Sticky Fingers and Grill Masters Club: A Partnership Built on Smoke, Sauce & Southern Tradition

Every great barbecue tells a story. It starts long before the grill is fired up or the smoker reaches temperature. It begins with recipes handed down through generations, with families gathered around picnic tables, and with pitmasters chasing that perfect balance of smoke, sweetness, heat, and tang. That shared passion for authentic barbecue is exactly what brought Grill Masters Club and Sticky Fingers together for one of the most exciting collaborations in our history.

For our July and August subscription box (Sticky Situation), Grill Masters Club is proud to partner with Sticky Fingers, one of the most recognizable names in Southern barbecue sauce. More than simply adding another bottle to the box, this collaboration represents something bigger: a meeting of two brands that believe barbecue is about craftsmanship, community, and creating unforgettable experiences around food.

And if the excitement surrounding this partnership is any indication, this is only the beginning.

The Story Behind Sticky Fingers

Sticky Fingers traces its roots back to Charleston, South Carolina, where the company opened its first smokehouse in Mount Pleasant in 1992. What started as a passion project quickly evolved into a barbecue institution, with restaurants spreading throughout the Southeast and barbecue lovers clamoring to bring the experience home.

Above: Sticky Fingers original location in Mt. Pleasant, SC in 1992

As demand grew, Sticky Fingers began bottling the sauces that had become staples in its restaurants. Before long, those same flavors that had been perfected over smoking pits in South Carolina found their way onto grocery store shelves across America.

The company's philosophy remains refreshingly simple: barbecue is about more than food. It's about hospitality, community, and the people gathered around the table. Sticky Fingers describes barbecue as a uniquely American story and strives to capture a piece of that tradition in every bottle they produce.

That mission resonates deeply with Grill Masters Club.

Like Grill Masters Club, Sticky Fingers understands that great barbecue isn't simply a recipe - rather, it's an experience. It's the anticipation of a long cook, the satisfaction of mastering a new technique, and the joy of sharing incredible food with friends and family.

A Brand Rooted in Southern Barbecue Tradition

Barbecue in the American South isn't one thing. It is an entire landscape of regional traditions, each with its own fiercely loyal following. South Carolina alone is famous for its diverse barbecue styles, blending mustard-forward sauces, vinegar tang, tomato sweetness, and smoky complexity. Community discussions among South Carolina barbecue enthusiasts frequently highlight the state's unusually broad range of sauce traditions.

Sticky Fingers embraces that diversity.

Their lineup spans multiple styles and flavor profiles, offering something for every backyard pitmaster:

• Carolina Gold
• Carolina Sweet
• Classic Original
• Hickory & Brown Sugar
• Kentucky-Style Bourbon
• Memphis Style
• Honey barbecue sauce

Each sauce reflects a different chapter in the Southern barbecue story while staying true to Sticky Fingers' roots.

Perhaps no sauce captures the brand's personality better than their Classic Original. Built around brown sugar and natural cherrywood smoke flavor, it strikes a balance between sweet richness and smoky depth. Sticky Fingers recommends it on everything from ribs and burnt ends to chicken fingers and even mac and cheese, a testament to the versatility that backyard cooks crave.

The company's motto says it all:

"Dig in. Get messy."

Because the best barbecue was never meant to be neat.

Why Sticky Fingers and Grill Masters Club Make Sense Together

At Grill Masters Club, we spend countless hours searching for products that deserve a place in our boxes. We look for brands with authentic stories, outstanding flavors, and a genuine commitment to the barbecue community.

Sticky Fingers checked every box.

For the July and August Sticky Situation subscription box, members will receive Sticky Fingers Smokehouse Classic Original BBQ Sauce alongside a hand-picked lineup of complementary products and pitmaster-developed recipes designed specifically around its flavor profile.

The Sauce That Started It All

Sticky Fingers Classic Original isn't just another barbecue sauce - it's the bottle that built the brand. As the Sticky Situation recipe booklet explains, the sauce strikes the perfect balance between rich and sweet, blending brown sugar with authentic cherrywood smoke flavor to create something unmistakably Southern.

What makes Classic Original special is its versatility.

It's the kind of sauce that feels equally at home brushed onto smoked chicken thighs, layered onto burgers fresh off the griddle, or glazed over pork belly burnt ends until they transform into sticky, smoky bites of barbecue candy.

That's exactly why it became the centerpiece of this collaboration.

We didn't want a sauce that worked for one recipe. We wanted a sauce capable of anchoring an entire summer of grilling.

Sticky Fingers delivered.

Built for Peak Grilling Season

There's a reason this partnership launches in July and August.

