Hickory Kickory Dock is the pick if you want heat riding along with the sweet. Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep is the pick if you want a tangier, Korean-style BBQ flavor with the peppers turned down. Both are $7.99, both come in a 2oz bag, and both are Grub Company's Meat Candy line, the whimsical, kosher-certified beef jerky that sits apart from the brand's cleaner, traditional biltong.
If you've never tried Meat Candy before, the name alone tells you what you're getting into. Grub Company built this line around nursery rhymes, "childhood nostalgia meets gourmet snacking" is how they describe it, and the two flavors play that idea out in two different directions. One goes hot and smoky. The other goes sweet and tangy with a Korean BBQ backbone. Neither is a lesser version of the other. They're built for different cravings.
The Two Flavors at a Glance
| Flavor | Nursery Rhyme Reference | Flavor Profile | Heat Level | Price / Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hickory Kickory Dock | Hickory Dickory Dock | Spicy-sweet, smoky, BBQ-forward | Higher, has a real kick | $7.99 / 2oz |
| Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep | Baa Baa Black Sheep (name only, 100% beef) | Sweet-tangy Korean BBQ | Moderate, more tang than burn | $7.99 / 2oz |
One quick thing before you pick a flavor: Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep is named after the nursery rhyme, not the meat. It's 100% beef, same as every other bag of Meat Candy. Grub Company doesn't make lamb jerky. The name is just part of the whimsical branding that runs through the whole line.
What Makes Hickory Kickory Dock Different
Hickory Kickory Dock is Grub Company's spicier flavor. The base is a teriyaki sauce and a BBQ sauce built from tomato paste, sugar, distilled vinegar, corn syrup, molasses, and pineapple juice concentrate, plus brown sugar, maple syrup, and honey stacked on top for sweetness. Then it gets a real jolt from Tabasco sauce, with garlic powder and onion powder rounding out the savory side. The smoke character comes from mesquite smoke flavor, not hickory, despite the name. That's a small detail but it matters if you're trying to picture the actual taste: it's pineapple-sweetened BBQ sauce with a mesquite backbone and a Tabasco kick, not a straight hickory-smoked jerky.
The soy sauce in the mix (water, soybeans, wheat, salt, sodium benzoate) also means this flavor contains both wheat and soy, on top of the corn syrup, brown sugar, maple syrup, and honey already in the sauce stack. If you're coming from Grub Company's biltong, which is gluten-free and soy-free with no added sugar, this is a completely different eating experience. Hickory Kickory Dock is not gluten-free, not soy-free, and not low-sugar. It's not trying to be.
What Makes Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep Different
Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep starts from the same teriyaki and BBQ sauce base, tomato paste, distilled vinegar, sugar, corn syrup, molasses, but swaps in bourbon and drops the pineapple juice. That bourbon note, plus black pepper, red pepper, tomato powder, and cumin, is what pushes this flavor toward a Korean BBQ profile instead of a straight hickory-BBQ one. The smoke flavor here is actually hickory smoke flavor, the opposite of what you'd guess from the names. Tabasco sauce shows up in this flavor too, along with garlic powder, maple syrup, honey, and onion powder, but the cumin and tomato powder give it more savory depth and less straight heat than Hickory Kickory Dock.
Like Hickory Kickory Dock, this flavor runs on the same soy sauce (water, soybeans, wheat, salt, sodium benzoate), so it carries the same wheat and soy content. Both Meat Candy flavors share that trait. Neither one is gluten-free or soy-free, and neither is close to sugar-free between the brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, and corn syrup in the BBQ sauce.
How We Compared These Two Flavors
We looked at three things when lining these flavors up against each other: the actual ingredient panel (not just the marketing description), where the heat and sweetness land relative to each other, and who each flavor is realistically going to appeal to, a kid packing a lunchbox, an adult who wants a spicier snack, or a family splitting a bag on a road trip. Grub Company's own copy describes Hickory Kickory Dock as "hickory-smoked, spicy-sweet with a kick" and Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep as a "Korean BBQ flavor, sweet-tangy," and the ingredient lists back that framing up. Hickory Kickory Dock leans harder into pineapple sweetness and Tabasco bite. Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep leans into bourbon, cumin, and tomato powder for a rounder, tangier BBQ flavor.
How Each Flavor Actually Eats
Both flavors are cooked and smoked jerky, not air-dried, so the texture starts from the same place: a tender, sliced beef chew with a sticky sauce coating rather than the drier, firmer bite you'd get from biltong. Where they split is in how that sauce sits on your tongue. Hickory Kickory Dock's pineapple juice concentrate and brown sugar give it a stickier, more caramelized surface, and the Tabasco sauce hits a beat after the sweetness, so the order is sweet first, heat second. Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep's bourbon and tomato powder give it a rounder, less sticky sauce that reads savory almost as fast as it reads sweet, with the cumin adding a warm, dry finish instead of a sharp one. If you've ever compared a glazed rib to a dry-rub rib, that's roughly the gap between these two, even though both start from the same BBQ sauce base.
