BBQ SAUCE OF THE WEEK: High Sierra Spicy Bar-B-Q Sauce

George White began experimenting in his kitchen with a barbecue sauce recipe in 1994. One year later, he was selling his sauce to local grocery stores in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Northern California. But after a painful divorce in 1998, George gave up on his sauce business and moved to Las Vegas. Nearly ten years later, at a poker game, George met a woman from Tennessee who shared his interest in barbecue. After tasting a batch of his sauce, she offered to go into business with him. Thus, High Sierra Enterprise, Inc, which sells barbecue sauces and rubs - with headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada and Murfreesboro, Tennessee.

The bottle that I ended up with is the "spicy" version of the sauce, but it's hard to imagine that the "original" could be any milder, as there is really no heat to speak of. What this sauce does have a lot of, as announced in one of the scattershot phrases on the label, is hickory smoke flavor. In fact, it's one of the smokiest sauces I've had. The smoke first makes itself known in the aroma, then in the flavor is joined by a rich brown sugar and molasses sweetness, as well as a prevalent onion flavor. There are bits of chopped garlic floating in the dark burgundy colored sauce, which is fairly thick.

Grade: B