Brian Lee, BT Leighs, Sauces and Rubs - Encore
This episode of Barbecue Nation features an insightful discussion with Brian Lee, the founder of BT Lee's Sauces and Rubs, who delves into the intricate process of crafting unique barbecue flavors. We explore the origins of Brian's passion for barbecue, which is deeply rooted in his family's culinary traditions and his father's legacy as a pitmaster. Brian shares his journey from a tech career to the world of barbecue sauces and rubs, emphasizing the importance of flavor harmony and innovation in his creations. Listeners will discover how Brian's distinctive approach fuses familiar and unfamiliar tastes, setting his products apart in a competitive market. Join us as we uncover the artistry behind barbecue and the dedication that drives successful culinary ventures.
Links referenced in this episode:
- paintedhillsnaturalbeef.com
- btlees.com
- oregondungeness.org
- paintedhillsbeef.com
- gunterwilhelmknives.com
- heritagesteel.us
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Painted Hills Natural Beef
- BT Lee's Sauces and Rubs
- Heritage Steel
- Weston Kia
- Gunter Wilhelm Knives
Mentioned in this episode:
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This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcript
It's time for Barbecue Nation with jt so fire up your grill, light the charcoal, and get your smoker cooking.
Speaker A:Now from the Turn It Go Burnett studios in Portland, here's jt.
Speaker B:Hey, everybody.
Speaker B:Welcome to the Nationhouse Barbecue Nation.
Speaker B:I'm JT along with my co host and hall of fame partner, Ms. Leanne Wibben.
Speaker B:We've got Camaro David, Commander Chris running around the studio doing something.
Speaker B:And of course, we come from the Turn It Don't Burn it studios in Portland and in Tampa, we'd like to thank the folks at Painted Hills Natural Beef.
Speaker B:Beef the way nature intended.
Speaker B:You can check them out online@painted hillsnaturalbeef.com, find a store near you.
Speaker B:Well, you have seen this gentleman's ads.
Speaker B:If you haven't seen his ads, you must live under a rock because I think that Brian from BT Lace Sauces and Rubs does an excellent job, especially on his online marketing.
Speaker B:So we reined him in, we brought him into the show.
Speaker B:Brian Lay from BT Lays is with us today.
Speaker B:And let's get started.
Speaker B:Brian, how are you?
Speaker C:I'm fantastic.
Speaker C:Thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker B:I, I've seen your stuff for a long time.
Speaker B:I don't know why I didn't call you sooner.
Speaker B:That's my bad.
Speaker B:But tell us how you got into.
Speaker B:We'll talk about barbecue itself later.
Speaker B:But how did you get into the sauces and rubs deal?
Speaker C:So I was, I come from a family of farmers and culinary minded people.
Speaker C:We always had fresh food and all that stuff growing up.
Speaker C:And my dad was a legendary pitmaster up in northeast Ohio and it all kind of sprung from there.
Speaker C:I, I worked in the tech industry for 20 years and at one point my then girlfriend, now wife decided that she wanted to buy a grill and she was like, let's get a gas grill.
Speaker C:I was like, no, let's get a charcoal grill and we'll do this the right way.
Speaker C:And within, I don't know, five hours of owning it, I had a saw out, I split the grates, I put up a firewall, and I made this into a little makeshift smoker.
Speaker C:And I had not done this in a while, but it kind of rekindled my love for open fire cooking.
Speaker C: I think this was back in: Speaker C:And I ended up providing barbecue to them every Monday for months on end that ended up parlaying into them asking Me for my sauces, their parents and relatives asking me for sauces, me catering anything from barbecues to weddings to birthday parties just on the side.
Speaker C:And then that led into our own surprise barbecue wedding, which my wife coined as the BT Lee's launch party, which is funny at the same time as kind of tragic, I guess.
Speaker C:And we started the business.
Speaker B:Well, there you go.
Speaker B:I'm sorry I called you Lace instead of Lee's.
Speaker C:Oh, that's fine.
Speaker C:It's a common thing.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's funny how those things work, though, Brian, is.
Speaker B:We kind of did the same thing, my wife and I, at our wedding.
Speaker B:We had it out in a.
Speaker B:At the farm, and we had all kinds of people there, and we ended up roasting four full sirloins for everybody and stuff like that.
Speaker B:Now, luckily, I didn't have to cook that day, but I had a couple of guys that I cooked with a lot, and they kind of took over and did that.
Speaker B:But I really think it made.
Speaker B:It kind of made the meal, so to speak.
Speaker C:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker C:For sure.
Speaker C:Unfortunately, we did it all, or we did a lot of it.
Speaker C:Yeah, we coined it as a.
