Taste Tests Reveals Preferred Go-To Grilling Sauce

Washington, DC (July 22, 2010) – Men’s Health Magazine recently dubbed Pork Barrel BBQ the favorite among bottled barbecue sauces. Taste testers and sauce aficionados picked Pork Barrel BBQ Sauce over several other big name bbq brands currently available on supermarket shelves.

After sorting through a selection of bbq brands of best-selling sauces like Bullseye, Sweet Baby Ray, Annie’s Naturals Organic and Stone Levitation Ale BBQ, the sauce samplers at Men’s Health blog selected Pork Barrel BBQ Sauce as their number one go-to grilling favorite.

The judges were split over preferences for sweet and smoky BBQ, ending in a tie between Pork Barrel BBQ’s Original Sauce for its smoky and “aromatic flavor” and Dinosaur Bar-B-Que’sSensuous Slathering sweet sauce.

Pork Barrel BBQ is quickly becoming the preferred bbq sauce for the backyard bbq’er. Since the company started selling BBQ sauces in 2009, all types of bbq’ers – from serious smokers to casual grillers – have taken notice of the sensational sauces. Pork Barrel BBQ’s Original and Sweet sauces have taken home several top awards from the Kansas City Barbecue Society and Memphis in May competitions, including winning the “People’s Choice” award at the prestigious annual Safeway National BBQ Battle in Washington, D.C.

In less than one year since their appearance on the ABC and Mark Burnett reality show Shark Tank, the company has experienced huge growth, and their Pork Barrel BBQ Sauces and Spice Rub are now carried in 1,000 stores in 40 states. Preparations are underway for opening a restaurant in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, Virginia this fall.

People nationwide can try these award winning sauces for themselves by purchasing them at their local grocery stores such as Safeway, Whole Foods, Schnucks, Harris Teeter and Cost Plus World Market. To find stores near you that carry Pork Barrel BBQ products, visit the online store locator and interactive map at www.porkbarrelbbq.com/store-locations.

“We are proud to be voted the favorite bbq sauce by Men’s Health taste testers,” said Brett Thompson, CEO and co-founder Pork Barrel BBQ.

For recipes and BBQ tips, visit www.porkbarrelbbq.com/recipe.

About Pork Barrel BBQ
Pork Barrel BBQ was founded in December 2008 during the peak of the economic crisis to prove that a company not owned or operated by the federal government could succeed, and that if you had a good idea, it was still possible to grab a piece of the American Dream. Pork Barrel BBQ founders, Heath Hall and Brett Thompson, ran the company out of the basement of their houses, selling their award winning BBQ one bottle at a time. In less than one year, their Pork Barrel BBQ Sauces and Spice Rub are now carried in over 1,000 stores in 40 states. Throughout their journey, they have stayed true to their mission – to unite the nation through the great tradition of BBQ, and bring bipartisan flavor to your next meal. The Pork Barrel BBQ Competition BBQ Team entered its first contest, The Safeway National Capital Barbecue Battle, in June 2009, and walked away with two trophies – Second Place in the “Nations Best BBQ Sauce Contest” and Fourth Place for their pulled pork in the Memphis In May portion of the contest. Since then, the team has won multiple awards, including the “People’s Choice” award for best bbq sauce in 2010 and other notable Memphis and May and Kansas City Barbecue Society bbq competition accolades. For more information, visit www.PorkBarrelBBQ.com.

The bottle says ” great for beef, pork or chicken” so I tried on all three over the past couple of weeks.  It is indeed good on all three but it is especially good on chicken.  The pork and beef are good too, but on chicken it seems to go a lot further.  I tried as both a marinade and by rubbing it on as the chicken was cooking.  The marinade seemed to hold the flavor better but both ways were good.  The sauce did caramelize a little but that is okay with me.

When you first bite into it the taste of the sauce is sweet and kind of moves across your tongue and is really nice.  After a few seconds though you start to feel a little zing and it builds until you know you have something more than just a standard sweet bbq sauce.  The spice doesn’t overpower and it certainly does not make your mouth burn or cause any discomfort.  If you are looking for burn you won’t find it here. What you will find is an excellent sweet bbq sauce with just a little zing to it to make it really good and leave a little memory for a few minutes.

