2 Years in the Making: BBQ Bacon Chipotle Angus Third Pounder

A few years back when this site was in its infancy…I took on one of the first Angus Third Pounders ever served in America, with the Angus Deluxe. If you were living under a rock, or just want to relive a classic check it out here. A couple months after, with booming sales, busting belt lines, and a strange sense around America that it was possible for a legit burger esque burger being produced at McD’s, the Angus line became full time menu items. No small feat for any gimmick of any kind at a fast food eatery. Months passed and I was tipped off from g&gg reader Filet that he was hearing wild and illicit stirrings of a BBQ Bacon Chipotle Angus, being advertised on radios and being passed around in back alley drug deals. I wasted about 10 gallons of gas and probably a good 4 hours of my life traveling to McDonalds on couple of occasions in search of this white unicorn of a sandwich. Its not just every day that a gimmick sandwich reproduces another gimmick…it would be like as if an egg laid a rooster.

A couple of years passed and I almost forgot about the sandwich. So much had come and gone, months turned to seasons, and seasons turned to years. The idea of a gimmick’s gimmick had almost escaped my subconscious, until a couple of weeks ago, the memory came storming back to my brain like brick to the groin. It was here, I fell for one of the oldest tricks in the fast food industry, market testing. See Filet was from the Long Island area of New York, and Ronald has chosen this wonderful area to test out the sandwich and see what kind of feedback was given before shipping it out nationwide..Go figure that it takes 2 years to roll out what is essentially just a different sauce. But here we are in 2011 and a fourth angus has come to ride the wave of gut wrenching glitz and glory that Ray Kroc has delivered for decades. Even if its only here for a limited time, it was still in existence…a crazy hybrid spawn of mother hen gimmick.

Strolling into an almost empty McDonald’s it was pretty hard to snap photos from the camera on my phone without appearing like a nutcase, but its hard to care too much about the opinions of the naysayers, after all this is a fast food blog..people’s lives are at stake. After ordering the ol’ value meal, my wallet was subsided by a cool $6.50 with tax. A pretty penny to pay at McDonalds, we’re almost approaching Chili’s or Applebee’s type prices for a burger meal these days. But regardless, I had to have this burger, one day I might be telling my grandchildren about this very meal, well I hope not, I hope have better tales to tell than this, but yeah, you get the dramatic effect I’m trying to bring to you.

It took years, and I do mean years, for someone to roll out a chipotle spiced bbq sauce, top it on the Bacon and Cheese Third Pounder, then punch in the “Special” tab on the box. Yeah, but I can’t marginalize this creation whatsoever, because clearly the Hamburglar and Grimmace were out in the fields picking herbs and spices unitl their fingers bled for this blend.

Apparently this test subject didn’t like the original cut of the sauce…

Jokes aside, I dove into the burger with vigor and vivacity that I haven’t felt for a gimmick since the Flavor Dips at Wendy’s, may they rest in peace. After a couple of bites I noticed that I was in a for a sloppy, sloppy meal. If I could describe this sandwich with one word it would saucy. And no, I’m not referencing it being sensual or anything like that, this sandwich is downright drenched in sauce. They really wanted to make it’s flavor known, so much so that they put enough sauce on the sandy for it to coat a half dozen napkins, my hands, and fill the local Y’s swimming pool twice over. I have to admit that the sauce isn’t a standard BBQ, it definitely has a smokey and bold flavor that is reasonably unique for a McDonalds sauce.

Notice the sauce oozing off of my hand, yeah drip stains

I swear at some point a McDonalds employee added more sauce to the sandwich whenever I took a break to look around my surroundings, because each time I looked down, there was more dripping down the side of the bun. It was like it was being pumped from an oil rig. And lets just say the sauce leaves its presence, I’ve washed my hands three times, using dish soap, and even GOJO and I still wreak of the stuff. I do have to say that I enjoyed the sauce thoroughly though. The bacon on my sandwich was really cripsy, whcih is a plus, and then adding those classic angus toppings, and you have a really solid sandwich.

Sauce pumping out of the bun

If the sauce wasn’t too overbearing we might be talking a higher rating, but with the fact that I feel like my life is still being devoted to chipotle, its hard for me to go any higher than 4/5 stars. I’m not really a fan of smelling like my food post consummation, and its three hours later and I can’t get rid of the stench…

So hurry up and head to McD’s, but bring your gloves and maybe even goggles…Enjoy the white unicorn while it still is sprinting around in the fields of fast food lore…

BBQ Bacon Chipotle Angus: 4/5 Stars

Until the next sauce,

Andrew