Volcanic Peppers Red Reaper Mango Hot Sauce Review

Volcanic Peppers Red Reaper Mango

For a while into the bottle, I thought this sauce may have been misnamed. Despite mango being in the name, it was overshadowed by the forceful burning nature of the much more prominent mighty mighty Reapers in it. This definitely has a strong element of the superhot bitter, which is perhaps not helped by the addition of Thai peppers, which I like a lot, but which can be a bit on the bitter side by themselves, and Chia seed. It also has cardamom, which I didn’t notice until just prior to writing this review, and which I find kind of an odd coincidence, given the preceding review.

I think more than anything, this is mostly a sort of non-distinct fruity slightly sweet Reaper sauce. It is a very nice medium thickness and is pretty smooth. It definitely is a very superhot forward sauce, as noted, and given both the Reapers and Ghosties (along with Habanero, to round out the quad of peppers), this is very much a chilehead only sauce. Indeed, it takes a certain degree of tolerance to be able to pick out some of the more subtle flavor notes, particularly on the back end, which does also include very slight passes at mango, without being able to tolerance the immediate blast of the Reapers. Given that Reapers and Habanero are both building peppers as well, this can get to a pretty nice little blaze, though I found heat to be mostly concentrated on my tongue.

It is not a “normal” fruit-based sweet hot, which is both good and bad. Given that it’s sticky, it does hold to food pretty well and the slightly ambiguous flavor nature lends itself well to burgers, as well as chicken. It does need a fairly strong flavor accompaniment for best results, however, as it does tend towards bitterness fairly readily. That sort of non-distinctness in flavor profile also lends it well to things like pizza also, though I did find, given a bit of flavor cancellation, that the sweetness in conjunction with mac and cheese was not desirable. It is pretty fun to play around with, though, and one of the nice things about running this hot, as well as the aforementioned consistency and stickiness, is that a little will go a long way.

Bottom line: Volcanic always tends to have a pretty interesting approach to sauces and this is no exception, though, again, it does take a certain tolerance to Reapers, both in heat and superhot bitterness, for this sauce to be fully enjoyable.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 3
            Flavor: 6
            Flexibility: 6
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 6

Overall: 5

 

Ginger Goat We Got The Beets Hot Sauce Review

Ginger Goat We Got The Beets

I will start this off by saying that this sauce is not for me. I am no fan of Indian flavors particularly, and had I noticed Garam Masala was in there, probably would have skipped it. Further, there are 3 very aromatic spices where I find a little goes a very long way. Those are: cloves, cinnamon, cardamom. Nutmeg is similar, but to a lesser extent, and also present. So, I am not predisposed to enjoy this much and one should keep that in mind with my commentary here.

I do like beets, quite a lot, in fact. I also like pomegranates. Neither of those shows up in sauces a lot. I also really like Ginger Goat’s very adventurous and inventive approaches to sauces, enough that I scanned the ingredient list looking for the presence of onions (none, of course, or you wouldn’t be reading this), but upon not finding them, what was there did not really sink in. Once I got it in hand, I was immediately confused. I expected something different and what was in the bottle was a lot looser than anticipated.

But we keep an open mind, always, and so, after I felt it had sat on the shelf an appropriate time (and I totally didn’t forget I had it or anything), I busted it open and gave it a fair shot...then another, then several more, with steadily diminishing results. This is a sauce that has an odd consistency...the pulps, I assume from the beets and Reapers, tend to collect a bit in the center and the liquid pools off. No amount of agitation seemed to help this. The flavor is very spicy, in a non-piquant way, though I will say, with the mighty Reapers as the heat driver, this was an easy two and had I been able to eat enough of it to enjoy further, it probably would have been pushing a 3. I doubt very much that non-chileheads will find this heat level enjoyable. There are some slight beet and very light pomegranate flavor notes, but this sauce has maybe 20 different ingredients, but it is the fragrant spices that strike me most and I find off-putting.

The thing that I liked best about this sauce had nothing to do with the sauce. You see, prior to filming the video for this, I was not aware Garam Masala was in it, so I thought perhaps, given that I was struggling to pair this sauce and wasn’t super familiar with cardamom, figured that was the issue. So, I did some internet sleuthing to see where cardamom might be used. Coffee came up, which was a non-starter, as I am not fond of that flavor and also, I’m not pouring hot sauce into coffee. Ok, so what else? Well, lamb. I almost never have lamb and don’t really enjoy it, so am not about to start. Next...well, next was this Finnish sort of breakfast roll called nisu (or nissua or pulla). I discovered there are no restaurants or import shops that had this, so I was not able to have that directly, but I did enjoy the sort of deep dive that trying to find where cardamom was used in a food sense provided.

