A deep rich sweet sauce that is versatile for any kind of grilling, dipping, or BBQ’ing.  It has enough complexity to appeal to connoisseurs and is mild enough to make the kids happy.  All in all, this is a great sauce that goes equally well with pork, chicken, and beef products.

Smell/Aroma    5

There’s a lot of complexity to this.  The smell invaded my brain and told me I’ve got to have this immediately.  The whiff has a strong dark sweet scent – dark brown sugar darkened and thickened with molasses and with the onion, garlic, and red pepper it has a nice punch.

Consistency    5

Excellent.  The brown sugar and molasses mix together to produce a naturally dark, thick sauce with a sheen produced from the mix of oils added to the batch.  Just the way I love it.  It glued itself to the chicken, not in a disgusting way, but in a way that seemed perfectly normal.  This sauce brought forth an impressive mouth feel – lots of great onion and garlic chunks floating around in the bottle to add to the appeal of this sauce.

Taste        5

The flavor of the Sweet Love sauce is my favorite of the three varieties.  It is rich, bold, and has a deep dark flavor with the right amount of sweetness.  Very light on vinegar and low on tang, it is for the sauce lover that likes traditional KC style BBQ sauce – this is one to remember and one I’ll be going through quickly in my house.

Ingredients    4

Water, Brown Sugar, Ketchup (Tomato Concentrate (Water, Tomato, Paste), High Fructose Corn Syrup, Vinegar, Corn Syrup, Salt, Onion Powder, Spice, Natural Flavors), Honey, Tomato Paste, Onion, Red Bell Pepper, Molasses, Canola Oil, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Chili Powder (Chili Pepper, Spices, Salt, Garlic, Silicon Dioxide (to prevent caking), Smoke Flavor, Garlic Powder, Minced Garlic, Spices.

Marketing and Branding   5

Before it’s even opened, there’s a lot that’s eye-catching about this sauce and that makes for an impactful first impression:
•    The bottles look like they should hold whiskey, not BBQ sauce.  Fun stuff!
•    The label is pretty clever - like the original label was painted over so that the Secret Sauce stamp could be placed on top of it…
•    All of the Secret Sauce brands from Mild, Medium, and Hot have enough variation to be described individually,  yet enough similarity to have them look like they are from the same company. Well done.

Website:        http://www.thesecretsauce.com/

Related posts:

1. Millers Secret Sauce Original BBQ Sauce (4/5)
2. Uncle Mike’s Bar-B-Q Sauce (4/5)
3. Sweet Baby Rays Barbecue Sauce (4/5)

Well, pardner, if this one doesn’t jump out at you, then you might as well be sleeping.  Sometimes products like this are great and back up their pretentious presentation.  The bottle is extremely over-styled - a tough, frilly-leather-jacket-wearing-cowboy who is double fisting two pistols shooting off people who don’t deserve to be buying BBQ sauce. Nice cowboy hat too, which I’ll probably give to the kids when the sauce is gone.

Aroma: 5

Nice. Really has a great almost “western” smell to it.  A really deep, rich aroma with strong tomato and spice scents.  The vinegar takes a backseat while molasses, hickory smoke, and spices do the driving of this strong scented sauce.

Taste: 4

Quite flavorful. For something set up to be a huge gimmick, this sauce’s flavor does a pretty rootin tootin good job!  A nice strong flavor heavy on the sweet, spicy, smoky but light in the tangy (vinegar category). Not a bad thing.

Consistency: 3

It’s like a marinara or meat sauce or spaghetti sauce, with a slightly thinner than ketchup like consistency.  Sticks well to meat.  Good color and natural appearance.

Ingredients: 5

Water, Tomato Paste, Sugar, Molasses, Vinegar, Onion, Soy Sauce (water, wheat, soy beans, salt), Green Chiles, Xanthan Gum, Salt, Dehydrated Chipotle Pepper, Garlic, Liquid Hickory Smoke, Natural Flavors, Spice.

For a gimmicky sauce, it’s mostly natural, which is a great surprise.  I turned this bottle around expecting a list of 40 ingredients and Whoop Ass only has 15 “called out” ingredients (you don’t have to call out certain spices if they are not known to be common allergens).

Sauce Score: 4

It’s tasty and natural.  And this is one of those one’s I’ll probably buy again just because it’s fun to have at a party.

Them - “Hey, Brian, what’s on the grill?”

Me - “Not much.  Burgers. Dogs.  And some WHOOP ASS BBQ chicken.”

