Review: Wendy's - Bourbon Bacon Cheeseburger

Wendy's Bourbon Bacon Cheeseburger features a beef hamburger patty, two slices of American cheese, three pieces of applewood-smoked bacon, Bourbon Bacon sauce, and crispy-fried onions on a toasted premium bun.

It's normally $5.69 in these parts but I received this one courtesy of Wendy's.

The new Bourbon Bacon sauce is notable for the fact that it lists both bacon and bourbon among its ingredients (as opposed to just artificial or natural flavors). That being said, the sauce was very sweet and more of a glaze with a strong brown sugar quality and a slight tang. I didn't really get much smoke or bacon flavors from it. One half of my burger got a moderate amount of the sauce and turned out well. However, the other half got more than its fair share of sauce and mostly just tasted sweet to the detriment of everything else. This is one of those sauces where a brush would probably work better to spread it.

Beyond the sauce, everything else turned out quite well: The beef was moist with a course grind and some nice searing on the surface; the cheese was thoroughly melted; and the bacon was crispy, salty, and smoky

The onions were just lightly crispy and fairly like in flavor. I wonder if fresh onions might have been more of the way to go as they have a sharp bite that may have better counterbalanced the Bourbon Bacon sauce.

The bun was soft and squishy with a shiny egg-washed crust. It wasn't as rich as the brioche that a lot of chain's like to go with nowadays but that's not a bad thing.

Overall, Wendy's Bourbon Bacon Cheeseburger works out very well as a fairly simple, traditional bacon cheeseburger but feels like the sweetness level might vary quite a bit depending on how heavy-handed your burger maker is with the Bourbon Bacon sauce.

Nutritional Info - Wendy's Bourbon Bacon Cheeseburger
Calories - 710 (from Fat - 370)
Fat - 41g (Saturated Fat - 16g)
Sodium - 1400mg
Carbs - 51g (Sugar - 15g)
Protein - 34g