Whiskeytown BBQ Sauce is the brainchild of Thom Kaz – a Vegas-based entertainer with a track record of success with his unique comedy hypnosis show called “Hypnaughty.” Beyond his spicy show, he’s also into BBQ sauce and music as you can see on his site ilovewhiskeytown.com. That said, this is a sauce review, so let’s look at the bottle, crack it open, and get into it.
Outside the Bottle
Opening the package, I found a clean glass bottle with a very professional looking label that welcomes you into Whiskeytown with a few eye-catching statements – veteran owned, made in USA, and award-winning recipe. First of all, we thank Thom for his service, and respect the fact that it’s made in our country (like most BBQ sauces), and I wonder about the nature of this award-winning recipe – where has it won awards, where did the recipe come from? Award winning is a bold claim, but it’s always good to support the claim with evidence.
One of the unique features of the label is a prominent Whiskeytown Warriors logo – which states that profits from every bottle purchased goes towards helping support veterans – which is a nice thing to do.
Another cool feature – more companies should do it – is the presence of a QR code on the side of the bottle. This QR code leads you straight to whiskeytown.
A label is a salesman when you aren’t there in person and the expectation on the label should prepare the sauce buyer with a certain quality and flavor, and then deliver beyond that expectation. One of the things that I think could be enhanced is to tighten the experience between the label and the website and perhaps the QR Code could link to a video where you have the Whiskeytown song playing in the background, and the sauce is being used in a variety of situations – just an idea!
The description states: “Whiskey Town Gourmet BBQ sauce is a delicious award-winning family recipe that offers a sweet and savory taste. It’s perfect for those who want amazing flavor with all natural ingredients and none of the bad stuff. No high fructose corn syrup and gluten-free, which makes it perfect for ribs chicken brisket or burgers. Every purchase of whiskey town BBQ sauce help support veterans and we hope you enjoy it at your next cookout.” This is great, I’m just surprised there is no mention that this tastes like whiskey-infused sauce – which for some is a great thing, while others looking for a standard BBQ sauce, might be surprised or turned off by that. Here at BBQ Sauce Reviews, we assume Whiskeytown means it will have this flavor, but others might not be so intuitive – might as well come out and say it.
A closer look at the ingredients list reveals all shows he’s aware of what people are looking for these days at the grocery store when they look for alternatives to the dominant sauces on the store shelves. Gluten Free, No High Fructose Corn Syrup is called out in white above a slightly tough to read gold font with it’s all natural ingredients listed out: Sugar, apple cider vinegar, tomato paste, water, salt, spices (including celery seed, dehydrated garlic, and onion), and natural Hickory smoke flavor.
Inside the Bottle
When I open a fresh bottle of sauce, the first thing I do is take a quick sniff. You get a strong whiskey BBQ sauce type scent so you know it’s going to have that flavor in the sauce itself. I like whiskey and I like bourbon, so this is a good thing. What else would you expect from a brand called Whiskeytown?
As I tasted the initial uncooked flavor, I get hints of a classic mild BBQ sauce flavor (tomato, sugar, vinegar), mixed with a not-too-strong whiskey infusion. The consistency is smooth, thick, and rich and adheres to your sauce vessel of choice (usually meats) very well. You can see the before and after pictures show how nicely the all-natural ingredients stayed on while cooking – which is not common and hard to achieve with all-natural sauces.
After the sauce is cooked, you can see the sauce stays on well and keeps the meat covered without sliding off. The flavor of the chicken is enhanced, and tastes almost the exact flavor of the uncooked sauce, although it gets a bit milder in the whiskey department. I would have loved a little more smoky flavor here, but this does a nice job.
Bottom Line
It’s a good, sauce that tells you what it is on the label. It shows you Whiskeytown and delivers a sweet BBQ sauce with the taste of whiskey infused throughout its flavor profile. It’s got a nice label, nice flavor, and works well on grilled chicken especially. Thom cares about veterans, high quality ingredients, and loves music and is good at marketing… that’s clear from his background. I think there’s an opportunity to tighten up the stories – tie the QR code to something more impactful and surprising and tie to his song “Whiskeytown” and have the T-shirt available right on the website.
If you like whiskey, and you like BBQ sauce, you wouldn’t regret taking a trip to Whiskeytown today.
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