Gourmet BBQ Sauce

Best specialty and small-batch barbeque sauce

Of the large number of specialty barbecue sauces available, Bone Suckin' Original (*Est. $ 7 for 16 oz.) gets the most favorable reviews, winning several taste contests. Critics praise its balance of flavors, which BBQ experts tell us is the secret of a good sauce. What particularly impresses us is the enthusiasm shown for this artisanal barbecue sauce; review sites are generously larded with rhapsodic phrases such as "it's addictive," "top notch," "hard to believe it was ever bottled" -- and coming from hard-boiled BBQ gurus, this is pretty compelling stuff. Brian Henderson at BBQ Sauce Reviews notes its "magical" combination of quality ingredients and says that this is one of the best all-natural sauces on the market, adding, "The smell is wonderful -- a sweet yet complex aroma with hints of apple, mustard, lemon, onions, and the 'smokiness' that all barbecue sauces attempt."

The Meatwave editor Josh Bousel gives both Bone Suckin' and Bone Suckin' Hot 9 out of a possible 10 points, and says that this "top notch" sauce, with its chunks of onion and garlic and specks of spice, is perfectly balanced. The lighter, thinner consistency of the sauce, Bousel adds, allows the natural flavor of the meat to come through, and helps it to char without burning. "It's not very thick, but it isn't too thin to be practical," he says, adding: "There's bits of onion floating throughout, which add a nice texture element to whatever meat you're using it on."

Bone Suckin's blend of tomato paste, apple cider, vinegar, honey, molasses, mustard, horseradish, lemon juice, onions, garlic, peppers, hickory smoke flavor and a little salt is, according to Food and Wine's taste team, "tangy and smoky with a real kick," while Insane Chicken (a barbecue specialty site) says that with one taste, the reason for its name becomes apparent -- this sauce is so good, you can't get enough of it. User posts on Chowhound and Roadfood, as well as Amazon.com, echo this praise, saying that Bone Suckin' barbecue sauce is neither too hot nor too tomato-y, but is balanced just right. Bone Suckin' comes in a thicker style as well as a hotter variety (both priced the same as the original) which reviewers also praise.

On the down side, Bone Suckin' is more expensive than popular supermarket brands such as Sweet Baby Ray's Original barbecue sauce (*Est. $5 for 18 oz.) and Bull's Eye (*Est. $2 for 18 oz.), and it's not readily available on grocery store shelves. But reviewers and fans alike say that its all-natural ingredients make it worth the extra effort to obtain -- and it's not as expensive as some of the other gourmet BBQ sauces currently on the market.