Conor Pope tests a range of barbecue sauces.

Cottage Delight's Indonesian Chilli & Garlic Sauce €4.50 for 220ml, €20.45 per litre

Highs: If you want to add some spice to your barbecue, this is the sauce for you, although be warned - the chilli kick is not for the faint hearted. It serves as both a dipping sauce and a marinade and can be added to pasta dishes to give them a lift. It also looks suitably expensive.

Lows: Just as well, because it is the most expensive brand tried. The chilli kick might be a little too much for some palates and it does seem the garlic is struggling to get a look-in. It is dangerously addictive and the bottle is worryingly small. You might have to travel far to track down a jar, although it is becoming more commonplace in good delicatessens and supermarkets.

Verdict: Pretty delightful.

Star rating: ****

Stonewall Kitchen's Honey Barbecue Sauce €5.99 for 330ml, €18.15 per litre

Highs: This looks for all the world like bog-standard tomato ketchup but is a world away when it comes to flavour. It is fresh-tasting and nicely tomatoey. The honey, unsurprisingly, is to the fore, which makes it very sweet, although not in an artificial way. The list of ingredients is pleasingly wholesome and, like the Cottage Delight sauce, it doubles as a marinade.

Lows: It is as thick as puréed porridge and its resulting gloopiness could be a little off-putting.

With honey, pure cane sugar and brown sugar in the mix, the sweetness of this sauce might catch some people off guard as well - as indeed might its price.

Verdict: Pretty slick and pretty thick.

Star rating: ***

Hellmann's BBQ Sauce €2.21 for 500 grams, €4.42 per kilo

Highs: This has an incredibly smoky smell and flavour, which, while artificial, does conjure up images of ribs cooking on an open flame. It comes in a good-sized bottle and is comparatively cheap. With a smiley sausage motif, it's probably being aimed at children, which might explain its sweetness.

Lows: Hellmann's make great mayonnaise; it doesn't make great BBQ sauce. The bottle looks cheap and unpromising, and there is nothing subtle about this sauce. The flavours that scream loudest are sugar and artificial smokiness, ruling it out as accompaniment to delicately flavours.

Verdict: Little to shout about.

Star rating: **

Ballymaloe Country Relish €2.95 for 350 grams, €8.42 per kilo

Highs: Not a tailor-made barbecue sauce, but it is very, very good. The range of identifiable flavours, including tomatoes, sultanas and spices, is impressive, as you might expect from what is a puréed chutney. It is free of artificial flavourings and is also the only product tried from Ireland.

Lows: It is impossible to fault its taste, but it is more expensive than Hellmann's, the other widely available brand tried.

Verdict: Good enough to eat on its own.

Star rating: ****