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The Good Stuff Sweet BBQ Sauce Review

the good stuff bbq sauce on pulled pork

The Good Stuff Sweet BBQ Sauce comes from Hickey Bottom BBQ Sauce Co out of Fenelton, PA. The daughter and mother team of Rebecca McCrea and Mary Ann Pranulis hand bottle this sweet, sticky BBQ sauce, and are currently selling it in a few stores in their local Pennsylvania area, as well as on Amazon.com.

The Good Stuff Sweet BBQ Sauce is a simple, sweet sticky BBQ sauce that makes no qualms about the lack of heat or spiciness… this is not a hot BBQ sauce. Rather it’s a medium thick, sweet sauce that does well at the end of your cook. And it’s the pride and joy of Rebecca McCrea who’s been making it for years, and at the urging of friends and customers, has begun bottling and selling it.

Ingredients: ketchup, tomato puree, brown sugar, light corn syrup, corn syrup blend, yellow mustard, apple cider vinegar, sugar, worcestershire sauce, seasoning, cocoa processed with alkali, dehydrated garlic, dehydrated onion, natural hickory smoke flavor, paprika, ground mustard, soy lecithin, carrageenan, salt, artificial flavors, vitamin and minerals blend, spice. Contains anchovies and soybean.

First Taste:

sweet sticky and mile
Sweet, sticky and mild.

Simply put, this sauce is sweet and tame. Sweet? Yes. Sticky? Yes. Bold? Definitely not bold, but should be very enjoyable for most people. As a matter of fact, we think The Good Stuff would make for a great base sauce to build on, adding your own spices and ingredients.

On Pulled Pork:

The Good Stuff BBQ on pulled pork
The Good Stuff BBQ on pulled pork

Our first taste test was on some pulled pork we had in the freezer – vacuum sealed, pulled pork is a god-send in the Winter. The Good Stuff Sweet BBQ Sauce made for a nice light complement to the pork. For those who like a thick sweet sauce with a tomato ketchup base (which is what I grew up with), this fits the bill. I added more black pepper to my sandwich to give it a little boost.

On Grilled Chicken Wings:

the good stuff on wings
Sticky wings with The Good Stuff BBQ

Next, we grilled some wings and slathered The Good Stuff Sweet BBQ Sauce on them at the end. We got a sauce that set up and caramelized nicely on the wings. It really is a pretty sauce when cooked, but the flavor is so mild that I wish I had seasoned the chicken more before grilling. (We usually just put salt and pepper on the wings so as not to change the flavor of the sauces we review) These wings with the sauce could have benefited from the addition of a savory rub, in my opinion.

Final Thoughts:

Rated 2.5 out of 5 Stars – This is a 2½ star sauce that we would serve on ribs or chicken legs at our parent’s Fourth of July picnic – everyone from the youngest cousin to the oldest great-grandparent would enjoy the sweet stickiness of this, and no one would complain that it was too spicy. (Yes, we get that from time to time. “Why did you have to make it so spicy?” Well, um, because we are HotSauceDaily.) Our regular readers know that we do NOT like a lot of heat in our BBQ, but a touch more garlic/onion/black pepper/smoke would have helped this sauce really shine. But, then again, it’s not trying to be a spicy sauce.
[vision_notification style=”tip” font_size=”16px” closeable=”false”] Rebecca tells us they are working on a couple of new versions of their sauce. Sweet & Honey, Sweet & Tangy, and Sweet & Hot versions are in the works. [/vision_notification]
Give this sauce a try for that next family cookout. Go to http://hickeybottombbq.com to order and read their whole story.


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6 Comments

  1. You made a very good point about this sauce lends itself as a canvas, letting you spice it up and take the profile in any direction you choose.

  2. As we cannot please everyone’s taste buds, that is why we are going to make other flavors, we do appreciate hotsaucedaily.com doing a review for us. They are very kind people willing to help out. They not only did my review they also pointed me in the right direction for a copacker. It was very thoughtful. They are true foodie’s trying to help out the little guy. Thank you!!

    1. Happy to help, Becky. Thanks for the opportunity!

      Keep us in the loop about your new flavors when they are ready.

  3. Update 05/26/2013: Turns out The Good Stuff makes for a great addition to your basic canned baked beans. Add a couple of Tbls. to your beans along with some Worcestershire sauce and brown sugar. Delish!

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