Them - big smile.

Buy it here.

Related posts:

1. Sweet Baby Ray’s Honey Chipotle Barbecue Sauce (4/5)
2. Steven Raichlen Best of Barbecue Lemon Brown Sugar Barbecue Sauce (2/5)
3. Jack Daniel’s Original No.7 Recipe Barbecue Sauce (3/5)

Guest review: Matt Walt

As an avid sports fan my initial reaction was one of consternation about the name choice and self proclamation.  But I suppose as time passes and “The Decision” gets further in our rear view, I will no longer rue the makers of “King James” - and the sauce makers themselves do help their own cause.  After all, unlike the “The Decision,” I do not regret the hour of my life that I lost while enjoying this meal.

The first whiff all I could smell was mustard seed – and that, IMO, is always a good thing.  As I poured a spoonful, the sauce was thick not watery.  The taste had a mild spice – with hints of onion, pepper, paprika – and thankfully was not too sweet.  All in all, I was most pleased.

The one downside I’d say – though common among sauces – was that the spicy flavor diminished when cooked on chicken, leaving my wife with the impression that her meal was bland (something no Grillmaster ever likes to hear – especially when she is right).  But when I poured some fresh sauce onto the plate for dipping, the spicy flavors complimented my perfectly cooked bird, and I was very satisfied.

Final assessment: the King James is a better dipping sauce than marinade or glaze, but that’s all right with me.  4 stars for taste, 4 stars for texture.  And unlike the other self appointed “King,” I look forward to seeing this James again.

Ingredients:

Apple Cider Vinegar, Calcium, Cane Molasses, Corn syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Mustard Seed Salt, Natural Flavoring, Onion Powder, Paprika, Red Pepper, salt, soybean Oil, Spice, sugar, Tomato Concentrate, Tomato Paste salt, Water

Website:

King James BBQ Sauce

Related posts:

1. Hecky’s Hot Barbecue Sauce (4/5)
2. Big Bob Gibson Backyard Mustard Sauce (4/5)
3. Big Nugg Company Southwest Chipotle Q Sauce (4/5)

Initial Impression:

Cool label.  Obviously someone has put a lot of thought into it.  American Indian inspired and great causes listed on the label: National Kidney Foundation of Southern California and American Cancer Society.  This is obviously a sauce-maker with concern for his society both locally and globally.

Aroma: 4

A pleasantly intoxicating blend on tomato, spices, and apple cider vinegar.  Slightly smoky but nothing really exciting.

Consistency: 2

This was a little surprising. Although the color was right and the appearance was natural and filled with specks of spice, the sauce was way too watery.  I don’t like cooking things where I am asked to marinate items for 30 minutes prior to cooking - as mentioned on the side of this bottle.   I prefer slapping the barbeque sauce across my beautiful grill masterpieces (MeatHenge!) versus marinades and thin saucery that is best left for inside the house.

Taste: 3

After the impact of the watery sauce, it was a little hard to focus on the taste.  But after rubbing some nice breasts and taking quick break… I returned to the task at hand.  (get your mind out of the gutter, I had to get chicken breasts at the store so I could grill).    It was a bit challenging to keep this sauce on the breasts, so I had to apply liberally like one of the Jersey Shore guys would do with gel in their hair.  The sauce is decent - without any real standout ingredients and for the most part - nothing challenging either. I get a blend of tomato/vinegar with good strong onion and garlic notes.  So it could be a crowd pleaser and useful for occasions and people that require a BBQ-flavored marinade sauce.

Ingredients: 5

Water, Tomato concentrate, Apple cider, Vinegar, Brown Sugar, Liquid Smoke, Onion Powder, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, chipotle peppers, natural flavor.

Can’t ask for much more that than.  Only questionable component would be liquid smoke (because liquidized smoke doesn’t isn’t really found in “nature”).  But - in my mind, this doesn’t affect the score one iota.

Sauce Score: 3

Geronimo - you really had me at the label.  The ingredients further connected me to the sauce and what it “stood for”.  But it fell down (in my book) because of the (unexpectedly) watery nature of the sauce, and a flavor that didn’t necessarily offend but also didn’t take the chance to stand out either.

Related posts:

1. Blenders Chipotle Barbeque Sauce (3/5)
2. Mama Hairston’s Sweet and Tangy BBQ Sauce (3/5)
3. Blenders Original Barbeque Sauce (3/5)

Stewart McCane calls his sauces the best thing you ever threw a lip over - which is certainly a bold statement.  But do his sauces have the boldness and flavor to back him up? Sure they do.