Speaker C:We're only going to do one barbecue this summer.
Speaker C:You know, normally I would do, like, four.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:And we.
Speaker C:We just consolidated it down.
Speaker C:We got a pavilion down in Northeast Ohio, Beartown Lakes reservation, and I ended up with two briskets, 12 racks of ribs, 80 pounds in pork.
Speaker C:We made two pans of macaroni cheese.
Speaker C:It was like 75 people, and only seven people knew that it was actually happening.
Speaker D:Oh, that's kind of cool.
Speaker C:Yeah, yeah, it's a story.
Speaker C:It's a story for sure.
Speaker B:Oh, that's.
Speaker B:That's really good.
Speaker B:I like that.
Speaker B:So did your development of your sauces.
Speaker B:Let's start with those.
Speaker B:Did that come from way back on the family farm, so to speak, or is that something you just created as you went along?
Speaker C:So I, I. I liken myself as a flavor guy.
Speaker C:I've always been willing to explore flavors from different regions and places and cuisines, and I kind of taste things and catalog them in my brain and see what works together.
Speaker C:Also.
Speaker C:I also was a musician for a long time, so I kind of liken every flavor I create to a chord.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:So you got the primary and the, you know, the third, and you try and bring all those together to make some harmonious product or flavor that people like.
Speaker C:And I don't know if I can say drawing on my running around these parties my dad used to throw actually did it or if it was the inspiration for it.
Speaker C:But I kind of feel like I'm a student of a flavor.
Speaker C:I hunt it out, I seek it out, and then I try and incorporate it into what I do.
Speaker C:And I've always done that, even before I did this.
Speaker C:If we would go on vacation, and even still we go on vacation, we try and seek out.
Speaker C:First place we go is a grocery store, and I look and see what they've got new, and then I'll try and find a local food store and see what they've got new.
Speaker C:And bless my wife, she's along for the ride.
Speaker D:Well, good for her.
Speaker D:I'm sure it's quite enjoyable.
Speaker D:And what you're saying is really not something that you can learn.
Speaker D:I think it's inherent and it's something you can't be taught.
Speaker D:It's.
Speaker D:It's just, you either have it or you don't.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker D:And obviously you do.
Speaker D:So that's great.
Speaker B:Well, I think that's actually a really good comment, Leanne, because dealing with folks especially, you know, you and I do a lot of media, and first of all, most media people are just ravenous because they don't get fed properly.
Speaker B:You know, they're like the little birds in the nest with their mouths open, going, me, me, me, me, me.
Speaker B:But a lot of them can't cook a lick.
Speaker B:You know, that I've noticed over the years working with them.
Speaker B:And I. I agree with their statement.
Speaker B:You either have it or you don't.
Speaker B:You can assemble those flavors, those tastes and the process and do that to make it work for you.
Speaker B:And so anybody like Brian who puts that together and makes it work.
Speaker B:My hat.
Speaker B:I'll give you a tip of the hat here, Brian.
Speaker B:I won't take it off.
Speaker D:So the recipes aren't really from your dad, per se, right?
Speaker C:No, not per se.
Speaker C:My father died when I was 4.
Speaker D:Oh, wow.
Speaker C:So I only have vague memories of actually doing that.
Speaker C:Although we kept.
Speaker C:So he would he suit up something called Fat Eddie Parties, where the party would start on Wednesday night and end on Monday.
Speaker B:Whoa.
Speaker C:And what would happen is the kegerator.
Speaker D:Would be long Eddie parties.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:Believe me, believe me, the moment the kegerator got dropped next to where the pit was going to get dug, they dig out the pit, they'd have whatever they hunted that year on the spit, and they'd be slow roasting it for days.
Speaker C:In days and days.
Speaker C:The party would actually start on Friday, and then it would end when everyone was done, whenever that was.
Speaker B:So sounds like the American rule were the guys that dug the Pit and like your dad and his crew, were they able to function by Friday?
Speaker C:Yeah, they were.
Speaker C:They were vets.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:They were.
Speaker C:They were definitely veterans of that scene.
Speaker C:It was a very play hard work hard mentality.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:You know?
Speaker C:Yeah, I couldn't function.
Speaker C:I remember falling asleep under tables.
Speaker C:Yeah, the.
Speaker C:The whole, the whole experience went on after his death as like a memorial for the next five or six years.
Speaker C:You know, like, my uncles took up the tradition and.
Speaker B:Is it still going on to be.
Speaker C:No, no, no.
Speaker C:Although I should probably just resurrect that one day.
Speaker B:Yeah, you'd probably, you'd probably get some takers, I'm guessing.
Speaker C:Sure I would.