Bottom line: Despite the overall rating, again, this is not by any means a bad sauce, but also very much not a sauce for me. If you like the spice flavors I mentioned above more than I do, and are also a chilehead, this may worth a go, but I suspect that is a fairly shallow pool. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 3
            Flavor: 0
            Flexibility: 0
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 0

Overall: 1

 

Poirier's Louisiana Style (All Flavors) Hot Sauce(s) Review

Poirier’s Original Louisiana Style
Poirier’s Louisiana Style Creole Maple
Poirier’s Louisiana Style K.O. Edition

This trio hits a lot of soft spots with me, which should be apparent as this review goes on. In this case, it is a vanity sauce line, though from a person with whom I’m not familiar, but who is apparently a UFC dude. Also, one or more of these sauces, possibly the entire line, is the UFC official hot sauce or sauces, and at least one or more of the sauces is a direct crossover with Heartbeat, who has not appeared in these pages heretofore as they tend to like to use onions. All of the sauces are made by Heartbeat and may or may not be exclusive to Heatonist and all of them are labeled as Louisiana Style.

The lack of clarity comes because there is a lot of discontinuity in the labels. From what I can tell, the order goes something like this: Original >> K. O. Edition >> Creole Maple, in terms of the ingredients and how the sauces are constructed, with an original base, then a variation on that, then a variation on the variation. The Original has the UFC tag, but the UFC bottle neck hanger thing came on the K. O. Edition, which kind of makes more sense. Two of these are listing as 10 calories per serving and one is listed as zero, which makes no sense, as the ingredients are not that far removed from one another to constitute any kind of difference. 

That oddness aside, the Original is more of what I would refer to as a Cajun than a Lousiana-Style, meaning it is Cayenne, but then also garlic and Habanero and celery, of all things. Those last two modify the flavor profile considerably and while I don’t dislike the celery, I do find it somewhat jarring, mostly because I keep forgetting it’s there and don’t expect it in this kind of sauce. The K.O. takes the original and adds in Ghost Pepper powder. It specifies it as coming from Smokin’ Ed Currie, which, fine, but this addition radically changes the flavor profile and heat. The consistency is thicker than the Original, which is much looser, and also seems to add a lot darker hues and tones to the color. 

The K.O. does a couple things very well. First, it demonstrates amply what I call “superhot bitter,” and this is, by far, the predominant flavor. Secondly, it also demonstrates the trade of flavor in favor of heat. While the Original, even with the Habanero, I’d put as pretty tame, the K. O. Edition, is going to push a lot of non-chileheads and in combination with the flavor, may be too much of an overall package. I gave it a 3 for heat, but it’s more like a 2.5+ and not a 3 outright. It does persist long enough that I gave it the push.

Then we have my favorite of the bunch, the Maple Creole. It has all the ingredients of the K.O., but adds in maple syrup and Chipotle (in adobo) and it makes all the difference in the world. There’s also sage, rosemary, and thyme, but even with the callback to a 70s psychedelic hit jam, those are no competition for any of the other notes. This one reminds me of a somewhat vinegar forward BBQ sauce or a combination of a Louisiana-style and a BBQ sauce, along with some of those sweet, sweet maple notes that show up, but are never overpowering. This sauce exemplifies a stunning display of flavor balance, so long as it’s agitated - all of them need this - and is one of those that stands out and strikes me as special...as well as utterly delicious. 

Bottom line: While I enjoyed playing around with these and thought they were all solid and had something to offer, there’s only one I’d consider getting again, and that is the delightful Creole.

Breakdown Original:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 6
            Flexibility: 5
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 7

Overall: 5

Breakdown K.O. Edition:

            Heat level: 3
            Flavor: 4
            Flexibility: 3
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 3

Overall: 3

Breakdown Creole Maple:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 8
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 9

Overall: 7

Captain Mowatt's Fuzz Hot Sauce Review

Captain Mowatt’s Fuzz

I think the best way to describe this sauce is to think of it in terms of savory peach. Generally, we don’t associate fruit-based sweet hots necessarily with the savory or umami, while still retaining a very peach forward flavor, but this sauce has pulled off that trick exceedingly well. Add in a bit of astringency from the vinegar and the citrus and this is kind of a fascinating concoction and, to this point anyway, probably the sauce from Captain Mowatt’s I’ve liked best.

It’s kind of hard to find a really good to great peach sauce, partially because I think we all relate individually to that fruit in different ways. I am, as my good buddy Roger from Burn Your Tongue coined it, perfectly partial to peaches myself and any sauce with them in it has my instant attention, but not all of them are created equally, to be sure. If I were to peg this one as one of those aforementioned ratings, it would probably be the former moreso than the latter, but that is because I always want (and hope) the sauces will be more sweet. Partly this is because of preference, but also partly because those sauces tend to keep the sometimes delicate nature of peach flavor more intact. That this one does, yet is decidedly not a particularly sweet sauce is something of a marvel. It definitely is no dessert sauce.

Heat-wise, we have Red Jalapeno, Cayenne, and Bird’s Eye, so nothing too scorching. It adds a nice little tingle of that old fiery hit, just enough to let you know it’s there, but this is not a challenging sauce and it definitely is there more as accompaniment. For me, I find I don’t like pitted fruits generally a whole lot on pork or pizza, but find them, including this, to be exceedingly nice on the lighter colored bird meats, so both chicken and turkey. Fruit-based sweet hots by nature are a bit on the less flexible side, instead leaning in to do what it does with as much excellence as possible.

