Lillie's Q - ENC Barbeque Sauce, Gourmet BBQ, Spicy Vinegar BBQ, Premium Ingredients, Made with Gluten-Free Ingredients (17.5 oz, 2-Pack)

Wish I could give it 5 stars. My favorite pork BBQ sauce.

Not as good as the local volunteer fire department/country church sauce, but pretty darn good.

I won't rant or rave about this stuff, but I will say it's better than other store bought Carolina vinegar based sauces that I've tried. Just a little bit of heat but not too much. A bit too much thickener added as I'm used to a more watery sauce, this stuff has what appears to be too much xanthan gum in it to make it resemble what most people associate with a barbecue sauce, almost has the consistency of a Kraft/Wishbone Italian dressing.Flavor-wise it's not bad on its own but it's just a bit too much with meat. I low and slow smoked a prime brisket for 16 hours with over half hickory wood so it had a pretty heavy smoky beefy flavor to it which I like and even a small dip in this sauce completely took over all the flavor. I couldn't taste the meat at all, might as well have been dipping pressure cooker pot roast into it because the meat was just a vehicle for the sauce at that point. The only thing that came across was the biting acidic flavor.I know some people will say "well Carolina sauce is different, it's supposed to be like that!!!" I've had several Carolina-style vinegary hot sauces at BBQ restaurants that I've loved, hence why I was trying to hunt down a variety that I could buy in store/online. This isn't it. If you over or under cooked/smoked your meat and want to hide that then this is the sauce for you but putting this on any well-smoked meat does it a disservice.

BBQ sauce is pretty much a religious argument. No matter where you live, there are regional tastes and specialties, however most of the off the shelf 'supermarket' sauces run heavy toward corn syrup and tomato flavors. It doesn't matter which one, they're all about the same. It's darn near impossible to duplicate the taste of good North Carolina vinegar and pepper based bbq sauce. Lillie's ENC comes closest to any I've found. It's got the right amount of vinegar tang, spice and heat, doesn't taste like ketchup or syrup, no fake smoke 'flavor'. It goes really well with pork, either while cooking, or just over the top. Also, put a 1/4 cup in your collard greens - just sayin'.

Vinegar-based BBQ sauce is getting harder and harder to find - at least where I live on the West Coast. But this one brings back memories of pulled pork BBQ sandwiches I grew with in NC & VA and I love it. No mustard in this particular bottle for those that love that SC style. This is just vinegar, spices and peppers. Thank you Lillie's Q for continuing to make this sauce. It's worth every penny.

I place a substantial order for a variety of Lillie's BBQ sauces. The second bottle I opened has a large amount of suspicious looking brownish "grit" all around the lid, that was underneath the "safe packaging seal" on the bottle. Returns are not permitted according to Amazon and although I would consider a replacement, that option isn't available. I have more bottles of the ENC and other flavors. I suppose I will be opening them as needed to see if I get more unsavory product, or a safe product. If this is some crappy looking but harmless material or something more risky, then better packaging is needed to keep it from happening.

I lived in Durham and ate a lot of pork bbq. This is good, but not quite right

Best BBQ SAUCE IF YOU LIKE VINEGAR BASED. I absolutely love it. But shipping screwed this up. I am from Eastern North Carolina this stuff almost as good as my grandmother's.