Our story
Like many good things, this started with a bunch of mates sitting around a BBQ.
The Four Saucemen BBQ Team are four good friends from the eastern suburbs of Auckland City, New Zealand. We share a common interest in great BBQ, culminating in weekend dinners. As amateur BBQ cooks restricted to our backyards, we are always sharing our latest creations. Our BBQ team, The Four Saucemen, was born.
Turning up the heat
Sourcing good quality meat, rubs and sauces proved to be harder than we expected. Working with local butchers paid off, with new relationships formed.
Adam and Sarah Winter were in charge of making the rubs and sauces used for our very first competition.
Big Green Egg New Zealand, Traeger Grills NZ, BBQs and More NZ and Octopit NZ have also been invaluable in our quest to improve and compete with New Zealand's best BBQ pitmasters.
Meatstock Auckland 2017 was the inaugural BBQ competition for New Zealand. We filled our entry out with an attitude of "what's the worst that can happen?" After weeks of practice, we were finally there. The ASB Showgrounds in Greenlane, Auckland was the venue for a weekend of BBQ, beer and new friendships.
The all-nighter
Our very first BBQ competition
If anyone has competed in a BBQ competition, they will understand the camaraderie. Staying up all night, preparing and cooking BBQ meat ready for judging the following day. A few beers were consumed, sensibly of course, and some great music and conversations.
After an exhausting 24 hours, your adrenaline subsides, only to come back again in time for prize giving. When you are waiting for your team name to be mentioned, from tenth place to first, your self-doubt creeps in. "In second place, The Four Saucemen" is called.
We are sitting in disbelief. Walking onto the stage, we collect our trophy: 2nd place, Pork Ribs. We did it all again in 2018. Only this time we went one better. Meatstock Auckland 2018, we won 1st place in Pork Ribs, and 4th overall.
The people who helped
Named on the old page, kept here.
The kamados the team cooks on at home, and now stocks.
Wood pellet grills the team cooks on.
Showrooms in Auckland, Hamilton and Mt Maunganui. Also a stockist.
Octopit
The Multi Q the team runs at competitions alongside home-made drum smokers.
Ali and Dion's Wairarapa lamb, used in competition and at home.
Today
Still the same four. Still cooking to win.
The rubs on this site are the ones on the table those days, now in 86 five-star reviews and stocked across quality independent butchers, Mitre 10, selected Pak'nSave and New World stores, Gilmours Manukau, Farro, Weber Stores and Hunting and Fishing stores. Watch a cook, pick a rub, and tell us how it went.
Straight answers
About the team
Who are The Four Saucemen?
Four friends from the eastern suburbs of Auckland who started cooking competition barbecue at Meatstock Auckland 2017, placed second in pork ribs on debut, won it in 2018 and 2019, and bottled the rubs and sauces they were using. Adam and Sarah Winter make them.
Where are the rubs made?
In Auckland, New Zealand. Orders ship from Auckland, overnight to North Island addresses.
What have they won?
2017 Meatstock: 2nd Pork Ribs; 2018 Meatstock: 1st Pork Ribs; 2018 Meatstock: 4th Overall; 2019 Meatstock: 1st Pork Ribs; 2020 Meatstock: 2nd Chicken; 2020 Meatstock: 5th Lamb; 2020 Australian BBQ Alliance: 3rd Chicken; 2020 Meatstock: 3rd Overall; 2021 Kumeu: 1st Lamb; 2021 Smoke on the Coast: 1st Chicken; 2022 Smoke and Spice, Auckland: Reserve Grand Champion; 2023 Australian BBQ Invitational: Grand Champions with More Better BBQ; 2023 Let There Be Meat, Christchurch: Reserve Grand Champions; 2024 Leader of the Pack, Melbourne: 1st Ribs; 2025 Cambridge Classic: 2nd Brisket.