Mad Dog and Merrill’s Spicy BBQ Sauce

October 31st, 2012 in Food, Lakeville, South Metro

A few weeks back I was at the grocery store and did my regular once-over of the BBQ and hot sauces available. There were a few newbies and Mad Dog and Merrill’s Spicy BBQ sauce stuck out at me as one I should try. Without even looking at the price tag or the ingredient list I thew it in my cart and brought it home.

The sauce is described on their website as:

This is a thick grillin’ sauce we gaurantee has a wholde lot of heat without comprimising flavor. It might even put hair on Merrill’s head! Not just for wings, but for all the soon to be spicy things.

While I didn’t use it as a grilling sauce, opting instead to heat it up and throw it on pulled pork, I was surprised at the incredibly poor ingredient list:

High Fructose Corn Syrup, Water, Tomato Paste, Distilled Vinegar, Sugar, Pineapple Juice Concentrate, Food Starch Modified, Salt, Mollasses, Habanero Peppers, Natural Hickory Smoke Flavor, Caramel Color, Dehydrated Onion and Garlic, Spices, Sodium Benzoate (preservative)

Why any BBQ sauce worth more than 99 cents is putting HFCS as its first ingredient (or any ingredient) I’ll never know. However, I figured with the habaneros this would be a decent sauce to try out. Well, the habaneros gave it a peppery kick but it wasn’t hot enough to be called “spicy”, that’s for sure. The sauce was fine even with the incredibly lame ingredient list but that’s only because I have a soft spot in my heart for the garbage BBQ sauce McDonald’s puts out with its Chicken McNuggets. It’s one of those things I wasn’t allowed to have often but for the few times I have in my life, it has been forever burned into my brain as a special taste only available at Rotten Ronnies.

Yes folks, Wisconsin’s own Mad Dog & Merrill’s Spicy BBQ Sauce tastes just like a peppery plastic container of McDonald’s own BBQ sauce with the peel off top. I ate it on my pulled pork sandwich and it found a spot in the back of the fridge only to be recalled when:

B) I run out of Famous Dave’s Bold and Sassy (The Wife’s BBQ sauce of choice when Montgomery Inn hasn’t been shipped to us

Overall the sauce was fine but I could have gotten some for free at McDonald’s just the same. I won’t be seeking this one out again unless I’m in desperate shape for my Ronnies fix and the 24/7 location a few miles in any direction is closed due to some crazy reason.

Have you ever had any of Mad Dog & Merrill’s sauces? If so what did you think? What is your go to BBQ sauce and why? When you go with BBQ sauces do you usually add other things to them to tailor them to your needs? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear your thoughts.