My brother (who is a Kentucky alumni) said that he loved spicy honey barbecue wings, so I set out to try to make a creation to satisfy his craving wheelhouse for the Kentucky-Wisconsin Final Four game.
I ended up making something that I called Kentucky bourbon honey barbecue smoked hot wings. I brined the wings, rubbed them with my homemade barbecue rub, and put them directly on my smoker with hickory and apple wood chips. I lightly spritzed the wings when I turned them with a solution of apple juice, apple cider vinegar, and bourbon. I made a barbecue sauce with ketchup, apple cider vinegar, summer honey that I got from a farmer's market in Santa Fe, Maker's Mark bourbon, fresh-squeezed tangerine juice, Slap Ya Mama hot sauce, scotch bonnet pepper hot sauce, brown sugar, my barbecue rub, chipotle powder, black pepper, and fresh garlic. The sauce had a really nice balance of spicy, sweet, and smoky flavors. I basted the wings with the spicy bourbon honey barbecue sauce during the last 30 minutes of the cook, flipping once while basting. Here's a picture of what they looked like when they came off:
Kentucky bourbon honey barbecue smoked hot wings
My brother said that the wings were the most delicious thing that he had ever put in his mouth, although granted he really, really likes honey barbecue wings. But it always feels good to get some positive feedback.