Award-Winning Local Sauces Are the Secret to Your Next Summer BBQ

As a student at Colgate University, Michael Vincent loved to cook and barbecue.

Back then, the Briarcliff Manor native and resident didn’t envision his hobby turning into a busy side gig. But after years of tinkering, Vincent and college pal Dave Mundis created ThunderSnout BBQ, an award-winning line of barbecue sauces and rubs. While Vincent modestly refers to ThunderSnout’s Classic Red as “just a sauce two guys made,” it placed first in the vinegar-based barbecue sauce category at 2014’s prestigious Memphis in May International Festival. The win kicked the pair into gear; they officially launched ThunderSnout in 2015. It’s a labor of love — they have full-time jobs and families.

Last year, ThunderSnout Gold was named fifth-best mustard sauce at Kansas City’s American Royal Sauce Competition (considered the World Series of barbecue) out of 400 competitors in that category, and 22nd-best overall sauce in America. A bourbon-molasses flavor is planned; and three dry rubs, including a Jamaican Jerk blend, complete the line.

The products do not contain high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, or MSG, and are gluten-free. They’re available at Janiello’s in Briarcliff Manor, DeCicco Family Markets in Millwood, Armonk, Somers, Harrison and soon-to-be Brewster, Campbell Meats in Dobbs Ferry, and through ThunderSnout’s website. Vincent and Mundis dubbed the product “life’s secret sauce,” hoping it will help facilitate good times for family and friends. The name ThunderSnout, coined by Vincent, who is also a rock musician, is a play on the AC/DC song “Thunderstruck”: thunder for spicy and powerful, and snout as an homage to the pig, an important part of the barbecue tradition.