Speaker C:I'm sure I would.
Speaker B:When you are, when you're working and like you said, when you go on vacation, you find a local market, you find a local store, you're doing that.
Speaker B:And you said you kind of compartmentalize these flavors and things in your noggin.
Speaker B:Does something ever really skit to you go, wow, that is really good.
Speaker B:I've got a follow through with that for, like, our next sauce.
Speaker C:Yes, 100%.
Speaker C:I tend to fixate on things until I figure it out.
Speaker C:And one of the things that really still sticks with me is sumac.
Speaker B:The.
Speaker C:Berry, not the poisonous kind.
Speaker C:I tend to put it in all my things.
Speaker C:A lot of my things, like my Kansas City style sauce has it.
Speaker C:Both my spicy and my sweet and savory barbecue rubs have it.
Speaker C:And I believe my mop sauce also has it in it.
Speaker C:I love the tartness, the brightness that it brings.
Speaker C:You know, it's something that you.
Speaker C:You taste in your tongue and you're like, oh, that's different, but delicious, you know?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Are those just indigenous to your area?
Speaker B:Honestly, I don't know much about those.
Speaker C:Sumac is a Middle Eastern spice.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:North Africa.
Speaker C:Middle East.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Right around there.
Speaker C:I think you might be able to grow it down here, but I'm not sure.
Speaker C:Usually the parallel lines can kind of dictate what can grow where.
Speaker B:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:I just had never heard of much about that.
Speaker C:You should, you should pick some up and try it.
Speaker B:Kaylee Ann, you pick some up and I'll try it.
Speaker D:Okay.
Speaker D:Sounds good.
Speaker D:No, I'm kind of intrigued.
Speaker D:I'm not familiar with it.
Speaker D:I've heard of it.
Speaker D:I just.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:So I will give it a try.
Speaker B:I. I think it's a great idea.
Speaker B:I'm gonna go try to find some this week.
Speaker D:I like that he incorporates it too.
Speaker D:That means that he's doing something different and kind of.
Speaker D:I don't know.
Speaker D:Elevated, you might say.
Speaker D:I don't know.
Speaker D:Cool.
Speaker C:Well, I try not to be.
Speaker C:I try not to be the elevated gourmet guy, you know, I'm just.
Speaker C:Yeah, but, but we try to normalize all these flavors as much as we can.
Speaker C:The world is a really big place and pulling in flavors from different locations and regions.
Speaker C:Just amplify what you.
Speaker C:What you've already got, you know?
Speaker B:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker B:We are going to take a break here on Barbecue Nation.
Speaker B:Got to hear from a couple of sponsors and Brian Lee from BT Lee's Sauces and Rubs.
Speaker B:And Ms. Leanne and I will be back in a couple of weeks.
Speaker B:Oh, two or three minutes after that.
Speaker B:We're going to talk more about his rubs and spices and a few surprises right after this on Barbecue Nation.
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Speaker B:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
Speaker B:I'm JT along with Ms. Leanne.
Speaker B:We'd like to thank you for that, for listening with us.
Speaker B:If you want to find us, of course, we're on all the different social media platforms, not only for the show, but individually, you know, Twitter, Instagram, all those things.
Speaker B:So we're out there.
Speaker B:We've got Brian Lee from BT Lee's.
Speaker B:What's your middle name?
Speaker C:Thomas.
Speaker C:Brian.
Speaker C:Thomas Lee.
Speaker B:Okay, so it was Lily.
Speaker B:Go ahead.
Speaker D:I was just gonna say I'm kind of getting off the track here, but sort of on track.
Speaker D:But, you know, there's a lot of sauces and rubs out there.
Speaker B:A lot.
Speaker D:And a lot of people think, oh, I make a good barbecue sauce.
Speaker D:I'm going to bottle it.
Speaker D:But as you know, there's a lot that goes into it.
Speaker D:And I'm sure you educated yourself, but as it relates to the labels, because branding is super important.
Speaker D:How did you decide how you were going to brand it and, like, come up with your label?
Speaker C:So this is a.
Speaker C:This Is a good question for us actually.
Speaker C:My wife is a phenomen phenomenal designer.
Speaker C:And when we originally moved down here to Bowling Green, Kentucky we decided to stand up a design and e commerce company that was myself and her.
Speaker C:I have 20 years in tech building websites and whatnot and she is just an amazing brander.
Speaker C:And we decided to do BT Lee's as a hobby project at the farmer's market because we didn't know anybody except for family and I just wanted to get to know people.
Speaker C:And then we won our first major international award and then that just kind of took off.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:But she's the eye behind all of the visuals and the marketing and that kind of stuff.
Speaker C:Everything goes through her and we all have our lanes and I have learned not to step into hers.
Speaker C:She is so good at it.
Speaker C:To the fact where my.
Speaker C:My logo, she actually designed it completely.
Speaker C:She took a picture of me and made it so.
Speaker C:And there it is.
Speaker D:It personalizes it.
Speaker D:I like it.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean I.
Speaker C:My personality is such that I don't mind being on the bottle, you know, like I'm a very upfront person.
Speaker C:I'm going to talk to everybody.
Speaker C:I'm never going to hide behind the scenes or anything like that so.
Speaker C:And I stand behind all my flavors, so why not throw me on the bottle?
Speaker D:Do you co pack it?
Speaker D:I mean, do you have a co packer?
Speaker D:I started interrupt.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:We originally started in 10 quart pots on the stove, making it in a commercial kitchen here in Bowling Green.
Speaker C:They also had a 45 gallon steam kettle and we moved to 45 gallon steam kettle where we were making those 285 or so bottles twice a week for each sauce.
Speaker C:And we couldn't do it.
Speaker C:We couldn't do it.
Speaker C:We were in the kitchen because it's just her and I, you know, like I literally just hired two people to help us out.
Speaker C:We couldn't do it.
Speaker C:So I started dating co packers and it was important to me to keep it in Kentucky for the Kentucky proud, you know, and to rise up the state a little bit.
Speaker C:So I found a Copacritte Louisville and we've had a great working relationship ever since.
Speaker C:They run all my sauces and right now I mix all my spice blends and that's fun.
Speaker D:And you bottle that too?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker D:Wow.
Speaker C:I kind of did it the hard way, but I wanted.
Speaker D:But you're like self labeling too, right?
Speaker C:Yeah, we're doing the whole thing.
Speaker C:I've got a speed labeler.
Speaker C:It makes it easy, you know, but I like to work with local companies and all that kind of thing to pull it in and help the earnings money too.
Speaker B:How do you compete, Ryan?
Speaker B:I mean, that's.
Speaker B:Let me preface this for the listeners.
Speaker B:When I first contacted you the other day and said, you want to be on the show?
Speaker B:And you said, sure, but you were out the door to go to a market or wherever you were going, I am assuming to do demos out there.
Speaker B:But how, how tough do you find it to get shelf space?
Speaker C:Well, you know, honestly, I think I'm a pretty persuasive individual and the moment they taste my product, they want it just straight, straight.
Speaker C:There it is.
Speaker C:I was at Bardstown Arts and Crafts up in Bardstown, Kentucky for a two day retail show and we, we provided about 700 bottles of sauces and rubs to the community at that point, like we moved, we moved a lot of product in two days up there.
Speaker C:I do those.
Speaker C:Like right now the season is for that, you know, Christmas buying season, holiday buying season is upon us and people down here just love to do it.
Speaker C:So every weekend from now until probably December 15th, I'm going to be somewhere.
Speaker D:Do you sell in retail stores as well?
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker C:Yeah, we're in 38 states.
Speaker C:I think about 115 locations right now.
Speaker D:Amazon?
Speaker C:No, I don't do Amazon.
Speaker C:I own my brand on Amazon.
Speaker C:But a lot of the places where I sell don't like to carry things that are readily available on Amazon.
Speaker D:Interesting.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, well, that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker B:And of course, I have not had a lot of experience on that side.
Speaker B:I worked for Amazon once for six months.
Speaker B:That was.
Speaker D:I get a lot of Amazon.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, I know.
Speaker C:Yeah, same, same.
Speaker C:Believe me.
Speaker B:Leanne has her own truck.
Speaker B:Truck in Tampa.
Speaker D:No, no, no, my daughter does though.
Speaker D:She has a special truck.
Speaker B:We built a parking spot for the Amazon truck in our front.
Speaker B:So, you know, that's, that's one of the things there.
Speaker B:All three of us have had experience with rubs and spices and some sauces and that type of thing.
Speaker B:But do you have to then go to a distributor in a, you know, you, I'm assuming you probably can't do it all unless you have your own warehouse and so on and so forth.
Speaker C:I think he does it.
Speaker C:So we, we do have, we do have a local Kentucky distributor.
Speaker C:Right now we are working towards nationwide distribution, but right now we kind of do it all.
Speaker C:I, I palletize and I ship out of my warehouse.
Speaker C:I'm there every day fulfilling orders.
Speaker C:It's going to be personally fulfilled by me at this point.
Speaker C:We've got a booth down at the Dallas Market center in the gourmet food section where we pick up wholesalers all the time.
