Goldee's Bar-B-Q #1 BBQ Sauce
Background
Goldee's is a story of enduring friendship as the five owners—Lane Milne, Jalen Heard, Dylan Taylor, Jonny White, and Nupohn Inthanousay —all grew up and went to school together in Arlington, Texas. After high school they all moved to Austin, some for school and some for work. That work included being employed by some of the best barbecue joints in the state like Franklin, La Barbecue, Micklethwait, and Valentina's. After gaining enough barbecue knowledge, the group decided it was time to open their own place and looked back in their home area to do so. They found a spot that called to them in southern Fort Worth and Goldee's opened their doors there in February 2020. A month later the pandemic forced them to close down and they shifted to a take out only business, but barely held on during the beginning of the pandemic. They fully reopened in late summer of 2021 and since then have become a top spot for barbecue in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. In their line-up for sale is a single barbecue sauce, a couple rubs, and some merch.
Aroma
A mustardy aroma with strong vinegar and peppery components defines the first whiff of this sauce. A mellow sweetness with a touch of molasses comes out with a deeper noseful and that's likely what is preventing the vinegar and mustard from being overly harsh. There's also the common garlic and onion powder duo mixed in with the spices where black pepper is the most dominant, but there's notes of a couple other spicy chiles in the mix as well.
Thickness & Texture
There's a lot of spices that can be seen in the sauce that come in medium specs of red, white, and black. The light rusty orange hue helps make these easily visible. The sauce has a glossy sheen to it and a smooth texture with a consistency that hits in the middle between syrupy and watery, along with a thickness that's a couple notches south of the medium mark. From a suspended spoon the sauce falls in a fast, even pour that changes to two or three drips before stopping and leaving a thin coating of sauce left adhered to the silverware.
Out of the Jar
Despite the mainly mustardy aroma, the first taste of this sauce has a sweet tomato ketchup flavor. There's a minimal presence of molasses that can be tasted before the mustard and vinegar make an entrance and add a contrast to the sweet tomato without drowning it out completely. As the sauce settles on the tongue, first the mustard gains a little more prominence, then the spice layer provides additional depth with garlic, onion, and black pepper being the most distinct notes. There's an underlaying savoriness that comes out right before the vinegar ramps up and the sauce makes its exit. A little extra kick of heat comes in at this point too, while neither the mustard nor sweet tomato completely leaves, resulting in a full bodied barbecue aftertaste.
Slathered & Cooked
This sauce brushed onto the chicken in a thin and even layer that set quickly over indirect heat and allowed a hearty sauce layer to build up with just two brushings. Over direct heat there was no sauce loss at all and there was some nice browning without the sauce ever crossing over to burnt. From the first bite, there was an outstanding balance between sweet tomato, tangy vinegar, and sharp mustard. A little bump in the sugar kept this flavor pretty much the same from start to finish. By the second bite, that simple, but effective, blend of spices created additional depth, and there was only a slight rise in the heat level between then and when the leg was done being consumed.
Put to Use
I've become quite fond of tomato and mustard based barbecue sauces over my years reviewing, and Goldee's is in the top tier of not only that category, but of all sauces I've ever had. The balance between ketchup, mustard, and vinegar hits perfectly for my taste buds, and then the spices and Worcestershire are simple, but highly effective at creating the complexity and savoriness found in the best sauces. I could eat this sauce with a spoon all day, but it was even better cooked onto the chicken and I really can't imagine anything I wouldn't slather this sauce onto. The only negative thing this sauce brought up in me was the fact that I had been in Dallas not long before doing this review and I did not go to Goldee's while there, but it's definitely number one on my list of things I have to do now when I return.
