Head’s Red BBQ Sauce (5/5)
Holy moly - it almost took four months to review this product! Bill, and many others waiting for their sauces to be reviewed, my apologies! I will spare the long explanation, but I can guarantee you I’ve been busy (kids, work, computer issues, weddings, etc) but I’ve remained BBQ’ing the whole time. I’ve had various varieties come in from all over the world country, and I gotta say this sauce stacks way up there. With it’s deep red hue and a deep complex flavor to match, this sauce has been my favorite around the house for the past few weeks. In fact, it’s the only sauce my wife has been referring to by name. The other ones she just kinda points at - this one? Or how bout this one? :) For that and for the reasons listed herein, it gets my highest rating of 5 stars.
Continue reading “Head’s Red BBQ Sauce (5/5)”
August 13th, 2008
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brian |
All Reviews, 5 Star Reviews, General |
2 comments
Not too long ago, my sister Julie and her husband Kevin brought me back a great sauce from a recent trip to Austin. They lived there for awhile and told me some of the cool things to do and have always had a sense of the local scene where ever they happened to live - whether it’s Austin, Boston, or Philly. Anyway, this sauce has turned out to be one of my … no actually my all-time favorite mustard based BBQ sauce I’ve ever had.
Continue reading “Salt Lick Original Recipe Bar-B-Que Sauce (5/5)”
May 12th, 2008
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brian |
All Reviews, Mustard BBQ Sauce, 5 Star Reviews, Unique BBQ Sauces |
2 comments
Awesome stuff. If you love the sweet/bold/smokiness of Bullseye BBQ sauce, with some additional onion and spice flavors added, you’ll love TJ’s Bold and Smoky KC Style BBQ Sauce.
And if you don’t have a Trader Joe’s near you, well… you should move. 
Continue reading “Trader Joe’s Bold and Smoky Kansas City Style Barbecue Sauce (5/5)”
March 6th, 2008
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brian |
All Reviews, 5 Star Reviews, Sweet BBQ Sauce, Kansas City BBQ Sauce |
5 comments
5 Stars. I loved this sauce. Loved the packaging, the name, the taste, the brick house displayed on the bottle - just a really nice concept based on a great fairytale. The original fairytale is a little more gruesome than you might think, involving the death of the first two pigs, and the death of the wolf in the end…
Continue reading “Three Little Pigs Huff and Puff Competition BBQ Sauce (5/5)”
February 17th, 2008
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brian |
Spicy BBQ Sauce, All Reviews, 5 Star Reviews |
one comment
Discovering hidden gems like this are one of the main reasons I started doing this website and blog.
Russ and Frank shipped me out three jars of sauce - their complete portfolio of Mild, Sassy, and Fiery.
And I went straight to Sassy, perhaps because I knew what to expect from the others. And if you think Sassy sounds funny… well… screw you, buddy, cause this is a classic “two buddies drinking beer” story with a happy ending.
Russ and Frank were chronic “searchers” looking for a better BBQ sauce every time they left town. One night, they were grilling and hanging out on a deck, having a few beers, when their conversation again drifts into their mutual dissatisfaction for BBQ sauces. So that night they finally promised to do something about it, and over the course of the next year, tested between 50 and 75 batches of barbecue sauce. Since then they’ve packaged the product, put it in stores, won various awards, and last year sold about 1500 gallons of sauce. Nice.
OK, enough history - on to the Review!
Well, I gotta say my analytic personality was challenged to find anything wrong with the Sassy sauce. It hit all the highs and I really couldn’t find any lows except for their weak distribution strategy (guys you gotta get this into the Northeast).
Let’s get into it, one by one.
Continue reading “Russ and Franks Sassy BBQ Sauce (5 of 5)”
November 16th, 2007
Posted by
brian |
All Reviews, 5 Star Reviews |
3 comments
Phil Ford, a real estate appraiser and father of four in Raleigh, North Carolina, developed his sauce around 1987 while trying to copy his mother’s recipe for a western North Carolina-style barbecue sauce.
The resulting all natural, fat-free, fragrant blend of ingredients include: tomato paste, apple cider vinegar, honey, molasses, mustard, horseradish, lemon juice, onions, garlic, peppers, natural hickory smoke, natural spices and salt.
This one gets BBQSR props for a magical combination of quality ingredients, simple packaging, clever name, and well balanced flavor. The only thing I found slightly lacking (a stretch) was that the consistency was a bit on the thin side.
The smell is wonderful - a sweet yet complex aroma with hints of apple, mustard, lemon, onions, and the “smokiness” that all barbecue sauces attempt. I could see putting this on almost anything - I think I want to try this on swordfish next, then a Bone Suckin Burger after that.
