Inspector's Choice Raging Raspberry Barbecue Sauce
Background
Trevor and Crystal Miller are the husband and wife team behind Inspector's Choice. The two started a competition team in 2013 and their success on the circuit ended up being put on hold by the birth of their third child. After time off due to that, they decided to jump back into barbecue by spinning up their own sauce line in 2022, which they named Inspector's Choice after Trevor's job as a plumbing and mechanical inspector for the city of Lubbock, TX. After only a couple short years, demand grew, they took the next step into co-packing, and things really took off for them since then. Currently their sauces can be found in many groceries in and around the Lubbock area, across the Eastern half of the United States, and online, where they sell their three fruit-based sauces.
Aroma
There's no doubt this is a fruit based sauce with a tangy raspberry aroma that also has some tomato mixed in. While the raspberry is unmistakable, the overall aroma is somewhat subdued and it takes some deep whiffs for the vinegar tang to get extra depth by way of a savory Worcestershire along with a slight peppery kick.
Thickness & Texture
This glossy maroon sauce is semi-transparent, making it easy to see a plethora of spices that come in large and medium black, white, and red specs. The sauce's thickness runs medium-thin and it has a very syrupy consistency whose smoothness is broken up a bit by the spices. These traits combine to have the sauce flowing in a fast and even pour from a suspended spoon, changing to a few slow dips at the end, and leaving only a thin layer of sauce left clinging to the silverware.
Out of the Jar
The first taste is of a honey sweetness that initially gains depth from tomato. The fruitiness factor is amplified by raspberry next, and at the same time vinegar provides a contrast to the sugars. As the sauce settles on the tongue, Worcestershire adds most of the complexity, but tastes of onion and pepper help out too. The vinegar and peppers ramp up at the end and overtake the sugars, but not the raspberry, to leave a tangy, fruity, and mildly spicy aftertaste.
Slathered & Cooked
This sauce brushed onto the chicken in a very thin, even, and light hued layer. It did back down well, allowing the sauce layer to pick up additional heft and color after multiple brushings, with the leg requiring one additional coating than normal to make it look respectfully saucy. When put over direct here, there was no sauce loss and nice caramelization with no burning. The flavor leaned more into sweetness after being cooked, with a strong fruitiness remaining, but tasting less distinctly like raspberry. The sweet and fruity flavor was the main story while eating the majority of the chicken, but at the end there was a little kick of black pepper sharpness and a hint of savory Worcestershire.
Put to Use
The all fruit line-up of Inspector's Choice piqued my interest when searching for new sauces to try, and raspberry isn't a common one to find, so I started there. Out of the jar, I was really digging the flavor with the raspberry being front and center while still tasting undeniably like barbecue sauce thanks to the vinegar, Worcestershire, and pepper. Things didn't fare quite as well on the grill though where the sauce took extra applications to give the chicken a good color, but the flavor was still somewhat light and mainly sweet and fruity without the distinct touches that made it so good out of the jar. Because of this, I think it's safe to say this sauce it going to be best as a dip and finishing slather, giving things like pulled pork, chicken fingers, and burgers a unique and delicious barbecue profile.
