I’ve had North Carolina style BBQ twice in my life, once in North Carolina, and once at work recently from a former native. That was recently, so since I knew I was planning to smoke some pork shoulder and beef brisket, I decided to mix up some of my own.
I used this
Base Recipe as my starter and modified it to be so:

• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1.5 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (my homemade 50/50 Caribbean red & red bell)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper