Danny, I use Head Country Original straight out of the bottle, heat it up to thin it just a bit, then brush on a light coat, wait 15 minutes then brush on another light coat and this is my results...
The above ribs were in the smoke for 3 hours, I have since adjusted my time in the smoke to 2 1/2 hours. Now the rub has a bit to do with color as do the amount of smoke you are putting on your meat. Mine come out of the smoke with a nice mahogany color already, and they just get a bit darker after the wrap stage of my cook. The sauce just kind of compliments the color I have already built with the first 2 stages. I smoke mine at 250 degrees or below for 2 1/2 hours, wrap for 2 hours, meat side down in double wrapped foil with about 1/4 cup of AJ, brown sugar, honey and a little bit more of my rub. after the 2 hours of wrap, I'll open the foil up, flip the racks over (carefully, at this point some of the bones might be ready to fall out) then I hit them with the first application of sauce, loosely tent the foil back over the ribs, wait 10 to 15 minutes, hit it again with a light brushing of sauce, loosely tent again, then as I pull them off to rest, I'll spritz the top with AJ just to help with the sheen. You could also drizzle honey instead of a second coat. Sweet Baby Rays Original sauce works well too, but will need to be thinned down with some AJ before heating up since it is a thicker sauce. It is also a darker colored sauce. These had SBR on them...
Another option for glazing ribs would be to drain the liquid out of the foil packets once you finish the wrap time for your ribs, separate the fat out of the liquid, then mix this equally with your favorite BBQ sauce, heat it up and reduce down to a syrup consistency and use that to glaze with. You get both the taste from your fav Q sauce and the goodness from the broken down fat and sugars from the foil stage.
As far as flavor profiles on ribs, I prefer a sweet rub with a bit of heat at the end. Just remember a little cayenne hoes a long, long way. I currently use Bad Byrons Butt Rub as my rib rub base, but with pork, you can use just about anything on the market, pork is very versatile.
More with Head Country Original...and after adjusting my smoke time to 2 1/2 hours from 3...a little lighter in color.
