Bad Bones Cherry Habanero BBQ Sauce
Background
Brian and Shelly Gurney are the husband and wife pair behind Bad Bones BBQ, a competition team that was founded in 2011. From then until 2020, the duo honed their skills and have come out of the circuit with 19 Grand Championships and 11 Reserve Grand Championships, plus tons of other awards along the way. With that success came a healthy catering business, which allowed Brian to quit his day job as a photographer and graphic designer. Everything came to a halt though at the start of the pandemic, and the ample time at home allowed the two to concentrate on perfecting their sauces and bringing them to market. Band Bones BBQ currently has seven unique sauces and a variety of rubs that are produced in their home base of Happy Valley, Oregon and are available at select stores across the country and online.
Aroma
An extra fruity barbecue aroma fills the nose when first taking in this sauce. The standard tomato is at play along with discernible cherry, both which get a sweet tilt thanks to molasses. The sugars are held at bay a bit by a medium vinegar tang along with layered peppers that also bring in notes of smoke and additional fruit along with a clear sign of the heat that will likely be in play in the taste.
Thickness & Texture
It's difficult to see any spices in the sauce, except for the stray small black spec here and there, thanks to its opaque maroon hue. The sauce's thickness sits right in the center of the scale and it has a very smooth and medium syrupy consistency. From a suspended spoon this sauce flows in a quick, uneven pour which changes to a few medium drips and a few more small, slow ones. Once the sauce stops falling, a medium coating is left clinging to the silverware and in this thinner layer, you can see a lot of small red and orange spice bits.
Out of the Jar
A honey sweetness starts off the flavor profile, which quickly gains depth from cherry followed by tomato. The sweet fruitiness lingers for a bit while the sauce settles on the tongue, and a couple seconds later a light molasses taste joins the party. A faint oniony note pops in right before a mild smokiness starts the peppery kick that builds with tastes of habanero and chipotle. As the sauce makes its exit, the heat hits a manageable medium crescendo and you're left with a spicy, tangy, and fruity aftertaste.
Slathered & Cooked
This sauce brushed on the chicken in a medium, even layer that set very well over indirect heat. Despite that, there was still some sauce loss over the less forgiving high heat and only minimal caramelization with no burning. A good taste of cherry and molasses dominated the first couple bites, but by the third, the habanero introduced a nice balancing heat. It wasn't so spicy though that the other flavors in the sauce got masked, and by the time the leg was done, I was getting smoky notes along with a distinct vinegar tang.
Put to Use
I'm a big fan of cherry in barbecue sauce, which is what led me to pick up this bottle. I find cherries, more than other fruits, meld with the tomato and other barbecue flavorings making them taste at home while still giving the sauce a unique stamp. That was true here and this sauce was crafted incredibly well. The multiple layers of peppers each added its own unique taste that made the sauce even more layered with flavor while still being nicely spicy. I liked the sauce in both its raw and cooked states, but had a slight preference for the later where the sweetness of the cherries stood out a little more and delivered a taste that just had me wanting more after finishing the chicken. I don't think you'll go wrong with how you use this sauce though—I think it would go particularly good on burgers or wings.