Speaker C:I get contacted maybe once or twice a week by someone who wants to buy our whole line to keep it in their gift shop or their, their small grocery store chain or their liquor store butcher shops.
Speaker C:You know, a lot of the places where you can get high end meat and high end produce for high end product.
Speaker B:We're going to take a break here on Barbecue Nation.
Speaker B:We're going to be back with Brian Lee from BT Leaves, Sauces and Rubs.
Speaker B:And we've got a lot more to say and we've got a lot more to ask him.
Speaker B:So we'll be right.
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Speaker B:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation.
Speaker B:Again, we'd like to thank the folks at Painted Hills Natural Beef who helped make this broadcast possible.
Speaker B:Painter Hills Natural Beef is beef you can be proud to serve your family and friends.
Speaker B:Check them out online.
Speaker B:Painted Hills beef.com and also Gunter Wilhelm knives.
Speaker B:Excellent quality craftsmanship for a reasonable price.
Speaker B:That's Gunter Wilhelm knives.com as I told you, we've been talking to Brian Lee from BTV's Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Speaker B:I like Kentucky a lot, Brian.
Speaker C:It's a beautiful place.
Speaker B:It's, it's a, it's a great, great place to be.
Speaker B:Really.
Speaker B:You said you're in stores in 34 states and in the UK and Honduras, each state.
Speaker B:And then especially if you're going to a foreign company, they all have different requirements, restrictions, everything like that.
Speaker B:You're a, you and your wife are a two person show for the most part.
Speaker B:How do you deep dive into those restrictions and deal with them?
Speaker C:A lot of research, a lot of research.
Speaker C:A lot of common denominator.
Speaker C:Most low acidified and, or low acid and acidified foods.
Speaker C:Foods follow the same regulations set out by the FDA and we strive to meet all of those.
Speaker C:Before we went like our initial goal, after we decided to go to market for the first time, we decided to lay this out.
Speaker C:So it had legs.
Speaker C:I wanted to make sure that we wouldn't get stopped by some regulations.
Speaker C:So we tried to meet all the regulations and I worked with the local health departments and some FDA guys and I made friends with other people in the industry just to see where we could go with that.
Speaker C:And then we tried to put all of our products in that same line.
Speaker C:There are some restrictions to getting into the EU when it comes down to what herbs and spices you can do and whether or not it's all natural and all that jazz, but I try not to.
Speaker C:Well, fact brand promises, all natural, gluten free, no msg, no fillers.
Speaker C:Like we're whole food for the most part, across the board, and that's where we're going to stay.
Speaker C:So that kind of eases that a little bit because we're not adding anything that some other country might find as dangerous or banned.
Speaker B:Well, you got another problem there with the UK is flavor.
Speaker B:They're not used to foods with flavor over there.
Speaker C:Man, you'd be surprised at how much the barbecue scene in the UK has popped off.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker C:They are, they are leaning in real heavy to American barbecue right now.
Speaker B:I know I've done before Leon.
Speaker B:Leon.
Speaker B:Are you Leon now?
Speaker B:I guess before Leanne came on the show, I used to about once a year do an interview with somebody from the UK who was doing barbecue stuff.
Speaker B:And usually I made them be the one that was really early in the morning to, to get up because of the time difference.
Speaker B:But I was actually pleasantly surprised at how, like you say, it has taken off there.
Speaker B:I think, you know, for 2,000 years, the British boiled everything and now all of a sudden they've got foods with real flavor.
Speaker B:It's kind of amazing, really.
Speaker B:Yeah, they're getting there, they're getting there, they're getting there.
Speaker B:Any.
Speaker B:When you work with a country like Honduras, how do you get into those countries?
Speaker B:I mean, they're, they're notoriously known for graft and extortion.
Speaker C:So how do you do it?
Speaker C:So the guy that buys from us for Honduras actually buys out of Miami and then he figures it out.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:So he's, he's bought a pallet from us and then just takes it down there to a butcher shop.
Speaker C:And that's.
Speaker C:And that's where they hustle it or they sell it, I guess.
Speaker C:Not hustle it.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Well, you said about your personal work and, you know, your flavor profiles and all of that, but here's a, here's kind of a general question.
Speaker B:It might sound a little redundant but what makes Brian's products so different that the people do want to jump on board and say, yeah, well, Gary, I'm.
Speaker B:Or yes, we'll buy them.
Speaker C:So I like to, and this is going to sound really cliche, but I like to fuse familiar and unfamiliar flavors together to broaden and expand palates.
Speaker C:So say for something, my Kansas City style sauce, we call it something something sauce, is very familiar to people.
Speaker C:I've had people from Kansas City be like, yes, there it is right there.
