.
Consistency
How does it look, move, and respond? How does it interact with the meat? Does it look natural? Does it flip around like water? Does it cling to the meat or require the whole jar?
Ingredients
Negative point(s) for bad stuff. Extra points for really good choices.
Marketing and Packaging
As an experienced marketer, I pick apart the packaging and placement of the product a bit. I try to offer helpful tidbits for the vendor, so they can be more successful with the next sauce.
Want to email me directly?
Try brian @ bbqsaucereviews.com or “follow” me on Twitter (bbqsaucereviews)
Do you accept user submitted sauces?
We accept user submitted recipes!
To clarify- we also accept labeled, bottled submissions from all grillers, however the likelihood that we’d open a jar of sauce from a random person is pretty unlikely.