These are the months when grills rarely cool down. Weekends fill up with neighborhood cookouts, family vacations, lake days, baseball games, and long evenings spent outdoors. Backyard pitmasters are looking for recipes that can feed a crowd, impress guests, and still feel approachable enough to pull off on a Saturday afternoon.

The Sticky Situation box was built specifically for those moments.

From burgers and chicken thighs to smoked meatloaf and pork belly burnt ends, every recipe in the booklet captures a different side of summer barbecue while showcasing just how adaptable Sticky Fingers Classic Original can be. The result is a collection that feels both nostalgic and exciting—comfort food reimagined for the smoker, grill, and griddle.

Backyard Comfort Food, Reinvented

Take the Sticky BBQ Meatloaf recipe, for example.

At first glance, meatloaf might not sound like classic barbecue fare. But this version transforms a weeknight staple into something worthy of center stage. Smoked low and slow and finished with a double glaze of Sticky Fingers Classic Original, the meatloaf develops a deep, caramelized crust that locks in smoky flavor and creates the kind of sticky exterior pitmasters dream about.

Then there are the Sticky Smoked Chicken Thighs.

Chicken thighs are one of barbecue's most forgiving cuts, but they still require the right sauce to truly shine. Here, Sticky Fingers Classic Original is brushed onto the chicken not once, but twice, creating what the recipe booklet describes as a "deep, glossy, lacquered finish" that transforms an everyday protein into the star of any backyard gathering.

And for anyone who believes summer isn't complete without burgers, the Triple Threat Bacon Cheeseburger might be the crown jewel of the collection.

Seasoned with Meat Mitch Steer Season and topped with a custom "Triple Threat" sauce made by combining Sticky Fingers Classic Original with Kosmos Q Peach Habanero, the recipe layers smoke, sweetness, heat, and richness into a burger that refuses to apologize for itself. The booklet says it best: "Three products. One burger. Zero regrets."

The Recipe Everyone Will Be Talking About

If there is one recipe destined to become the breakout star of Sticky Situation, it may be the Pork Belly Burnt End Sliders.

The recipe begins with cubes of pork belly coated in Bless Yer Heart BBQ Rub and smoked until they develop a rich mahogany bark. Then comes the magic: butter, brown sugar, and Sticky Fingers Classic Original BBQ Sauce combine to braise the meat until it becomes impossibly tender. A final glaze transforms the burnt ends into sticky, caramelized bites that practically melt in your mouth.

Served on toasted slider buns with pickles and crispy onions, they're exactly the kind of dish that defines summer entertaining.

They're indulgent without being fussy. Familiar, yet unexpected. The kind of recipe guests ask about long after the party ends.

And they're only possible because Sticky Fingers Classic Original delivers the perfect combination of sweetness, smoke, and depth.

More Than Recipes, A Complete Barbecue Experience

What makes the Sticky Situation box unique isn't simply the products inside - it's the way they work together.

The box pairs Sticky Fingers Classic Original BBQ Sauce with Bless Yer Heart BBQ Rub, Kosmos Q Peach Habanero BBQ Sauce, Meat Mitch Steer Season, and Grill Pinz, creating dozens of possible flavor combinations and techniques for members to explore.

Some recipes lean heavily into Southern comfort. Others turn up the heat. Some embrace classic smokehouse flavors, while others push backyard barbecue into new territory.

The common thread is Sticky Fingers.

Throughout the booklet, the sauce plays multiple roles: glaze, finishing sauce, braising liquid, burger topping, and flavor enhancer. It proves that great barbecue sauce isn't meant to sit forgotten in the refrigerator door—it should become an essential tool in every pitmaster's arsenal.

That versatility is exactly what drew Grill Masters Club to the partnership in the first place.

The Beginning of Something Bigger

As excited as we are about the recipes, the products, and the summer cooks ahead, what excites us most is the future.

The collaboration between Grill Masters Club and Sticky Fingers wasn't designed as a one-off promotion. It was built as the foundation for something much larger.

Both brands believe that barbecue is about bringing people together. Both are committed to preserving regional traditions while encouraging backyard cooks to experiment, improve, and create new memories around the grill.

That shared vision makes this partnership feel less like a sponsorship and more like the beginning of a long-term relationship.

We see opportunities for future recipe collaborations, limited-edition releases, exclusive content, and even bigger projects that continue to celebrate the traditions of American barbecue.

Because when two brands care this deeply about smoke, sauce, and the culture surrounding them, one collaboration is never enough.

The Sticky Situation box is the first chapter.

We're already looking forward to writing the next one.