Speaker C:And they're like, what is that little background flavor?
Speaker C:It's strong coffee and cinnamon.
Speaker C:So you can take my something something sauce and if you add almonds to it and blend it with my something to talk about, you end up at the mole.
Speaker C:There's a breadth of things then that you can build off of this.
Speaker C:It's not just your standard run of the mill sauce.
Speaker C:And anyone who tastes it really, really sees that.
Speaker C:Like our Clevelander flavors of my hometown, Cleveland, Ohio, I use stadium mustard.
Speaker C:I grew up in Chaga county where there's tons of maple.
Speaker C:I was brother from another mother.
Speaker C:We're Italians, so we were immersed in Italian herbs and that.
Speaker C:And I love green chilies and I fused them all together into this mustard maple rosemary sauce that has won 16 out of my 33 awards come from that.
Speaker C:And it's just we owned mustard barbecue divisions in the Scovies, International Flavor Awards, world Hot sauce awards for years.
Speaker C:Three years.
Speaker B:Very good, very good.
Speaker B:You're making me.
Speaker B:That's all right.
Speaker B:Don't worry about it.
Speaker D:How many sauces and rubs do you have now?
Speaker C:So as it stands right now, we've got four sauces and I've got five spice plants.
Speaker D:Are you working on anything at the moment?
Speaker C:Oh, yeah, I'm always working on stuff.
Speaker C:Always.
Speaker C:We've got a Kentucky bar fight sauce coming which is blueberries, black coffee and bourbon.
Speaker C:I have to make a bourbon sauce.
Speaker C:If I don't, I'm going to lose my Kentucky card.
Speaker C:I'm sure.
Speaker C:Yes, yes, for sure.
Speaker C:I've got a West African peanut sauce coming, so that's in the works as well.
Speaker C:It's spicier.
Speaker C:Scotch bonnets, bird's eye chilies, some ginger.
Speaker C:It's absolutely delicious.
Speaker C:Based off of a West African street food called suya, originating in Nigeria, Ghana and that area.
Speaker C:I've got an all purpose SPG rub coming that's going to be a little amped up on various things.
Speaker C:I call it something for everything.
Speaker C:We've got a seafood rub coming and another seafood rub coming.
Speaker C:One's Going to be a northeastern mid Atlantic style seafood rub.
Speaker C:And the other one is going to be Caribbean jerk based.
Speaker B:How long does it take you when you get an idea?
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:You're sitting there and you've, you know, things have clicked in your brain and you're thinking, I've got to do this.
Speaker B:Like your Caribbean rub coming up.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:How long does it take you from start to finish?
Speaker B:On average, nothing is exact in this deal.
Speaker B:But to work with it, create it, and then finally end up bottling it and getting it out to market, it.
Speaker C:Usually takes a little while.
Speaker C:Like, I'll get the, I'll get the initial first iteration done in my brain.
Speaker C:I have to get it out of my brain, right.
Speaker C:And I'll get it down.
Speaker C:Everything will be grammed out to the specifics.
Speaker C:I'll scale it up to a couple pounds to make sure it works in that sense.
Speaker C:And then I'll start hammering recipes with it.
Speaker C:The book starts to get full of, well, I did grouper today, that kind of thing.
Speaker C:And getting it to market is a lot harder.
Speaker C:We try not to overwhelm our releases.
Speaker C:I don't want to be like, ha, we went from five to 30.
Speaker C:That's not a good practice for sustainable.
Speaker C:I would go nuts doing that.
Speaker C:So we kind of have a little bit of stagger going on there.
Speaker C:And then it's funding and resources in order to actually make that happen.
Speaker C:And actually a lot of the time it's copy and labels that hold it up.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's hard sometimes to be creative with labels to use just the right image or words to grab somebody's attention if they've never seen you before, because obviously they cannot.
Speaker B:Unless you're doing a demo, you can't taste it.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:Stores are kind of funky about that.
Speaker B:They don't like you cracking the lid and breaking the seal and pouring some in your hand and licking it.
Speaker B:They frown on that.
Speaker B:But, you know, that's gotta be a good portion of the work to get this to go forward.
Speaker C:Yeah.
Speaker C:So we designed our label to be.
Speaker C:To be one a contrast to most of the barbecue that's out there right now.
Speaker C:For a while there, barbecue seemed like it was.
Speaker C:It was not dark and spooky, but edgy and flamey, you know, like most of the labels were like black with like some fire on it or something like that.
Speaker C:So we designed our label to be white on the shelf, easily readable with call out colors based on what it is.
Speaker C:So we've got a brand profile that's got 10 different brand colors.
Speaker C:And they're going to coincide with labels.
