My first impression of the rubs from Hey Grill Hey was opening the case of the “Sweet” rub.  After seeing crazy label after crazy label, this was solid black with just the word sweet on it, a very different surprise.  I personally like very minimalistic designs, but you don’t see that often on BBQ rubs.  I think the nutrient facts and the ingredients list was too small for a normal-sized bottle of rub; I usually see this size font on the 6oz bottles, not 12oz.

As I always do, I popped one open and did a smell test and thought, wow, it smells…. fresh.  Not that rubs smell stale or old, but they smell like dehydrated spices like they should.  The finger test immediately took my mind to some pork spare ribs and adding a very light glaze of some raspberry chipotle bbq sauce (remind me to do that!).  I happened to have some friends coming over to taste test 3 different rubs on baby backs, so I decided to kick one of the other rubs off and put this one in.  It got a VERY close second.  But this review isn’t about ribs.

Let’s get on to those pork butt pics!

The first thing I noticed when using this rub was that it’s almost orange, not red as other rubs.  I’m not sure what creates that color, but it slowly turned into this dark red/mahogany color throughout the cook.  Just looking at it, change was making my mouth water.  In the end, the flavor was fantastic, the bark was incredible, and it was devoured quickly.

The downfalls I can see using this rub are that it started to turn black quickly once the bark was set. You’ll need to be really careful not to expose this rub to high heat if you’re doing a low and slow; a flair up could really scorch this rub.  Also, if you’re looking for a rub that will create a crazy amount of flavor, this isn’t it.  This does a great job of letting the pork shine through while creating a great looking bark without any in your face flavor.