- Hey y'all, welcome to a very special,
This is Alabama edition of "Bless Your Rank".
And today, we, you and me,
just mostly me, are gonna be ranking barbecue sauces
made here in sweet home Alabama.
It's gonna get saucy!
(upbeat country music)
I'm just gone say it, I don't think that anybody else
in the South does barbecue like Alabama, am I biased?
I've lived in Alabama my entire life.
And I'm a fifth generation Alabamian.
Does that sound like I could be biased to you?
Answer is yes, absolutely.
Roll damn tide.
Other regions of the country have their own thing
that they're known for, okay.
In Alabama, king of barbecue is pulled pork
and pulled pork is all about the sauce.
'Cause pulled pork is like a canvas for sauce.
The criteria for today's Bless Your Rank.
This is gonna be a shocker to some of y'all.
But number one is probably gonna be taste.
Other things that I look for in barbecue sauce,
it needs to hit a sweet spot,
it cannot be weak and it cannot be overpowering
'cause I still wanna taste the smokiness of the meat
that you're putting the sauce on.
Three is probably whatever will make me have
to use these less.
Momma didn't raise no fool.
There's gonna be a lot of sauces flowing up here today.
And your boy is probably gonna be popping these things.
God bless you.
Off-brand Tums.
Let's get going, competitor numero uno, Jim 'N Nick's.
I've never understood why Jim 'N Nick's
puts community like on their signs above barbecue.
Are the other barbecue joints not for the community?
I don't know what that means.
Shake well (grunts).
So for the ranking,
I wanted to do this as fair as possible,
which means I'm gonna be basically having
the official appetizer of Alabama
with each one of these sauces,
which is just the sauce and white bread.
I mean if you bring pulled pork into the equation,
you're gonna taste some of the smoky flavor
from the pulled pork.
It's gonna skew my opinion of the sauce,
you gotta go old school.
My thoughts on Jim 'N Nick's, they're good,
but they're also like the Alabama chain barbecue.
Partly because when you become a chain barbecue place,
I don't know, you just kind of lose your special-ness,
in my opinion.
We'll see.
Here we go, Jim 'N Nick's.
Get it in there real good, you gotta get real saucy.
(upbeat country music)
A whole lot of ketchup flavor in that.
With just a little bit of sweetness
and a little bit of heat on the backend of it,
but not a lot.
None of it overpowers the tomato base
and you taste the sugar more than you do anything else.
It's not bad, but it's also not great.
I don't know,
but does that sum up Jim 'N Nick's in general?
For some people, yes.
This was fine, it was adequate.
I don't think it's gonna win today,
but I also would be shocked
if this finishes in last place, honestly.
Jim 'N Nick's, last place, but also kind of first.
Competitor number two, Bob Sykes.
"Bob Sykes BarBQ since 1957, grilling and dipping sauce".
Oh God, why do y'all feel a need to write short novels
on your barbecue sauce labels?
All right, here we go.
Bob Sykes from Bessemer.
Here's my Bob Sykes memory.
Friend of mine that I went to school with.
His real name is Corey, but everyone called him cornbread.
He is a devout Bob Sykes BarBQ fan and lover.
He will tell you
this is the greatest barbecue sauce in the world.
If I say anything bad about this,
it's gonna make Cornbread angry.
People with the nickname cornbread,
you do not wanna make angry,
that's a life fact for you there.
I mean, visually looking at it.
I would say it looks a little more appealing
than the Jim 'N Nick's.
It definitely, on the white bread, looks more like
the kind of barbecue sauce you would dip white bread into.
Oh and I can taste it too.
That's good, that's really good.
It's runnier,
it's not that sweet though but there's a interesting flavor.
I can't quite figure out what that is.
And you notice it less like your second, third bite.
Is it more onion powder?
Garlic and onion powder than the other ones?
I don't know, I don't know,
there's just something unique about this sauce
that I was not expecting, but then you notice it
less and less the more you eat of it.
They've also apparently been voted the number one
barbecue sauce in Alabama.
And I don't know who participated in that poll.
Was this open for all of Alabama to vote in?
'Cause I don't remember gonna the ballot box
to vote on that.
Also look at this pig,
like normally the pigs that barbecue sauce companies use,
like the cartoon pigs are like really friendly,
this one is a little shady,
I don't like the little smirk in his eyebrows.
He's up to something, this guy knows something,
a secret about you and he's not telling.
If I can recreate that look.
(upbeat country music)
(chuckles) That's the noise (chuckles), yeah.
Now this is certainly the better all around barbecue sauce.
Bob Sykes BarBQ, I'm gonna say currently in first place.
Competitor number three, Golden Rule.
Golden rule BBQ.
This is out of Irondale?
Is that right?
You know what, I respect this so much
that there's not a paragraph on here at all.
You know, like here's our ingredients
and because the government asks for it,
here's your nutrition label.
And I guess, we should tell you
that it goes good with pork and chicken.
But like if you didn't know that,
you shouldn't be allowed to buy this.
They're not fooling around at Golden Rule.
Here we go!