Smell and Aroma 4
A somwhat traditional scent like tomato sauce mixed with apple vinegar - also some additional spices add complexity.  Nothing malodorous nor fragrant - so nothing particularly remarkable. Overall it’s a pleasant scent reminiscent of spiced-up ketchup.

Taste 4
The Original Pit Sauce has a great balance of sweet and tang. A little hot sauce adds a little heat and especially after grilling, the heat really starts to open up the more you eat.  Adding cayenne pepper tends to do that… a slow building of heat versus the blast that you might get with habanero or jalapeno peppers.

Consistency 4
Good appearance.  Looks and feels very natural. Color is right and the amount of spices floating in the bottle gives the impression that this could be an all natural sauce.  Stuck well to the meat products on the grill.

Ingredients 3
Traditional fare but a few ingredients pop out at me including

Ketchup with High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) and additional HFCS (whether you mind it or not is not the question, some people do care if they eat this stuff).

Oleoresin Paprika I’ve just never seen it on a label before - apparently it’s a fairly natural coloring additive that is used in a lot of different places.

Caramel Coloring - Come on, do we need to add coloring?  this makes me wonder what the sauce would look like without artificial coloring.

Polysorbate 80 - an “emulsifier” according to this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polysorbate_80

Label and Marketing 3
Good.  A professionally-designed label and a clean appearance.  I like the name - Pit Sauce - a term not used very often… it brings to mind a big guy working 15 racks of ribs at once in a room filled with BBQ smokers.  Definitely one that targets the hardcore Q’er versus the backyard griller.  This is not good or bad, but depending on how sales are going, it might make sense to broaden the reach with a potential name change… (I know, bold statement).  Here’s my reasoning.  I think when people first glance at the name Pit Sauce - they aren’t going to be sure what that means.  I like that it’s different, but the word Pit could have a few meanings - the pit from a fruit or an olive, BBQ pit, arm pit, “it’s the pits,” or even a hole in the ground.  All I’m saying is that potentially changing this one word, could have a huge potential impact on sales.  People notice the little things.  One final thought here… a website would be a good thing!

Sauce Score: 4
McCane’s Original Pit Sauce has a nice complex flavor with great consistency and color. Lots of ingredients contribute to both the unique flavor but for the eagle-eyed sauce buyer, it could also be a negative.  In general, I look for high-quality ingredients versus mass-production.  I seek quality over quantity. The big thing holding back most sauces (including McCane’s) is the use of low-quality, cheap ingredients.  Some people can’t taste the difference.  Some people can.

Related posts:

1. McCane’s Original Pit Sauce (4/5)
2. Willingham’s Cajun Hot Barbecue Sauce (4/5)
3. Geronimo’s Tangy Barbeque Sauce (3/5)

It’s been awhile since my review of Luna Mercato’s Strawberry Barbecue Sauce - more than enough time to let give my tastebuds a break from fruity BBQ sauce.  In general, I’m just not a big fan of the category.  While there are certainly stand-outs (the sauce formerly known as Carribean Calypso for example), there’s a lot of mileage in between the stars.

[Tangent: I sometimes wonder if I've been too easy going in the past and before writing down my final comments here , I re-read the Strawberry review only to realize I was coming off a bad BBQ trip that was caused by Tassleberry Farms Strawberry BBQ Sauce.  I'm sure the Tassleberry gang isn't so happy with my critique, but when I tried their sauce I literally gagged.  And when I didn't gag on Luna's Strawberry, I was amazed - it was the best Strawberry fruit sauce that I've ever had.  4 stars!  End Tangent]

For the blueberry variety, I feel similar about the flavor as related to Tassleberry, but I don’t think this one warrants the 4 stars.  The ingredients aren’t great.  The flavor is good, but average and nothing I was really going back for when it spent time in my fridge…  The blueberry taste is there, and in the right proportion if you are a big fan of blueberries.  The consistency is decent, a little thin, but sticky, and holds well to meat.   But it really is a novelty item - not one I’d keep around for the average BBQ grill night.

Smell 3
Taste 3
Consistency  4
Ingredients 3
Label and marketing 4

Ingredients:

Blueberry Jelly (Blueberry Puree, Sugar, Pectin), Tomato Paste, Water, Corn Syrup, Brown Sugar, Vinegar, Worcestershire Sauce (Distilled Vinegar, Molasses, Corn Syrup, Water, Salt, Caramel Color, Sugar, Spices, Anchovy Puree, Natural Flavor (Contains Soy), Tamarind), Liquid Smoke, Spices, Salt.

