This is a nicely executed thin yet sweet sauce from Georgia.
The bottle appearance is good and simple. It’s a guy holding a man-sized fork that is impaling a massive slab of ribs. It’s a very small batch sauce as evidenced by the lack of nutritional information a UPC symbol and an address – but not a problem here. The glass bottle has the traditional fat bottom bowling-pin shape. The bottle is a little boring, but let’s get past appearances OK?
I’m very eager to give it a try so I crack open the bottle, which is expertly sealed with an outer layer of plastic and a vacuum sealed bottle top. Despite the lack of the other professional label items, I feel more confident now that tasting this sauce will probably NOT hurt me. Now that my trust is back on steady ground, I can open it up and take a whiff.
Aroma
The aroma is remarkably simply sweet. It smells like a vinegar based bbq sauce with a dark sugary finish – maybe brown sugar. I check the ingredients and I love that there are only about six ingredients listed. You got yer Water, Tomato Paste, Salt, Pepper, Sugar, and Spices. And that’s it. I like that.
When I tilt the bottle it seems to swish about in the bottle rather quickly – maybe just a step above water in the thinness department. But the lack of viscosity doesn’t necessarily mean the sauce won’t work for backyard grillers. Just keep mopping it on, friends.
So I put it into the fridge overnight as suggested by Ralph, the maker of the sauce.
The sauce thickened up a bit – but never did very well on traditional backyard griller fare such as BBQ burgers or chicken. This is however, a great sauce for pulled pork or to add flavor to a meal that you don’t mind making a little puddle and just swooshing the meat and food around the sauce. Based on consistency alone it’s a “Eastern North Carolina style” mop sauce – but it’s a lot sweeter … and from Georgia. Maybe that could be the Georgia style right there.
Bottom Line: It’s a good sauce with a great flavor – especially considering the number of ingredients on the label. I would have preferred this flavor to come in a slightly thicker form. When used as a dipping sauce, Lil Hawks did OK but left pools of sauce behind. I’d recommend it highly but I believe the thinness limits the potential positive impression that this sauce could have on people.
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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.
Excellent review! I always appreciate your perspective on sauces.
Great sauce