I have been using Open Pit since I was a child and I recently bought this here a few days ago and tried it out. Immediately I noticed it is VERY watered down and the flavor is just TERRIBLE. It's sour and vinegary and just not right at all. I don't know what they changed, but it is dramatic. I had Open Pit just a few weeks ago while I was cooking in the midwest and the flavor was exactly how it always has been so I have a good comparison to make to this package I received today. It is very disappointing and I don't know what is going on if the recipe changed or this is a faulty package, but seems like there are other reviews saying similar things here too. I would be weary of buying this here.

You've never had great BBQ sauce for chicken until you've tried Open Pit Original. I moved to Texas and they all brag about their BBQ sauce and most of what they say is true, "you can put Texas BBQ sauce on a piece of cardboard and it will taste good". Should you really be eating cardboard? Shouldn't the BBQ sauce enhance the flavor of the chicken and not overpower it? The mid-west got it right with Open Pit. It's been a family favorite on our chicken since I was old enough to suckle a chicken leg.

I've loved Open Pit since I was kid...a very long time. It has disappeared from grocery stores over the years and this is one of the few places to find it. Open Pit is not too smoky, not too sweet, with a little bit of tang, and you can always doctor it up if you want to. Good stuff!

Here is a spoiler for BBQ Restaurants.. This is probably the sauce that was used in one of the larger ones that had that perfect sweet and savory BBQ. I know as My family used it in the 70'-80's in their Rib house.. Its got a slightly vinegar forward, spicy note when uncooked which I love.. When you marinate or cook with it , the vinegar tenderizes and leave a not overly sweet perfect BBQ. We cooked the ribs with the Open pit and then put bottles on the table with a mixture of Open Pit and Kraft hickory.. The Kraft gave the uncooked open pit the sweetness to pour on without cooking. I still like it straight out of the bottle We sold gallons of that mixture a night.. Need les to say TRY IT. You probably already had it a t that restaurant hat had those "Amazing" ribs..

Open Pit is the BBQ sauce I learned to love growing up in Chicago - but it's not available here in Texas. So when I saw this on Amazon, I bought a case. It's different than what I grew up with - it really tastes strongly of vinegar. In subsequent research I found that Open Pit makes more varieties now than it did when I was a kid, so it would appear that's what I got despite the misleading "original" label. I found that heating it up in the microwave before using it drives off the vinegar and restores most of the "traditional" taste I remember, and the heat from the grill when I baste ribs does the same thing, so - lucky for me - it still comes out OK.