My son is a very finicky eater and usually doesn’t eat meat or poultry of any kind unless it is in the form of a hamburger, but he has taken a liking to Pa Paw’s as a dipping sauce.  He uses it to dip chicken fingers and chicken strips and he also pours it on, you guessed it, hamburgers and cheeseburgers.

The sauce keeps well in the refrigerator after it is opened and doesn’t lose any of it’s flavor.  Tom has done a great job with this sauce and I give it a Big Thumbs Up….   you can order Pa Paw’s Killer BBQ Sauce on line at Tom’s website.

Thanks Tom for another great barbecue sauce.

Donya Marie's Original Dark Chocolate Barbeque Sauce

Chocolate and barbecue. Things that make you hhhmmmmmm. This is one of them and I must say it was a pleasant suprise.  I opened my box and there were two bottle of chocolate barbecue sauce; one is the Donya Marie’s Original Dark Chocolate Barbecue Sauce and the other is a spicy sauce called Sassy Fiesta which I hope to try next week at my Fathers Day cookout.

First impressions was of a very professional and elegant label on a rather heavy 12 oz bottle. When it comes to marketing visuals are almost as important as taste, especially when trying to tempt someone to pick your bottle up off the shelf over someone elses. I like the simple and classy label. The next thing I noticed was when I tipped the bottle how thick the sauce was inside.  I prefer thick sauces to ones that are thin and transparent.

I opened the bottle and took a whif and immediately liked it. There didin’t seem to be any single overpowering ingrediant and the aroma was very pleasant.  I dipped my finger in for a quick taste and there it was….. bbq sauce with the taste of chocolate. The chocolate was not overpowering but it was there.  As a side note, this would make a great dipping sauce with just about anything, especially just your finger….  I decided to try this with some grilled boneless chicken breasts and put about 5 large pieces in a freezer bag with about half a bottle of sauce and made sure all the pieces were well covered and put them in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

Finally on the grill they went and it didn’t take long for that aroma to reach me. The chicken cooked through but the suace didn’t burn which was good. I don’t mind a little carmelization but too much seems to steal away from the flavor. Off the grill and onto the plate and we were ready. I poured a little extra sauce in a bowl to dip for a little extra flavor. My first bite was straight up with no extra and the taste was great.  A little more of the tomato and vinegar taste came out after cooking but the chocolate was still there. Once again no one ingrediant overpowering the other.  The next bite I dipped into some extra sauce and it was perfect.  This is some really good stuff !!!!

I really enjoyed this unique sauce and highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good solid barbecue sauce with a little something different.

Donya Marie’s Dark Chocolate Barbecue Sauces and other products including dark chocolate meat rubs and various other sauces, jellys and mixes can be purchased online at www.DonyaMaries.com

I also received a a bottle of Donya Marie’s Dark Chocolate Barbecue Sauce and a bottle of her Sassy Fiesta Dark Chocolate Barbecue Sauce.  I can hardly wait to try some of this special treat either.

Lots of good stuff coming………….   take care and check back in over the weekend.

Have you ever had a friend that made their own home made barbecue sauce that you thought was really really good? You keep telling that person they need to put that sauce on the market and share it with the rest of world. Sometimes they listen and sometimes they don’t.  Well Tom Duvall out in Lemoore California did just that. After almost 10 years of making his home made sauce he took the advice of friends and made it available to everyone.

Pa Paw’s Killer BBQ Sauce is some good stuff. When I opened the bottle and got my first whiff I knew this was going to be a great sauce.  It doesn’t smell like a traditional bbq sauce but has a sweet slightly tangy smell to it. If any of you readers spent time in the navy and ever stopped off in Subic Bay, Philippines you will almost instantly recognize the smell. I poured a little out in a clear bowl stuck my finger in for a taste. Wow…. that was good. It was slightly sweet and slightly tangy but not overpowering on either. Just right, at least on my initial finger test. The sauce was thick and somewhat clear with small specks of what I assume are tomato and spices.