Website:

Luna Mercato

Recipe:

Blueberry BBQ Sauce Pizza

Related posts:

1. Luna Mercato Strawberry BBQ Sauce (4/5)
2. BBQ’N Fools Signature Barbecue Sauce (3/5)
3. Hecky’s Hot Barbecue Sauce (4/5)

Decent flavor from a competition barbecue team that wanted to bring “the exact sauces” they use in competition to you.  Like Blender’s this one provides a strong vinegar oomph but not quite as overpowering.  The three pepper blend (Cayenne, Chipotle, Red Chili) provides a great balance of flavor and heat - just enough to heat up the ole tongue a few degrees.  Excellent consistency, natural looking specks floating around inside the glass bottle, but the quality of ingredients is on the cheaper side (high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, and preservatives).  The bottle and label are decent looking, but the label is quite busy, with about 5 different fonts on the front - which gives the impression of a small design budget.

Ingredients:

Water, sugar, tomato paste, vinegars (Apple cider, white distilled), honey, molasses, high fructose corn syrup, salt, garlic, peppers (cayenne, red, chili) mustard seed, spices, natural smoke flavor, wheat, soybean, citric acid, raisins, paprika, fruit juice concentrates (orange tangerine) celery seed, lemon juice, natural flavor, oranges, onion, tamarind extract, xanthan gum, caramel color, annatto, calcium disodium. EDTA To retain freshness

Website: www.bignuggbbq.com

Related posts:

1. Big Nugg BBQ Company Q Sauce (3/5)
2. Sweet Baby Ray’s Honey Chipotle Barbecue Sauce (4/5)
3. The Crazy Rednecks’ BBQ Original BBQ Sauce (4/5)

Blenders has a great story and a great, all-natural ingredients list as I’ve described on my review for their original blend (here)..  The chipotle flavor is a nice addition to the deep rich tomato/vinegar and spice blend of the original.  This super thick sauce flows like lava from the bottle to your basting bowl and onto the meat, with no problem staying put once it’s there. Like the original, the strong, sour notes of vinegar were still a bit much for these tastebuds.

This has been around since 1927 and has a lot of positive attributes:

• All natural.
• No preservatives (learn more here)
• No artificial flavors (see info here)
• No liquid smoke (interesting article here)
• No corn syrup (learn about high fructose corn syrup here)

Related posts:

1. Blenders Original Barbeque Sauce (3/5)
2. Geronimo’s Tangy Barbeque Sauce (3/5)
3. Stubby’s Barbeque Sauce (3/5)

Miller’s brings to market a second, spicier KC-style BBQ sauce with a smooth balance of heat and sweet.  I liked the strong hickory via liquid smoke and the deep rich flavors provided by the molasses and brown sugar.  It is clear the ingredients selection was not made for a health food nut, but the choices combine to  add awesome flavor to whatever you’re cooking or dipping in this stuff.  The consistency and appearance was just right for me, and the level of heat was great too.  Just enough to heat up the mouth and lips without being overpowering or  ruining the flavor of a couple pounds of BBQ chicken. Another idea for this sauce:  a large vat of cocktail weiners in a crock pot filled to the brim with Miller’s Spicy BBQ Sauce.

Ingredients

Tomato Concentrate, Distilled Vinegar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Honey, Brown Sugar, Water, Liquid Smoke, Butter, Molasses, Chili  Pepper, Spices, Dehydrated Garlic, Dehydrated Onion, Salt, Natural Flavors, Jalapeno Powder, Anchovies, Tamarind Concentrate.

Website

http://www.millerssecretsauce.com/products.html

Miller’s Recipes

Related posts:

1. Millers Secret Sauce Original BBQ Sauce (4/5)
2. Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q Habanero Red Sauce (3/5)
3. Saint A’s BAR-B-Q Sauce (3/5)

This sauce is a little brother to Hecky’s Original, which I gave five stars back in May.   And it does a couple things I really liked but didn’t impress me as much as their original sauce.  The sauce was certainly hotter than the original (expected), but the flavor profile also changed quite a bit.  Don’t get me wrong, I liked the nutmeg-infused spicy flavor, but it came out of left field and nothing on the label jumps out and says “buy me, I’ve got nutmeg in here!”  Plus, the look was a lot different than the original.

