It’s just not right — Texas Pete is changing its iconic hot sauce bottle. That shape we’ve come to know and look for to spice up dull hotdogs, kick up scrambled eggs and douse on a barbecue sandwich, will soon be gone.

They say consumers will soon enjoy the new flip top lid, dispensing the same Texas Pete TW Garner Food Co. has made for 87 years.

Says Ann Garner Riddle, chief executive officer, “Adding a few drops of Texas Pete to your favorite foods will be the same great experience with our new flip-top cap. You can also remove the top to pour Texas Pete into a measuring cup or spoon for using our mouthwatering sauce as an ingredient in your recipe.”

The new 6-ounce bottles are used for the company’s Texas Pete Original, Hotter Hot Sauce and Garlic Hot Sauce. New 12-ounce bottles are now used for Texas Pete Original, all Wing Sauce flavors, Honey Mustard Sauce and Cocktail Sauce.

A larger, 24-ounce bottle of Texas Pete is also available. The 3-ounce bottle of Texas Pete Original Hot Sauce will remain in the heritage-style design.

Thank goodness for that much.

Beer & BBQ

EDIA Maps will have a self-guided Great NC BBQ & Beer Tour throughout North Carolina in October. The tour comes just after the second edition of their Great NC BBQ Map and will highlight stops from both that map and their Great NC Beer Map.

A different region will be featured for three weekends in October, with eight BBQ and brewery stops per weekend.

Participants can buy a ticket for just one  region ($30/person) or get a three-weekend pass to explore all 24 stops around the entire state ($75/person).

The Eastern tour is scheduled for Oct. 1 and 2, Piedmont for Oct. 8-9, and the West for Oct. 15-16.

Participants will follow the itinerary for the weekend, with four  stops each Saturday and four each Sunday.

Each stop will feature an exclusive behind-the-scenes activity, such as recipe demos, workshops, pit and brewery tours, and Q&A sessions with the people who’ve been keeping NC BBQ and beer-making going strong for decades.

Examples include: an at-home smoking how-to at Dickie-Do’s BBQ in Haw River; a three-generation roundtable at Red Bridge’s Barbecue Lodge in Shelby; a whole hog demo as the pig gets prepped for the coals at Sam Jones BBQ in Winterville; a beer pairing workshop at Heinzelmännchen Brewery in Sylva; a BBQ-inspired beer release, designed and brewed by EDIA’s own Paul Bright at NoDa Brewing; and a session where tour members will work together to design a beer to be brewed at One World in Asheville. The full tour itinerary can be found at www.ediamaps.com.

— Deirdre Parker Smith