I decided to try Pa Paw’s Killer BBQ Sauce on some chicken breasts on the grill for the first time. For some reason I was expecting the sauce to turn dark on the grill but it remained clear as it heated up. It didn’t take long for the chicken to finish and when I them off the grill the sauce had seeped its way into the chicken.  I my first bite and let me tell you my tongue and taste buds had a party. It was good. The chicken didn’t look like traditional bbq chicken that has that dark reddish color but almost like a varnish. I should have made more that first time because those two breasts didn’t last long.  I had some sauce left over in the bowl so I dipped a couple bites and it works well as a dipping sauce as well.

This looks like it could be a very versitile sauce used more than just for a bbq. I made mention of the Philippines earlier and they have something called Lumpia which I have a feeling will be really good with this sauce poured over it. I am also thinking the next time I make some pulled pork of using Pa Paw’s instead of my own sauce.

Overall I think you will really like this sauce. Like I said if your expecting a traditional thick, reddish bbq sacue then this isn’t it. If you are wanting a very tasty, somewhat sweet, somewhat tangy suace then this is definitely it.

Packaging:  5 of 5 – Nice bottle with colorful label

Aroma: 5 of 5 – Very nice. Sweet but not overpowering – gives a great expectation.

Appearance:  5 of 5 – Thick and somewhat clear with colorful specks.

Taste: 5 of 5 – Like I said a party in my mouth. Very nice taste with a slight tang.

Overall: 5 of 5 – I would recommend Pa Paw’s Killer BBQ Sauce to anyone as not only a barbecue sauce but as a dipping sauce and topping sauce as well.

You can order Pa Paw’s Killer BBQ Sauce from their website at www.papawskillerbbqsauce.com

Now comes All Occasion Aprons – makers of custom aprons for cooks of all kinds.

I received and email from Irene at All Occasion Aprons that says:

Hi, I have a home-based sewing business and sew very
sturdy aprons with3  pockets along the bottom.
They are great for BBQs or any cooking event.
I have a wide variety of prints available. Each adult

apron is $19.95.

She also sent a couple photos (below) of some sample aprons.  From the photos they look to be very nice.  You can contact Irene at:

alloccaisionaprons@yahoo.com or via her website at www.alloccasionaprons.com

Here are some of the latest updates to the BBQ Festivals website:

BBQ Restaurants

• Baby Blues BBQ in Venice, California
• Billy’s Tip n’ Inn in White Lake, Michigan
• Beale Street Smokehouse BBQ in Fenton, Michigan
• The Rib Hut in Wilson, North Carolina
• Taste E Bones Barbecue in Slidell, Louisiana
• Smokey Sloe’s in Northpoint, New York

BBQ Sacues

• Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce

BBQ Rubs and Spices

• Willinghams World Champion Rib ‘n BBQ Spice
• SmokinRub Dry Rubs and Steak Seasoning

BBQ Teams

• Smoke In Da Eye BBQ Team - Garden City, New York

If you have a bbq related website that  you don’t see on www.bbq-festivals.com be sure to send us the website address and information and we will add it our site.

Thanks and have a great bbq day……….eric

Cecil went back to WV on vacation last week and he brought a jar of Hot Blue Smoke Salsa and let me tell you………… this stuff is FANTASTIC.  I realize this is not a barbecue sauce but you definitely need to get some of this stuff. The first bite is sweet and instantly addictive. Nothing hot about this………… uh that is until you are on the third or fourth chip and it has creeped up on you. There is definitely some heat and it creeps up from the back of your tongue and stays for a little while once you have put the chips away.

This is the first time I have had Blue Smoke and I am definitely hooked. I checked out their website at www.bluesmokesalsa.com and they have a full line of salsas, jelly’s and sauces.  I noticed they have a Triple-X Hot Salsa that I am going to have to try………  maybe I will work up to it.

I give Blue Smoke Salsa – Hot a big thumbs up…………