I've got really high hopes for this.
This got me fired up, I love the no nonsense label.
And that usually means no nonsense sauce
and I'm here for that, I'm a no nonsense man (hums).
This does not smell tangy like Bob Sykes.
Here we go.
Mmhm, I was about to say
that this is a very flat barbecue sauce,
there's not a lot of flavor in it, but it finishes strong.
When finished, the tang hits you on the backend of it,
I'm a fan of that.
Oh, that's really, really good.
Oh, I'm vibing with that.
Okay, I will say that it's a little bit sweeter
than Bob Sykes or at least it tastes that way to me.
But it's not overpoweringly sweet.
And it's a really good combination
of the tangy and the sweet.
Like I said earlier, I think it's hitting that sweet spot.
It doesn't pull you too hard in either direction.
Just takes you for a fun little ride through Irondale.
This is gonna be hard to top, y'all.
Golden Rule BBQ sauce, easily for me
currently in first place.
Competitor number four, no look, just gonna grab it.
Dixie Dirt.
Dixie Dirt, I have never heard of it
until like 30 seconds ago.
It is from Andalusia, Alabama.
Again, short novel on the label,
though I feel like I need to tell y'all this.
"After creating Dixie Dirt, good ol' Butt Rubbings."
I didn't stutter.
So apparently they made a Dixie Dirt rub
and then people were asking for a sauce
and then they made Dixie Dirt, the barbecue sauce.
Woo, I smelled the special spice blend.
It's like your barbecue sauce truck ran into a pepper truck.
And then it flowed all through the road in Andalusia.
And y'all said I ain't wasting this sauce.
And so you dumped it into a container
and you sold it as Dixie Dirt.
(upbeat country music)
Rollercoaster of a ride here.
It's not bad, but it's also not super great.
I don't think that I'd like pour it all over my pulled pork.
Like if I have all the options in front of me,
I'm not gonna go with this.
So some bites, depending on how much of the spices
are floating around in there and you get on your bite,
you can get a lot of like not strong peppery flavor,
but some, then you just get that kick of that liquid smoke.
And it just seems unnecessary when your pork is smoked.
Like, I don't need more of that.
I want the natural smoke flavor.
I don't want your artificial liquid smoke drops in there.
And it's just kind of like, for all the effort
they're putting into it with these spices,
I don't feel like it's really paying off.
I'd dip my french fries in that, for sure, 100%.
I think I'd put it above Jim 'N Nick's,
but not above Bob Sykes right now.
Just because it gives me more of a unique flavor.
So third place.
Competitor number five, Big Bob Gibson's,
it's another Bob (laughs).
If I trash this sauce,
I'm not gonna be allowed up in North Alabama again.
Do I mind being kicked out of North Alabama?
Honestly, no.
What am I gonna do, work for NASA?
You think they gonna send me to space?
Are you NASA?
You're gonna send your boy to space?
Big Bob Gibson's Championship Red Sauce.
First place, well, well, well hold on now.
Are you aware, Bob Sykes?
That Bob Gibson thinks he has the best sauce?
A barbecue brawl, a big old saucy bloodbath.
Although Big Bob Gibson does tell us that they were judged
best barbecue sauce on the planet.
Holy crap, that's a lot of people.
All right, Big Bob Gibson's, let's see what happens here.
I feel like it's gonna be sweet, we'll see.
No, actually, wow!
It starts with a strong tomato flavor.
It gets you with a little bit of heat, but not a lot.
I would like some more, but a really sweet finish.
So second bite, once you've adjusted all that tomato,
it was really good.
Ooh, that's a good sauce right there!
It's like going in, it's hitting that sweet spot
that we talked about, remember that?
That's a call back.
Hope y'all were taking notes, there will be a test later.
This is a next level sauce, this is the kind of sauce
that you always keep stocked in the fridge.
Not just for when you're gonna eating some barbecue.
This is for like I'm gonna put some barbecue sauce
on my chicken fingers, or I got some steak fries
or even dipping the tater tots in some barbecue sauce.
You know, anything goes.
This is first place in Kansas City Missouri
at the BBQ Festival.
This is first place in Memphis
for the International Cook-off.
And right now, it's in first place
for Bush Your Rank Alabama barbecue sauces.
All right, competitor number six!
Nick's Sweet Home Saban Sauce!
So this, I've never had before,
but I've seen on the shelf for years, but I never got it.
So I'm really excited to try this.
I mean, let's just be real here.
Nick Saban, the best football coach in America.
Is he the best barbecue sauce maker in America?
Probably not.
It's pasty.
All right, let's stop, let's stop.
Let's have a talk real quick.
Nick, if you could meet me on camera two.
Hey buddy, how's it going?
I know you're busy out there recruiting five-star players
and throwing your headset
and probably just sending really nasty tweets
to Lane Kiffin.
But if you have any control over this barbecue sauce
right here, I'm worried, man.
I ain't even had it yet,
but it's a little thick for Alabama sauce.
That may be how they do it up there in West Virginia
where you're from, but down here around these parts,
buddy, we don't do this, okay?
