Wild Bill’s Sauce is an Alabama Maker wingin’ it on the wild side
Bill Howard's attempt to duplicate a favorite restaurant's wing sauce led to a flavor -- and a company -- all his own. (Brittany Faush/Alabama NewsCenter)
Wild Bill’s Sauce, Gulf Shores
The Maker: Bill Howard
All Bill Howard set out to do was to duplicate a wing sauce he had loved at an Atlanta restaurant. What he ended up with was something better that became the basis for his business.
Wild Bill’s Sauce in Gulf Shores is enjoying its best year since it launched in 2013. In January, the company’s original sauce took the top prize in both the “Cook-Off Food: Wing Sauce Hot/X Hot” category and the “Best Cook-Off” overall category at the ZestFest in Texas. It followed that up in July with a first-place “Flave Award” at the International Flavor Awards in Wisconsin.
Not bad for a happy accident eight years ago.
Wild Bill’s Wing Sauce is an Alabama Maker that fires up the flavor from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
Howard had moved to Gulf Shores from Atlanta and had opened a restaurant. He readily admits he was trying to copy a recipe from a restaurant with a hot sauce that he loved.
“All of a sudden, it went in a completely different direction and people were like, ‘That’s better than what you’re trying to do,’” Howard said.
Still, Howard didn’t have plans to build a business around his new creation. He was satisfied to make it for friends and bring it to parties.
It was when he met Jeff Gentry from BamaWise that the idea of taking the sauce to the public became a reality and Wild Bill’s Wing Sauce was born.
The sauce can now be found on grocery shelves at Publix and other stores in the state. Restaurants and resorts are specifying that they use Wild Bill’s Wing Sauce as a selling point.
Although it says “wing sauce,” Howard likes to stress that it’s not just for wings.
“It’s really fantastic on anything,” he said. “We’ve won awards for recipes that have it on shrimp and mixed in with some other things.”
In addition to the Classically Original Wing Sauce, Wild Bill’s makes a Classically Original Hot Sauce, a Sweet & Spicy Wing Sauce, Ghost Hot Sauce and a Carolina Reaper Sauce. An Asian-flavored sauce is in development.
The product: Hot sauces and wing sauces made with cayenne peppers, vinegar, tomatoes and spices.
Take home: A five-pack with the full line of sauces ($30).
Wild Bill’s Sauce
25405 Perdido Beach Blvd. #21
Orange Beach, AL 36561
Wildbillssauce@gmail.com
251-317-1616
