Mama Dora’s BBQ Sauce (5/5)

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Warning, I have a rant to let out.  Far too often I get sent sauce with a name and no picture of the person. Let’s see, just recently I’ve had:

  • Bo Macks
  • Porky Joe’s
  • Ruble Family
  • Zurrell’s
  • Uncle Kenny’s
  • Head’s Red
  • and many others
They are all good sauces… but no pictures!  I think when you name a sauce or a product after a person, people want to see that person represented.  Anything.  A picture or a cartoon or a stick figure will do!   Let’s say you name your sauce Wild and Crazy Hawk.  What are you going to do.  All white label with a black and white font?   Or maybe a picture of a pig?  No.  You might match that up with a picture or a cartoon or a drawing of a wild and crazy hawk (I have no idea what that would look like by the way).   End rant.
Outside the Bottle
mama dora copy
So here’s what Mama Dora Barbecue Sauce did right!!  They have a picture of Mama Dora – hooray!!
And they have a rich history.  They have been serving it – or something like it – from 1928 to 1965 at the Liberty Cafe in Fort Valley Georgia (now closed).  The problem is that the picture – while original and historically accurate – doesn’t give us a quick shot of Mama Dora.   I could suggest a few minor touch-ups, however.
The label is set against this dark backdrop:
mama-dora-big
An amazing picture for sure!   While maybe all they really need to do is put a big picture somewhere on the label like this.
mama-doras
Hey.  I’m no graphic designer, but I’ve seen a lot of sauce bottles in my day!   The label itself beyond that is held back a bit by keeping to this dark, grayscale color tone.  I’d brighten it up a bit.  Show a close up of Mama Dora. Tell us why it’s great and why the bottle was meant to preserve the memory of what was probably a great woman (if she loved sauce, then she was probably amazing!)
Inside the Bottle
This is a great tasting mustard sauce.
ingredients mama dora
It has a deep rich flavor provided by a combination of mustard, Worcestershire sauce, Louisiana-style hot sauce, and various other spices like garlic, onion, and crushed pepper – which you can see from outside the bottle floating around the dark yellow/brown base.  The sauce flows a bit thin but holds well to meat products.  The sugar and carbs count is lower than traditional BBQ sauces for you Atkins, South Beach, Paleo, carb-avoiding diet types although it does add high fructose corn syrup for those of you who want to know. Did I mention it tastes great.  Not only does it have the vinegary tang flavor that I like in a mustard BBQ sauce, it’s also got a trace of heat and and it’s not so sweet – unlike some mustard sauces that taste a bit too much like honey-mustard salad dressing.  Eww.  The extra complexity from the Worcestershire sauce also kicks this to a new dimension giving you a little extra savory tart kick – what some foodie refer to as umami.   I couldn’t stop eating it once I had a small taste.
mama dora chicken
Bottom Line:  
I went back and forth on this one and it was so close.  While I’d love a label touchup and to see it be a little thicker and have no HFCS, it was simply too tasty to give it anything other than a 5 star rating.  Way to go, Mama!
Check out the links for more information.

Site Editor, BBQ Sauce Lover, Family Guy, Hi Tech Marketer by Day. He recently wrote the Ebook “How to Market Your BBQ Sauce” which can be purchased on this site.

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Comments

  1. I love a good mustard based sauce too. And like you, I don’t care for the honey-mustard salad dressing styles out there either. Love the label and packaging on this one. Thanks for the review.

  2. kyle Maker says

    I agree with Brian

  3. I checked this one out myself. I is a very mild flavored mustard and vinegar based sauce checkout my video review here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RZnZQL4azc

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