Homemade BBQ Sauce

I finally did something I told myself (and Nate) I was going to do a long time ago--make homemade barbecue sauce. And now I'm left wondering why I didn't do it sooner! It's so easy to make, and you can do whatever you want with it, as long as you have a solid base.

I did some online recipe searching, and came across all sorts of sauce varieties. Some were too simple--combine Heinz 57 sauce and one or two spices? Nah, too easy! Others were a little more involved and the recipes suggested the mixture sit for a day or two. I didn't have that kind of time. Then I came across this recipe for Bourbon Whiskey BBQ Sauce. I knew that would be the one.

Sadly, I was mistaken that we had some bourbon sitting around. We didn't, but luckily, we always have at least one bottle of whiskey. I used some Kinnickinnic Whiskey from Great Lakes Distillery.

Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly, except that I added a bit more hot sauce, which, sadly, you couldn't taste at all.

The sauce was really very good. I was quite pleased with the way it turned out. I would use this again as a base and experiment with the flavors.

I know for future batches, I'll likely spice it up a bit more and add more liquid smoke. Also, it was a bit sweet for my taste, so I'd probably cut back on the brown sugar.

I think my days of buying barbecue sauce are over!