BBQ Sauce Help

I am obsessed with Sticky Fingers Sweet Carolina BBQ sauce.

It has the right color and consistency. It has the perfect mix of sweetness and tang. And it pairs perfectly with my rub. My meat stands on it's own just fine, but this sauce takes my ribs and pulled pork to the next level. But I don't want to rely on store bought sauces forever...

I've browsed the interwebs for copycat recipes, but to no avail. I've tried 4 different "tangy carolina" or "sweet carolina" bbq sauce recipes in my home kitchen, but they aren't even close. They all consist of approximately 1 part vinegar to 1 part ketchup to 1/2 brown sugar and some other additions. I've tried stepping back the vinegar dramatically but I don't feel like I'm making progress.

My goal is not to copy their recipe, but to get close enough and be just different enough to call it my own. But I need a place to start. Can anybody help me get in the ballpark?

Here are the ingredients:
Water, Sugar, Vinegar, Tomato Paste, Molasses, Honey, Contains Less Than 2% of: Salt, Aged Cayenne Pepper, Natural Smoke Flavor, Modified Food Starch, Dextrose, Spice, Corn Syrup, Caramel Color, Garlic, Xanthan Gum, Onion, Sodium Benzoate as a preservative, Maltodextrin, Tamarind, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Natural Flavor.

So the first 6 obviously give the bulk of the consistency and substance. Salt, Cayenne, Liquid Smoke?, Onion Powder, and Garlic Powder are the others I recognize...

Good point on the distilled vinegar. I've tried both on a couple of the recipes but the apple was definitely too strong.