The first time I tried this stuff was a long time ago, during my college days, before I knew much about BBQ and grilling… and I had slathered the stuff on before the meat was ready for a barbecue bath. The result was a less-than-tasty, blackened mess. Bad experience for a bad griller - I blame it on the beer I was drinking at the time.
But my most recent, and sober, experience was a meal of half rack of ribs and a few chicken wings all done the right way, when the meat is at about the 75th percentile of BBQ cookage. This way, the sweets didn’t completely die and I was able to take in one of the best natural- ingredient sauces on the market…
Continue reading “Bone Suckin Sauce (5 of 5)”
October 26th, 2007
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brian |
All Reviews, 5 Star Reviews, Sweet BBQ Sauce, North Carolina BBQ Sauce, General |
10 comments
Clearly marketed towards big loud chopper owners, the references aren’t too strong enough to turn off those of us who aren’t bikers.
How many references to Harley’s can you find on this bottle? I found 5
The manufacturer describes this as “an aggressive, crimson-red, tomato-based sauce riddled with spices you can see, smell and taste,” and I’d agree.
This sauce was easily the best of a recent batch of three random varieties I just got in. The consistency was thin yet stable and clung to the meat well. There was just enough heat (provided by cayenne peppers) to really add life to really tasty set of wings. This one really is unique in that it provides the three major BBQ flavors: sweet, spicy, and sour (tangy). If you are looking for something that tastes slightly different, has no preservatives, and supports really loud forms of transportation - this one is for you!
Smell: Nice with a very natural scent.
Taste: Sweet, sour, and a dab of spicy. Unique, yet not overpowering.
Consistency: One tiny nit is that it pours a little thin, but you can really see the spices as they flow out of the bottle and into intermediate basting container… and it clings well to ________ (insert favorite meat here).
Packaging: Fun “Harley-marketing”, but cheap plastic bottle. Guess it’s good if you’re like me with a kid or kids running around grabbing everything they can!
One of my highest reviews and faves so far.
Ingredients: Tomato sauce, prepared mustard, brown sugar, cayenne peppers, vinegar, natural smoke flavor, salt, spices, xanthan gum.
Nutrition Info: 25 calories per 28g serving, 0g fat, 5g carbs, 240mg sodium
Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Website
June 21st, 2007
Posted by
brian |
All Reviews, 5 Star Reviews, Unique BBQ Sauces, Sweet BBQ Sauce, General |
3 comments
By now, only on my third review for BBQ Sauce Reviews, I’m startin’ to notice a lot of g’s missin’ in the packagin’. I guess it’s how most of these sauces are marketed - as kinda casual and fun - as the process of grilling and eating BBQ’d foods is inherently fun.
Although this Caribbean model uses a similar BBQ sauce industry marketin’ technique, this sauce is a welcome change from a lot of BBQ sauces I’ve tasted. Straight outta the bottle this stuff will spice up your night. I like the hot stuff occasionally, but as a dipping sauce I found the heat to overpower what great flavors that reveal themselves after a solid grillin’.
I used chicken wings, but the bottle recommends - in order - fish, seafood, chicken & “Goat”! Kinda funny I guess, but notice the uses of seafood twice in the description. I guess you could put it on crab / lobster and other non-fish seafood, but I think they were really aching to fill some space on the label.
That aside, the bottle presents itself as a distinguished Caribbean woman’s pride along with a steel drummer, palm tree leaves, and a boat on the beach in the background. It’s a welcome appetizer for the main course of chicken lathered in this tasty sauce.
It went on the chicken without issue, being thick enough to really stick to my wings.
Once grilled and settled, the taste was wonderful - a complex blend of mango, spices, and peppers (scotch bonnets are used). There’s heat for those who desire heat, and flavor for everyone else.
But is it too hot?
No way. There’s a bit of heat, yes, so if you don’t like hot foods you should probaby sit this one out. But it’s not the kind of heat that results in who-can-eat-this-stuff contests. It’s a great mix of heat and flavor - but again, after it’s been grilled. Without the grill, I found the heat a bit overwhelming.
Ingredients:
Water, Sugar, Mango Chutney (Mango, Sugar, Vinegar, Salt, Ginger, Garlic, Chili, contains sulfates), Tomatoes (Tomato Juice, Citric Acid, Calcium Chloride), Modified Food Starch, Salt, White Vinegar, Scotch Bonnet Peppers, Onions, Jalapeño Peppers ( Jalapeño Peppers, Salt, Calcium Chloride, Acetic Acid), Ginger (contains sulphites), Herbs and spices, Onion Powder, Canola Oil, Garlic Powder, Potassium Sorbate as a preservative, Polysorbate 80.
May 25th, 2007
Posted by
brian |
All Reviews, 5 Star Reviews, General |
5 comments
