CLEVELAND, Ohio — Sweet Pork Wilson’s specializes in Cleveland-style smoked barbecue at its restaurant located on the corner of Madison Avenue and West 117th Street in Cleveland. It’s hard to miss the bar and restaurant: the area almost always smells of mouth-watering smoked meats.
Recently, the restaurant launched a bottled version of its signature barbecue sauce destined to become “America’s favorite.” Owners Jason and Heather Brooks launched America’s Favorite Sweet Pork Wilson’s Sauce in late May.
Anyone who has dined at the restaurant at 11634 Madison Avenue will immediately recognize the sauce, because Jason and his team put it on almost everything that comes out of the smokers. The sauce is a combination of several different regional styles: Carolina, Memphis, Kansas City and Texas. Sweet Pork Wilson’s puts its Cleveland twist on it with additional flavors inspired by other hyper-regional styles across the country, as well as an infusion of its signature spice blend.
“Everything is in there except the Alabama white sauce,” Jason told cleveland.com. “That’s why we call it America’s Sauce, because everyone’s in it.”
Sweet Pork Wilson’s plans to release a hot version of its classic barbecue sauce with added ancho chiles and cayenne pepper, the same way they spice it up at the restaurant upon customer request.
“It’s our homemade barbecue sauce,” he added.
Jason hopes to grow his line of sauces organically, much like he did with the restaurant. It took him six months to develop the concept into a product he could hold in his hands. To slowly start the sauce line, he sells bottles in stores for $5 apiece.
“I want to keep it affordable,” Jason added, which is why the idea of introducing the bottles into retail spaces is still up in the air.
So far, the sauce has been a hit with customers looking to mix up their typical open-air or Sweet Baby Ray’s sauce selections for backyard barbecues. Brooks said the returns from Memorial Day weekend were promising, but the real test will come in the fall for the college football player-turned-pitmaster.
“This football season will be very important in that it will be launched with tailgates and everything else,” he explained.
Heather and Jason Brooks, owners of Sweet Pork Wilson’s in Cleveland. Alex Darus, cleveland.com
Sweet Pork Wilson’s hopes to add the sauce to online retailers like Amazon so people outside of the Cleveland area can enjoy the distinct Cleveland flavor. Jason sent it to friends and colleagues who don’t live in Northeast Ohio to let them sample his food.
“We thought this was the quickest way for Sweet Pork Wilson’s to have a broader reach,” Jason explained. “Not everyone can come here, so everyone can have a little Wilson’s Sweet Pork at home.”
Alex Darus writes about food, dining and drinking for Cleveland.com, check out his latest posts here. You can contact her with story ideas at adarus@cleveland.com. Follow her on Instagram @alex_darus.
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