Speaker C:So it looks good on the shelf.
Speaker C:You design it to look good, appealing to the eyes when they can't taste it.
Speaker C:What we try to get our retailers to do, we have a recipe for spiced crackers.
Speaker C:And this is how we sell in person for our rubs.
Speaker C:You take the crackers, you spice them up with the spice blend, and then you hand out samples.
Speaker C:And the moment someone tastes it, they buy it.
Speaker C:They realize it's really good.
Speaker C:They're not just saying, oh, that's just barbecue rub.
Speaker C:Oh, that's got some real depth of flavor on it.
Speaker C:That's going to change my culinary game.
Speaker C:And those are words I've heard, not just me pitching right now.
Speaker C:Yeah, obviously things went up in price.
Speaker D:Right.
Speaker C:And that's starting to normalize a little bit now.
Speaker C:But we had to increase our prices over the pandemic just like everyone else.
Speaker B:But there you go.
Speaker B:We're going to take another break.
Speaker B:We're going to be back with Brian Lee from BT lease with Ms. Leanne and myself right after this.
Speaker B:Please stay with us.
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Speaker B:Welcome back to Barbecue Nation on USA Radio Networks and every platform under the sun.
Speaker B:There's a lot of.
Speaker B:Look at Brian laugh.
Speaker B:He knows what we're talking about here.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's like, I don't know about you, Brian, but I get I must get a half a dozen emails a week, if not more, that say, hey, we're the new shiniest platform and we want to, we want to put your stuff at the top of our list or something like that.
Speaker B:And I just, I just send them off to my social media and producer and say, tell me what you think about this.
Speaker B:And normally they don't even respond, so I don't bother with them like that.
Speaker B:When you sit down at the table, what is Brian's favorite rubber sauce that you have created?
Speaker C:So my something to beef about steak rub goes on everything under the sun.
Speaker C:I'm a notorious egg lover.
Speaker C:So every morning I'll have some pickled jalapenos with two over easy eggs, and I'll dust it with my something to beef about blend and a little bit of parmesan cheese.
Speaker C:And that's, that's like breakfast, you know, that's good.
Speaker C:It goes on everything, everything under the sun.
Speaker C:I'll even throw it in, like if I'm making an Alfredo sauce, I'll throw a dash in there instead of my salt and pepper.
Speaker C:You know, we do all over the place.
Speaker C:It's chock full of a good cherry wood, smoked salt, dried porcini mushrooms, horseradish, white balsamic vinegar, and it's got a bite with crushed Aleppo chilies in it.
Speaker B:I love the fact that you're working with some horseradish.
Speaker B:I really do.
Speaker D:Yeah, it's one of my favorites.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:I mean, there's a, there's, there's this whole wide open thing.
Speaker C:Like most people say steak.
Speaker C:Steak rubs need to be salt, pepper, garlic.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:Or like, that's, that's all it is.
Speaker C:But as long as you don't overwhelm the meat, you can definitely elevate it with a lot of these other flavors that, that people, people just dig, you.
Speaker B:Know, I actually think that this is just me.
Speaker B:I think that the use of horseradish in blends and what have you is very underrated.
Speaker B:I had some experience with that.
Speaker B:Like I said, I don't need to go into detail, but it was funny that you mentioning that, that the blends that people really liked were the ones that had a little horseradish in them.
Speaker B:They.
Speaker B:They really thought that that gave it just the right little.
Speaker B:I'm not even going to call it a kick.
Speaker B:I'm going to call it like a twitch.
Speaker B:It gave it just a little, a little twitch to the flavor and they really enjoyed it.
Speaker C:So it definitely adds that depth of flavor that you're looking for, you know?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Is there anything you tend to stay away from as far as in your blends or in your rubs?
Speaker C:So like I said before, we try.
Speaker C:Well, don't try.
Speaker C:We are all natural.
Speaker C:No artificial ingredients.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:So I don't like to do fillers, you know, like, I'm not gonna.
Speaker C:Corn, corn flour, anything.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:Like, our taco seasoning has no corn flour in.
Speaker C:Still achieves the same effect as a taco seasoning, because I use a filet as the emulsifier on that.
Speaker C:So once you add water to it, it starts to thicken.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker C:But no, I'm.
Speaker C:I'm as far as flavors go and as far as spices go.
Speaker C:No, not at all.
Speaker C:Not.
Speaker C:Not at all.
Speaker C:I am.
Speaker C:I'm all in on anything.
Speaker C:That's delicious.
Speaker B:We.
Speaker B:We've got a.
Speaker B:A friend of the show who actually works with us from time to time and on online, he goes to the hot sauce sensei.
