We tried Shake Shack's new summer barbecue sandwiches — here's the verdict (SHAK)

• Shake Shack has debuted several limited-time barbecue items for the summer.
• A burger, grilled chicken sandwich, and fried chicken sandwich are the three main new releases.
• We tried all three, and while the grilled chicken wasn't very impressive, the fried version and the burger were superb.

With the warm weather in much of the US, it feels as if summer has more or less arrived — and with it comes the inevitable limited-time barbecue fast food. Shake Shack is now serving three options: the BBQ Cheddar & Bacon Burger, the BBQ Cheddar & Bacon Griddled Chick'n, plus a fried chicken version of it.

The items were launched last week as app-only exclusives and are now available nationwide (excluding airports, stadiums, and ballparks).

While everyone seems to love barbecue, not everyone agrees on which American barbecue style is best. Carolinian, Texan, Alabamian, Kansas City — the various regional delectable dialects are too numerous to name in full. And Shake Shack's new items aren't just barbecue — they're heavy on the bacon, too.

We grabbed the new items from Shake Shack to find out if they're absolute barbecue gold or sad charcoal bricks:

SEE ALSO: Taco Bell's newest menu item paid off big for the chain — here's the secret to its success

DON'T MISS: We tried the sandwiches at Wawa, which just made history by being named America's favorite sandwich shop — here's the verdict

All three items follow the same formula, more or less: pickles, BBQ sauce, bacon, and cheddar cheese.

It sounds like a delicious formula — and for the most part, it is.

Let's start with the $7.35 burger version. Like any Shake Shack burger, you can order a single or a double version. We grabbed a single here.

Putting pickles on burgers is a great way to bring some acid to the flavor equation and help lend some brightness to an otherwise very greasy, rich meal. 

And it works. It's an incredibly rich, savory burger, even with one patty — the slab bacon and lightly sharp cheddar cheese take care of that.

Luckily, the pickles balance out the taste — but were this a double patty burger, I fear the tangy yet sweet intricacies of the barbecue sauce would be lost in the beefy mass.