Saucehound Barbecue Sauce (5/5)

saucehound bottle

Mike McDade and his bulldog chunk have been on a quest to make the best BBQ and the best BBQ sauce for nearly ten years.   Here’s a video of Mike being interviewed at the Jack back in 2011, when his BBQ team received the invite to compete in the Jack Daniel’s World Championship BBQ cooking contest.  He’s no stranger to modifying his flavors to get killer results and killer barbecue – so I was really excited to try his recently re-formulated Saucehound Barbecue Sauce.

OUTSIDE THE BOTTLE

Brand Name:  I really like the brand name and how simple and easy to say it is.

Label Quality:  The label is very high-quality, glossy, and professionally applied.

Label Concept:  The front label design and logos and fonts complement the SauceHound name well. I like “Killer Barbecue” and “Original Competition Recipe” stand out from the pack and make me want to try it. I like highlighting the ingredients features – No HFCS, Gluten-Free and No Preservatives.  Good stuff! Only suggestion I had for Mike here would be to hype up the fact that this is the sauce that helped get him and his team to the most prestigious BBQ cooking event in the world (The Jack) in 2011.

Copy Writing:  The story of Mike and Chunk is told in a funny and matter-of-fact way. It shows you how long Mike has been at this and how long he has cared about good BBQ cooking.  One drawback is that it doesn’t describe much about the flavors and what to expect and what it excels at – but it does makes you smile and most sauce labels fail at that.

“If you’re gonna put it in your mouth, it’ll be better with Saucehound on it.”  (lol)

[Correction – Mike tell’s me his next round of labels will be more descriptive]

INSIDE THE BOTTLE

Aroma:  To me, the first smell puts a darkly-sweet molasses and garlic inspired dart into your nose.

Texture:  A dark reddish/brown sauce, it’s thinner than your average store bought sauce – which is not a bad thing.  You can see loads of texture and specks of real spices in there so you can be sure that this isn’t some mass-marketed chemicals only concoction from a giant company who is only looking out for their bottom line.   The spices and specks add dimension and character to the sauce and help adhere the sauce to whatever meats you want this sauce to complement.

Ingredients:   Solid choices: No HFCS,  Gluten-free, no preservatives.

Uncooked Flavor:   It’s an interesting sauce that starts sweat and gets tangier and more complex the longer you wait. Definitely more interesting and sophisticated vs your usual store brand, it’s more akin to something like Stubbs as opposed to Sweet Baby Ray’s.   It has enough sweet to satisfy those cravings and enough tang to mix it up – but not too much like some sauces that go a little too heavy on the vinegar.  A good balance!

Cooked Flavor:  When cooked the sauce flavor deepens as the sweetness withdraws a bit.  It starts with a strong sweetness and then the garlic, molasses, and paprika become really apparent and change the overall experience.

SAUCE HOUND OVERALL SCORES

OUTSIDE THE BOTTLE

  • Brand Name: 5
  • Label Quality:  5
  • Label Concept: 5
  • Copy Writing: 4
INSIDE THE BOTTLE

  • Aroma:  5
  • Texture: 4
  • Ingredients: 5
  • Uncooked flavor: 5
  • Cooked Flavor: 5

BOTTOM LINE

I tried this sauce on so many things around the house:  eggs, chicken, sausage, and much more.  I tried it hot and cold and tried it solo and combined it also with the Saucehound rub.  I tried it on pulled pork, BBQ chicken, ribs, and on a few slices of brisket.  The sauce runs a bit thin, the flavor was darkly sweet and tangy and really went with just about anything.     The brown sugar and molasses sweetness mixes really well with the  stronger spices like garlic and paprika!

 

FOR A GREAT DEAL

check out the Amazon Saucehound page and the Saucehound 3 pack (with free camo coozy)

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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