Barbecue Sauce Guide: Our Eight House-Made Sauces, From Vinegar to Mustard
October 19, 2026 – Haywood Smokehouse
Taste it first. Every meat we cook at Haywood Smokehouse comes off the pit unsauced, because if meat is cooked right, it does not need sauce to hide anything. What you do after that is up to you, and that is what our eight house-made sauces are for.
Joe Beasley built this place around a simple idea: take the best of every barbecue region and do it right, all under one roof. The sauces follow the same idea. You can read the whole story in The Greatest Hits of American Barbecue.
What types of barbecue sauce do you make?
Our sauces are built on three bases: vinegar, ketchup, and mustard. Then there are three blends that are all our own.
- Vinegar based: East Carolina
- Ketchup based: Sweet Red and Hot Red
- Mustard based: Sweet Carolina and Georgia Fire
- Unique blends: Strawberry Chipotle, S.O.B., and Chipotle Ranch
Where did barbecue sauce come from?
As Joe tells it, barbecue sauce started on the East Coast and traveled west.
Vinegar came first. It worked as a preservative, and it cut through the fattiness of the meat. Somebody added red pepper flakes. That sauce came out of Charleston, far eastern North Carolina, and parts of Virginia.
As it moved west, somebody added ketchup to the vinegar, salt, pepper, and pepper flakes. Then came the mustard sauces. Keep going west to Kansas City and Texas, and the sauces get sweeter, with more ketchup, molasses, and brown sugar.
Our lineup runs that whole line, from the vinegar on the coast to the sweet reds out west.
What is East Carolina barbecue sauce?
It is our vinegar sauce, with black and red pepper. Tangy and traditional, and it comes from the oldest tradition on our table.
Ours has a little ketchup in it, which keeps everything from settling on the bottom.
What are your mustard barbecue sauces?
Sweet Carolina and Georgia Fire. Sweet Carolina is sweet and mild. Georgia Fire is sweet with a spicy finish.
Joe's own opinion, for whatever it is worth: a mustard sauce is the best thing you can put on brisket.
Try one on our award-winning Texas brisket and see if you agree.
What are Sweet Red and Hot Red?
Our two ketchup-based sauces. Sweet Red is sweetened with brown sugar and molasses. Hot Red is sweet, with a spicy kick.
What are your unique sauces?
Three blends you will only find here.
Strawberry Chipotle is our own creation, built on our Sweet Red. Sweet strawberry with a chipotle spice.
S.O.B. is a blend of habanero and jalapeño. This one is hot.
Chipotle Ranch brings a medium spice.
Which of your barbecue sauces is the hottest?
S.O.B. If you want some heat without going that far, Hot Red and Georgia Fire are both sweet with a kick, Strawberry Chipotle is sweet and spicy, and Chipotle Ranch is a medium spice.
Which sauce goes on which meat?
That part is up to you. Our Carolina chopped pork, our St. Louis style ribs, and our slow-smoked turkey breast all come off the pit with no sauce on them, so you can taste the meat first and then try them all.
Joe's own way to eat the chopped pork? Chopped, with no sauce at all.
Can I buy your barbecue sauce to take home?
Yes, at all three of our locations. Full-size bottles are on our To-Go menu, and every sauce comes in pints and quarts in our bulk takeout.
- Sweet Red, Hot Red, East Carolina, Sweet Carolina, and Georgia Fire: $9.99 a bottle, $9.99 a pint, $15.99 a quart
- Strawberry Chipotle and S.O.B.: $11.99 a bottle, $11.99 a pint, $18.99 a quart
- Chipotle Ranch: $11.99 a pint, $18.99 a quart. Chipotle Ranch comes in pints and quarts only, not bottles.
Can you ship barbecue sauce?
Starting in November, you will be able to add our bottled sauces to a nationwide shipping order, to all 50 states plus Canada and the United Kingdom.
Come taste the lineup
Order ahead online for pickup, or come sit down with us.
Feeding a crowd? Our catering menu covers all three locations.
Join the Get Smoked VIP Club for 10% off for you and a guest on your next visit, plus weekly deals by email.