Okay, thanks bud, see you back over here.
Don't get mad at me, I know you got a temper.
Here we go, Saban Sauce!
Oh, it's not good, that's so weird 'cause it's so thick.
I mean, I'm getting like some tomato,
but the finish is so weak.
This is like cafeteria barbecue sauce.
Hospital cafeteria barbecue sauce.
There's definitely a little bit of a sweet flavor.
Nobody's gonna find this sauce offensive to the taste buds,
but nobody is ever gonna be like,
I gotta get me some more of that Special Saban Sauce!
Am I scared right now that I'm trashing Saban Sauce?
Yeah, I'm absolutely terrified he's about to bust
through that door right now and just scream at me.
It's definitely not Alabama's best barbecue sauce.
It's not even Alabama's second, third, fourth.
This is the last place, yeah, sorry Nick.
Yeah, I know he loves Bless Your Rank.
Competitor number seven, Full Moon!
It's right up here with Dixie Dirt with like,
I can see the spice in this sauce.
Full Moon, also award-winning,
just didn't say that it was the best.
They're also not gonna tell you what award it was.
You're just gonna have to take their word for it.
Wait a minute, the last ingredient is anchovies!
Excuse me?
Anchovies?
It's weird that it has a lot of flavor,
but it all hits you on the front end,
there's no strong finish.
Would it be the correct term say it's very flavor forward?
That sounds like a very fancy tasting term.
But it's not a bad sauce.
At the height of its a flavor, it's a really good sauce.
The problem is that it doesn't carry that flavor
all the way through.
And some of these sauces like come in strong
and finish fantastic.
But Full Moon doesn't do that,
it kind of just gives up.
I got some great looking like pulled pork sandwich.
What am I slathering on there?
I'm not reaching for this first one.
Not when some of these other ones are up here.
I'm gonna go ahead
and say that this is probably third place.
Easy does it.
Competitor number eight!
Also...
- [Deep Voice] The final competitor.
- Dreamland, Dreamland BBQ!
Every Alabamian has strong opinions on three things.
Number one, religion, number two, football
and number three, Dreamland.
I feel like it's either you love it or you hate it.
My thoughts on Dreamland?
Pretty good, pretty good ribs.
Best ribs in Alabama?
No, 'cause a guy from North Carolina
came in here and he's doing a better job than all of us.
Looking at you, Rodney Scott, big beautiful man.
It's so many things that the other sauces are not.
Number one, it is by far the runniest sauce.
Number two, it is the lightest color of all the sauces.
I don't know if it is the strongest smell of all the sauces,
but it's up there.
I want my barbecue sauce (mumbles).
I've got every jingle in my head
except for the Dreamland one, it'll come to me.
(chuckles) It's so good, it's so good.
It's a little unfair,
like you walk into a barbecue restaurant,
you sit down and they bring you a basket full of white bread
and barbecue sauce.
I don't know about y'all,
but my mind goes straight to Dreamland.
Now I've been to several other barbecue restaurants
that do just that.
But it's just something special about Dreamland
bringing the little red basket
full of that white bread and sauce.
It's just something special, it's got a nice spicy finish
and it holds for like a long time, it's got flavor,
I was not expecting that, I thought I could just like coast
through the end of this episode.
Why did you have to come in here and just ruin everything?
Dreamland guy.
We're gonna have to do a sauce off!
In this corner, Big Bob Gibson!
And in this corner, John Big Daddy Bishop!
Big Bob Gibson.
(upbeat country music)
Okay, after having that, this is like, ooh tomato heavy.
Dreamland, now tastes weaker.
Big Bob Gibson in comparison to Dreamland,
you just taste the tomato now.
Overall, at its peak, it is a little bit stronger taste
just 'cause there's just so much more going on in there.
Dreamland, way more subtle, but a better spice
and it's not sweet, by comparison, is not sweet at all.
A smoother ride from start to finish.
A barbecue sauce that is a perfect compliment
to finely smoked meats.
We go for best overall Alabama barbecue sauce.
And I want something that tastes great
on everything that I would normally put barbecue sauce on
and is just a unique flavor.
I'm not gonna find it anywhere else.
And for that reason...
(upbeat country music)
Dreamland is your winner.
I feel very good about that.
I mean, it just stands apart from all the other sauces.
So here it is, Dreamland BBQ Sauce!
The best barbecue sauce in the state of Alabama.
The barbecue hipsters of Alabama
are shaking their fists in anger right now,
shake them all you want to.
I've had too much bread to care.
There's not a bad sauce up here.
They're all winners in my book.
Just some of them are just a little more different
than others, you know,
but I feel like these five right here,
you're not gonna go wrong with them.
These are all fantastic sauces.
It is just like, I know that I've ranked them
first, second, third, fourth, fifth,
but it is as close as can be right here,
but for me, Dreamland BBQ Sauce
is the best sauce in Alabama.
Dreamland is what put Alabama barbecue on the map
and Dreamland is what is gonna keep it there.
God bless America, God bless Alabama.
Now if you'll excuse me.
(upbeat country music)
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