That texture difference matters for where you eat it. Hickory Kickory Dock's stickier coating is great for slow snacking, one piece at a time, where the sweet-then-heat sequence has room to land. Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep's drier, more even coating travels better, it's less likely to leave sticky residue on your hands in a car or at a desk, which is part of why it tends to work better for lunchboxes and grab-and-go situations.
Best For Different Snackers
Best for heat seekers: Hickory Kickory Dock. Between the Tabasco sauce and the mesquite smoke flavor, this is the flavor built for someone who wants their sweet jerky to also bite back.
Best for Korean BBQ fans: Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep. The bourbon, cumin, and tomato powder combination is closer to a Korean BBQ marinade than a standard American BBQ sauce, and the heat sits further in the background.
Best for kids' lunchboxes: Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep, generally. It's still sweet and smoky, but the lower heat profile makes it an easier sell for a kid who isn't used to Tabasco sauce yet. Hickory Kickory Dock can work too, just know it has more kick.
Best for a first Meat Candy purchase if you're not sure: Grab both. At $7.99 a bag, buying one of each is the fastest way to find out which side of the flavor line you land on, and since both are 2oz bags, they're an easy pair to keep in a bag or glovebox at the same time.
Best for road trips and tailgates: Hickory Kickory Dock. The bolder Tabasco kick and stickier, more caramelized sauce hold up as a snack you eat slowly over a few hours in the car or over the course of a game, where the sweet-then-heat sequence keeps giving you something to notice bite after bite.
The Quality and Kosher Basics Apply to Both
Whichever flavor you land on, the underlying beef is the same standard Grub Company holds across the line: real, premium beef and nothing else. No mechanically separated chicken, no ground "mystery beef," no leftover scraps. Both flavors start from top-quality sliced beef before the sauce and smoke flavor go on. Both Hickory Kickory Dock and Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep are Certified Glatt Kosher by Harav Weissmandl and Aleph K, same as the rest of the Meat Candy line.
How to Decide in Three Questions
If you want a fast answer, ask yourself three things. Do you want more heat or more tang? Heat points you to Hickory Kickory Dock, tang points you to Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep. Is this going into a kid's lunchbox or your own bag? Kids generally do better with Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep's gentler heat. Do you care whether wheat, soy, or added sugar show up in the ingredients? Both flavors have all three, so if that's a hard no for you, Meat Candy isn't the right product line and Grub Company's biltong is the better fit.
The Bottom Line
Hickory Kickory Dock and Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep are both real, sliced, kosher beef jerky built on the same quality standard, and the difference between them comes down to how the sauce is built. Hickory Kickory Dock pushes pineapple sweetness and Tabasco heat with a mesquite backbone. Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep pushes bourbon, cumin, and tomato powder toward a tangier Korean BBQ profile with hickory smoke flavor underneath. Pick heat if you want Hickory Kickory Dock, pick tang if you want Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep, and if you can't decide, both bags are $7.99, so there's no real cost to trying both.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep made from lamb?
No, Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep is 100% beef. The name is a whimsical reference to the nursery rhyme "Baa Baa Black Sheep," part of Grub Company's nursery-rhyme naming across the Meat Candy line, and it has nothing to do with the meat itself. Every ingredient on the panel starts with beef, the same premium sliced beef Grub Company uses across both Meat Candy flavors.
Which Meat Candy flavor is spicier, Hickory Kickory Dock or Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep?
Hickory Kickory Dock runs spicier. It's built around a pineapple-sweetened BBQ sauce, mesquite smoke flavor, and a real dose of Tabasco sauce, and Grub Company describes it as "spicy-sweet with a kick." Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep also contains Tabasco sauce but leans more on bourbon, cumin, and tomato powder, giving it a tangier, less heat-forward Korean BBQ profile.
Are both Meat Candy flavors the same price and size?
Yes. Hickory Kickory Dock and Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep are both $7.99 for a 2oz bag. The price and portion are identical across the line, so the only real decision is which flavor profile fits what you're craving.
Is Meat Candy gluten-free or soy-free?
No. Both Hickory Kickory Dock and Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep contain soy sauce made with wheat and soybeans, so neither flavor is gluten-free or soy-free. This is different from Grub Company's biltong, which is gluten-free and soy-free with no added sugar. If you need a gluten-free or soy-free option, biltong is the Grub Company product to buy instead of Meat Candy.
Is Meat Candy kosher?
Yes. Both Hickory Kickory Dock and Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep are Certified Glatt Kosher by Harav Weissmandl and Aleph K. The certification applies across both flavors in the Meat Candy line, so you don't need to check flavor by flavor.
Which Meat Candy flavor is better for a kid's lunchbox?
Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep is generally the easier fit for kids because its heat sits further in the background behind the bourbon, cumin, and tomato powder in the sauce. Hickory Kickory Dock can still work in a lunchbox, just be aware it carries more Tabasco heat and a stronger kick than Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep.
Can I buy both Meat Candy flavors to try them side by side?
Yes, and it's the easiest way to figure out your preference. Both bags are $7.99 and 2oz, so picking up one of each costs the same as most single bags of jerky elsewhere and lets you compare the heat of Hickory Kickory Dock against the tang of Baa-Baa BBQ Sheep directly.
