Big Butz BBQ Sauce
Wander off into the woods of northern Wisconsin and you may very well stumble upon an artisan BBQ sauce maker known as Big Butz. They craft a home made barbecue sauce which I had heard was some of the best. Their mainstay sauce is available in regular, hot and extra hot. They also produce a cranberry flavored sauce which really peaked the inquisitive curiosity of my taste buds. The bottle claims it took seven years to develop their sauces. One would think that amount of time would give way to something spectacular. We shall see. I tried the hot and of course, the cranberry.
Initial Impressions
If you're looking for a fancy pants bottle or label, you won't find it here. Nope, simple and plain with just the facts. “Home Made” and “ No Artificial Preservatives” jumped out at me immediately. A simple jar is all Big Butz figured they needed.
The smell test on the hot was phenomenal! It had a sweet and spicy smell with a hint of smoke whereas not as much smell with the cranberry. Both had a medium thickness and creamy texture, which is something I look for since it really grabs a hold of the meat...and stays there.
Out of the Bottle Taste Test
The hot was quite flavorful with heat that was elusive. It kind of sneaks up on you. I'd classify it as spicy, nothing crazy hot. A heat I believe most would be comfortable with that complimented the taste quite well. The overall flavor was well balanced. The molasses, tomato and smoke flavors didn't seem to compete with one another, but worked together in unison.
What the Cranberry sauce lacked in smell was made up with taste. Granted it's sweet, yet the flavor was something I could not wait to try on a piece of meat. Although it didn't have the level of cranberry flavor I thought it might have, it was quite tasty nonetheless. With less smoke flavor than the original it also seemed to lose some of the tomato taste. It's hard for me to put my finger on, but there was just something I liked about this sauce.
Apply the Meat Taste Test
On a batch of grilled chicken thighs and smoked pulled pork, I ran the sauces through some paces. The original hot performed quite well on the meat. The sauce's consistency held to the chicken and didn't drip all over the place on the pork sandwiches. The heat level toned down a bit once on both meats as did the smoke flavor on the smoked pork.
The Cranberry sauce seemed a bit thinner and required one more application on the chicken before serving, yet blended nicely into the shreds of the pulled pork. With less smoke flavor than the original sauce, it left my hickory smoke on the pork alone yet gave the chicken a mild smokey taste.
The Final Verdict
If you prefer a sweeter style barbecue sauce, you can't go wrong with either one of these Big Butz sauces. The two I tested seem to work hand in hand together. I thought the cranberry would work best with a smoked, spicy rubbed meat while the original would be better served on grilled meat where a smokey, spicy flavor is attained primarily from the sauce. Of course the heat level is up to your preference.
I would highly recommend giving the Big Butz product line a try. They are sure to add to your grilling and barbecuing repertoire.
To take a look at the complete Big Butz product line, you can check it out...Here
Happy Grilling!