Smell

Had a traditional vinegar, tomato, garlic, spicy scent

Taste Before Cooking

It’s a traditional NC-style (i.e. thin and watery) tomato/vinegar BBQ sauce  laced with heat and nutmeg.  Mmm.

Consistency

Thin with some specks.  Some artificial colors.

Taste After Cooking

Nice heat.  Nutmeg strengthens and really kicks up the flavor.  I love a little nutmeg in BBQ sauce.

Nutrition

Average (typical high fructose corn syrup, artificial colors, preservatives)

Ingredients

HFCS, water, distilled vinegar, tomato paste, corn syrup, salt, modified corn starch, red pepper, lemon juice concentrate, natural smoke flavor, paprika (color), spice, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate (preservatives), dried garlic, dried onion, caramel color 55030.

Branding/Packaging

Inconsistent with their original style.  Not a bad look, just plain.

Website

www.heckys.com

Related posts:

1. Willingham’s Cajun Hot Barbecue Sauce (4/5)
2. Heckys Original Barbecue Sauce (5/5)
3. Captain Curts Famous Boss Sauce - Hot (4/5)

St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida that was founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés.  It is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the United States.  St. Augustine lies in a region of Florida known as “The First Coast”, which extends from Amelia Island in the north, and in the south to Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Palm Coast. According to the 2000 census, the city population was 11,592; in 2004, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that its population had reached 12,157.  St. Augustine is the headquarters for the Florida National Guard and the home of Saint A’s barbecue sauce.

This is for BBQ enthusiasts who really like onions and aren’t afraid to try something different.   A little bit like Crazy Uncle Jester’s Brush Fire BBQ Sauce, this one seemed a bit more like a relish than a sauce, but  didn’t have quite the flavor of Brush Fire and had only a trace of heat.

Some quotes from the other three judges, not including me:

“Thick, yuck - not spicy, not smokey”

“Chunky, sweet, crunchy, some heat”

“Jelly consistency, chunky, no heat, oniony”

Smell

Very strong onion/garlic-scented vinegary BBQ sauce aroma.

Taste Before Cooking

Onion mixed with red wine vinegar.  Expected more spice.  Just a hint of heat.

Consistency

Thick, almost onion-relish/jelly-like consistency.  Could be considered chunky.

Taste After Cooking

Good, doesn’t really change - retains chunky consistency throughout cooking.

Nutrition

Nothing stand-out.  Average.  HFCS and additional corn syrup added.

Packaging

Below average, looks like designed in Microsoft Paint.  I would play up the city of St Augustine a bit more and maybe throw in an iconic building.

Ingredients

Tomato Concentrate, Distilled Vinegar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Molasses, Celery, Onion, Brown Sugar, Red Wine Vinegar, Dry Mustard, Garlic, Salt, Spice, Onion Powder, Cayenne Pepper, Natural Flavorings.

Website

http://www.saintabbq.com/

Related posts:

1. Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q Habanero Red Sauce (3/5)
2. Uncle Mike’s Bar-B-Q Sauce (4/5)
3. Salt Lick Original Recipe Bar-B-Que Sauce (5/5)

Timberfolks

The nutmeg in here reminds of Harpoon Winter Warmer Lager

Captain Curts

The bay leaves remind me of Old Bay (any Baltimore crab eaters out there?)

Willingham’s Cajun Hot BBQ Sauce

Reminds me of McCormicks Cajun spice (or Penzey’s cajun spice)

Outta the Park BBQ Sauce

Strong notes of ginger!

Related posts:

1. Willingham’s Cajun Hot Barbecue Sauce (4/5)
2. Outta The Park BBQ Sauce (5/5)
3. Best BBQ Sauces for Fourth of July Grilling

Who knew crime and punishment, Hollywood and Kansas City, and people with names like Aunt Pauline and Nana Lena could be combined in one story about BBQ sauce?  Well, it’s all true.  It could be the most interesting Behind-The-Sauce story I’ve read so far.  The flavor, on the other hand, leaves a lot to be desired…

Of course, taste is highly subjective, but I found the strong vinegar flavor to be overpowering.  If you’ve tried a few sauces you know what I mean.  The aroma as well as the flavor is just a bit too sour for my taste buds and this takes what is a great sauce execution down a few notches.  There are, however, many other great qualities about this sauce including:

• Great story and a great website
• Great ingredients (all-natural, gluten-free)
• Consistency - an almost perfect lava-like flow from bottle to basting bowl and clings to meat
• Dark look of the sauce is near perfect for an all natural sauce and damn, I just wished this tasted a bit better.

