According to the culinary world, there are five main bases of barbecue sauce by region: Kansas—tomato or ketchup; South Carolina and Georgia—mustard; Texas—tomato sauce; Eastern Carolina—vinegar; Memphis—dry rub.

Mathews, Virginia, has been added to the list making it the sixth region with Brad’s BBQ Sauce: “neither hot nor spicy and leans to the sweeter side.”

Brad’s BBQ Sauce is a family-run business. Brad Payne said. “My wife Tracie and son Seth help me in the processing of our sauce right here in Cobbs Creek.”

Brad was born in Hawaii and has lived all over the United States (his dad was a Marine), spending his last 25 years in Mathews. The idea of creating a barbecue sauce was born “when our friends and family were tired of the same old barbecue sauce on the market. People have always told me that there are too many molasses-based products and preferred a vinegar-base style sauce.”

Brad got tons of feedback from his trials, and said you could equate the comments “with ...