Speaker B:And so John Haller is his name.
Speaker B:He lives in Atlanta.
Speaker B:But I look at his videos and stuff all the time, and I'm like, where the hell are you coming up with all this stuff?
Speaker B:I mean, because he's just out there beating the bushes all the time on.
Speaker B:And they're.
Speaker B:They're hot sauces.
Speaker B:They're not just a barbecue sauce or anything like that.
Speaker B:They've got some heat to them.
Speaker B:The guy must have a Teflon mouth or something, or asbestos tongue.
Speaker B:I'm not sure.
Speaker B:But do you think that people can go overboard with.
Speaker B:I'm not.
Speaker B:This is not John.
Speaker B:This is.
Speaker B:I'm not talking about him.
Speaker B:But sometimes people get into this thing, Brian, where they're like.
Speaker B:And I know Leanne has seen this too.
Speaker B:Boy, I really want to rip that flavor, you know, I really want the heat on that.
Speaker B:I'm old school.
Speaker B:Sorry.
Speaker B:But I still like to taste the food.
Speaker B:What's your take?
Speaker C:My take on it is flavor is first, always.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:But your mileage may vary.
Speaker C:And that's when someone says, how hot is your hottest thing?
Speaker C:And I said, well, that's a subjective thing, because I've had people that eat reapers, Carolina reapers call my stuff an 8.5 on a scale.
Speaker C:But then I've had people that say, I won't touch a jalapeno, go in on my something to cry about spice blend and say, that's not that spicy.
Speaker C:It's got Carolina reaper in it.
Speaker C:You know, like, it's.
Speaker C:It's.
Speaker C:It's such a.
Speaker C:Such a subjective thing.
Speaker C:And heat nowadays is.
Speaker C:It's kind of like the new hotness.
Speaker C:Not to be punny, but there it is.
Speaker C:I knew we were in a new era.
Speaker C:The moment Wendy's put ghost chili fries on every menu in the nation.
Speaker C:Like, the heat level of the country just keeps going up and up.
Speaker C:And the advent of hot ones and the League of Fire and all these one chip challenge and tackies and pakis and whatnot, that spice chasing heat is definitely here to stay.
Speaker C:That being said, I've only got one spicy product right now.
Speaker C:And I mean, that's going to change in the future.
Speaker C:But we're flavor first.
Speaker C:I tell people that if you just want the heat, there's extracts that do that.
Speaker C:Just a couple drops in.
Speaker C:Whatever you're doing.
Speaker C:As long as you like the flavor, go for it.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:I've always.
Speaker B:For me, it's just sometimes they get.
Speaker B:The flavor gets so masked, if you will.
Speaker B:Oh.
Speaker B:100% by rubs or sauces.
Speaker B:And it's like, I don't enjoy that.
Speaker C:There is definitely a tightrope that needs to be walked.
Speaker C:When it comes down to balancing heat and flavor.
Speaker C:And the people that can do it really well, they're rock stars at it.
Speaker B:Right, Right.
Speaker C:You know, but if someone's just like, I'm gonna amp this up and just throws 2 tablespoons of cayenne and a cup of something and you're done.
Speaker B:That's.
Speaker B:That's it.
Speaker B:Brian, we're gonna run out of time here in for this part of the show.
Speaker B:But how can people find you and what should they look for?
Speaker B:Not only in the retail stores, but on your website stuff.
Speaker C:You're gonna.
Speaker C:You're gonna look for my face.
Speaker C:It's on every bottle.
Speaker C:And you can get us@btlees.com b t l e I g h s.com Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, Twitter, YouTube channel.
Speaker C:We're dropping videos all the time for recipes.
Speaker C:You can also find me on the Great American Recipe season one on pbs.
Speaker C:I was a contestant there where I cooked some of my family recipes and some of my recipes.
Speaker C:Good for you.
Speaker C:Yeah, there it is.
Speaker C:Hit us up.
Speaker B:We will.
Speaker B:They will, I promise.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Brian Lee from BT Lee's Sauces and Rubs.
Speaker B:Thank you for being with us.
Speaker B:Brian is going to stick around for after hours.
Speaker B:He has no idea what he's in for there, but we'll educate him fast anyway.
Speaker D:Yes.
Speaker C:So, Brian, my pleasure.
Speaker B:Thank you very much for Ms. Leanne and I.
Speaker B:We will be back next week with another edition of Barbecue Nation.
Speaker B:Until then, remember, remember our motto here.
Speaker B:Turn it, don't burn it, take care, everybody.
Speaker A:Barbecue Nation is produced by JTSD, LLC Productions in association with Envision Networks and Salem Media Group.
Speaker A:All rights reserved.
