Sweet 'n Spicy is Denny Mike's original signature sauce. Like all of Denny Mike's creations, Sweet 'n Spicy is all natural and prepared in small batches ensuring a top quality product. Sweet 'n Spicy is indeed top quality. It's the first Denny Mike's sauce to be reviewed and it set the bar high for the others that follow.

I smoked a whole chicken for dinner this evening and gave Katie the choice between finishing the bird with Denny Mike's Sweet 'n Spicy or Hot 'n Nasty sauces. She chose Sweet 'n Spicy and we were both glad that she did. After the bird had smoked with hickory wood for about an hour and twenty minutes, I brushed it with a coat of Sweet 'n Spicy. I gave it an additional coat fifteen minutes later before removing it from the heat.

As the lable indicates, the sauce is initially sweet, but not excessively. The sauce is sweetened with ingredients like honey, molasses, brown sugar and pineapple juice giving it more than just the typical one note sweetness of corn syrup based sauces. The sweetness is balanced by the heat that follows. Again, it's all in moderation. The heat isn't enough to scare off most people. There is an unusual smokey depth to the sauce's flavor that is tough to pin point. It's more bold than other sweet sauces (Big Dave's or Bone Suckin). I can only assume that unusual ingredients like anchovies and tamarind concentrate are the culprits. Whatever the secret is, it works for Denny Mike's

I personally enjoyed the sauce and recommend it to anyone looking for a quality all natural sauce for ribs, chicken or pork. The sauce is on the thinner side, but still adequate for brushing on meat as a finishing glaze. It seems to work best as a dip or poured over the finished product.

It should be noted that Katie especially enjoyed Denny Mike's Sweet 'n Spicy. While dipping her chicken in the sauce, she noted, "This is how BBQ sauce should taste." In fact, she would later say that it has become her new favorite sauce. That's pretty high praise from someone who has sampled dozens of sauces and developed a fairly descernable palate.

After tasting the Sweet 'n Spicy sauce, I'm really looking forward to Denny Mike's other varities. Check out the "Product Reviews" page to see how Sweet 'n Spicy rates.