Ingredients

Tomato Puree, Sugar, Distilled Vinegar, Salt, Chile Powder, Crushed Red Pepper, Spices, Celery Seed, Garlic Powder.

Website

Blenders BBQ Sauce (be sure to read the history)

Related posts:

1. Blenders Chipotle Barbeque Sauce (3/5)
2. Stubby’s Barbeque Sauce (3/5)
3. Charley Biggs’ All Naturals Sweet Bourbon Barbeque Grilling and Dipping Sauce (3/5)

On July 4, 1776, we claimed our independence from Britain and democracy was born. Every day thousands leave their homeland to come to the “land of the free and the home of the brave” so they can begin their American Dream.

Over the years, the Fourth of July has truly transformed from being a boring history lesson to one of America’s favorite holidays.   So join the rest of us who will drink beer, light off dangerous fireworks, and eat way too much BBQ to celebrate another birthday for our country (in 2010 our country will be 234 years old).

Some considerations for Fourth of July BBQ Sauces:

• You could be around lots of people (including kids with undeveloped tastebuds - keep good sauces away from them)
• You probably don’t want anything too hot (unless you want an inpromptu heat contest - which could be fun actually)
• You might want to have a few varieties to mix up the flavors a bit (always nice to have crowd pleasers and a few unique tastes)

Specific recommendations:

• Heckys Original Barbecue Sauce (5/5)
• Grandville’s Gourmet BBQ Sauce - Tropical (5/5)
• Outta The Park BBQ Sauce (5/5)
• Salt Lick Original Recipe Bar-B-Que Sauce (5/5)
• Best of BBQ Sauce Reviews

Or make your own!

• Reluctant Gourmet Recipe
• Bobby Flay Beer Can Chicken with Cola Barbecue Sauce
• About.com Top Ten BBQ Sauce Recipes

Related posts:

1. Best Barbecue Sauces for Women?
2. Charley Biggs’ All Naturals Sweet Bourbon Barbeque Grilling and Dipping Sauce (3/5)
3. Highlighting the Best Bottled BBQ Sauces (My Favorites)

Did you ever hear a song so beautiful it made you cry?    Did you ever see a picture that caused you to stare in awe, then do a double-take, then stare again for another 5 minutes?   Did you ever see a video clip or scene from a movie so powerful, that it gave you goosebumps?

Well, this sauce is nothing like that.  Please check my 5 star sauces page for some of the best ones ever - finding and tasting these ones truly made me happy.

With that said, KC Masterpiece isn’t horrible… it does have a few good things going for it:

1. It’s cheap.
2. Everyone knows the name (and probably like thinking their sauce is a “masterpiece”)
3. It tastes OK
4. They haven’t mucked with the recipe over the years (unlike Kraft or New Coke).

Besides that, it’s mediocre and has poor/cheap ingredients.  It lacks the super-sweetness of Sweet Baby Ray’s or the boldness of Trader Joe’s BBQ Sauce.  It’s just a plain Jane, mass-produced sauce that will make BBQ lovers happy … but it won’t Wow anyone.   It has a thick yet unnaturally smooth consistency - like it was blended for years in an industrial-sized BBQ Sauce blending plant as opposed to being crafted in batches.     Clings to meat very well and would make a fine grilling sauce for BBQ burgers and BBQ chicken.

Negatives:  Artificial flavors, colors, modified food starch, sweeteners.

http://www.kcmasterpiece.com/

A quick story of KC Masterpiece (from the website above)

The KC Masterpiece® story started in Kansas City 30 years ago, when Dr. Rich Davis - a local physician and barbecue aficionado - decided to make his own sauce. The result was a perfectly tangy, perfectly sweet, perfect-for-any-meat flavor. It won Dr. Davis the first-ever “Best Sauce” award at the American Royal Barbecue Competition 30 years ago, allowing him to quit his job and focus on his true passion: barbecue. Since then, the rich taste of KC Masterpiece® Barbecue Sauce has grown in popularity to become one of America’s favorite barbecue sauces. In fact, it’s still the number one sauce in Kansas City, barbecue’s hometown.

Related posts:

1. Jack Daniel’s Original No.7 Recipe Barbecue Sauce (3/5)
2. Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue KC Original Sauce (4/5)
3. Whoop Ass Chipotle Barbecue Sauce (4/5)