Gary LaPlante’s Buen Apetito Waterville restaurant is one of our favorites, partly because he offers amazing dipping sauces. Some of them have been available in Barrels Market in Waterville, but now Gary has hit the big time with a whole new line of sauces.

The line is called Deer Camp. The small flask bottles are hot sauces that can be used as a table condiment (like Tabasco). So far we’ve tried Buckshot Blueberry and Big Bore XXX Hot Sauce. Both are very nicely spiced but not so hot that you stop breathing. Linda especially enjoyed the blueberry sauce, very different from anything we’ve tried. I loved them both.

The larger Deer Camp bottles contain barbecue sauce. We tried one of those sauces last night for our moose steak barbecue.Just as the steaks were finishing on the grill, I poured on a good dose of the Blackbear Bourbon Chipotle BBQ Sauce. And later, at the table, we both added more. This sauce is fantastic! We both judged it one of the best BBQ sauces we’ve ever had.

The Deer Camp line of sauces is now available at Joseph’s Market and Barrel’s Market in Waterville, some of the Shaws Supermarkets (I’m told they may be in Shaws stores in Freeport, Falmouth, Auburn, and Ellsworth). The sauces can be found in all Whole Foods stores in New England, New York, and New Jersey (including the one in Portland). And you can pick up the sauces at the Flaming Gourmet in Kennebunkport and (of course), at Kittery Trading Post. After all, they are called Deer Camp!

But while you certainly should be carrying these to your own deer camp this year, you ought not to wait that long to try them. It’s BBQ season!