Bottom line: I find this overall to be a fairly unique and interesting approach to peach hot sauces, but an exceedingly delicious one with good peach flavor well in hand...or in tongue.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 6

Butterfly Bakery Heatonist No. 3 Hot Sauce Review

Butterfly Bakery Heatonist No. 3 Pink Peppercorn Gin

No matter how many sauces I try and review and sample and so on, I’m always up for being blown away. This one, with its synthesis of high culinary prowess, merges my love for being a food adventurer and foodie (no surprise it’s a spinoff from a bakery, which might wind up on my bucket list for visiting someday) with just a brilliant flash of skill with hot sauce in the flavors of this sauce.

So long as there is a Hot Ones show and sauces exclusive to Heatonist and so long as I keep going with my Hot Ones project, link at right, there will be a need to maintain a wish list there, which also helps me keep track of sauces I still need to cover. There is also this Heatonist numbered series, whereon various sauce makers create something in commemoration of Heatonist and maybe their tasting room, which I envision sort of like a wine-tasting thing. No idea if that is true or not, but if it is, smart idea. Anyway, since those are also exclusive to Heatonist, and since some sauce makers I’ve been impressed with have some entries there, those are also on my wish list.

So, last year, they had a site-wide sale, along with getting free freight at a certain point, and those are always good opportunities to stock up when you’re covering a wide and varied selection of sauces, such as yours truly does, but once I got it in hand, I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around the applications and was not familar with Butterfly Bakery at the time, so I sat it on the shelf for later...and then proceeded to forget for a few months. Once I did have my first BB experience earlier this year, I dug it back out and moved it forward in the on-deck circle.

Not really knowing what to expect, I was initially taken aback by the sort of bright, lively and effervescent nature of this, with the gin coming to the fore, followed by a rich and lovely Serrano and Habanero base. From there, it seemed like there were a lot of umami notes, presumably from the pink peppercorn, with garlic notable, but not very forward or overpowering. There is also horseradish, but I didn’t really get a lot of that in the flavor. This is really a pretty spectacular explosion of flavors, with a lot of delicate balances and hints in there that emerge, depending on where you use it. For me, it was definitely with lighter meats and I liked this enough that I wanted to put it in a setting where it could have its head and be the sort of “star,” so I’d say less rich foods generally will work best here. It would probably also be very nice in drinks, with the cucumber and lime adding a bit of a refreshing aspect. Given the peppers, this is not especially challenging, but it is clearly not intending to be face-melting, but more a “foodie’s” sauce. The more I use it, the more I appreciate it and this is truly a special sauce.

Bottom line: Yet another mind-blowing concoction from the increasingly impressive Butterfly Bakery...the more heavily you’re into the “foodie” side of things, the more you’ll appreciate it.

 Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 10
            Flexibility: 6
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 7

Elijah's Roasted Pepper Hot Sauce Review

Elijah’s Roasted Pepper

I’ve had half an eye on Elijah’s for a good, long, solid time now and I ran into the same problem I’ve run into repeatedly in the past with other companies and sauces, namely the inclusion of ingredients to which I’m intolerant or allergic. Usually, this is onions, all of colors, but quite a number of related things, scallions, chives, etc. as well. Still, Elijah’s is one of the more well-known names in the industry, I think, and I’d always hoped I’d be able to include them at some point.

I finally ran across this sauce and was immediately intrigued by the fire-roasted peppers, though I wasn’t entirely sure if they meant the Cayenne and Jalapeno or if they meant sweet red, as in Bell peppers. Either way, fire-roasted makes my ears perk up and I put this on the list. As it turned out, I was in need of a little bit for shipping once again at the same time they happened to be on a sale, and wasted no time getting it coming and then cracking it open once it arrived, as I coincidentally had just used up the last of the open sauce I had in that category.

The roasting doesn’t really play into things much, that I can tell, other than the pepper and the sauce generally coming across more smoothly than others of this type. This is much more of a Cajun style sauce, I would say, with the garlic very forward in the mix, almost but not quite, to the point of being too much. I prefer the Louisiana-style to Cajun as I like this style uncomplicated, but this does work acceptably in that setting. It is a very solid entry into this style, overall, but I can’t say I felt too strongly about it one way or the other, ultimately. As with most other sauces in this category, heat is quite low.

Bottom line: I think this sauce makes a very good representative example of a Cajun style, as the other ingredients are a bit to the fore and one does not need to brace for a harsh vinegar hit.

 Breakdown:

            Heat level: 0
            Flavor: 6
            Flexibility: 5
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4

Overall: 4

Mythical Meats Unicorn Magic Hot Sauce Review

Mythical Meats Unicorn Magic

Note: It was pointed out to me, for which I'm grateful, that the MM website points this as relabels of Torchbearer sauces. I kind of figured it was a relabel, but seeing that makes a lot more sense. This particular one is the Torchbearer Headless Horseradish, which I reviewed here: https://d-dubtsaaf.blogspot.com/2021/11/torchbearer-headless-horseradish-hot.html nearly 4 years ago. This also raises the question of whether I should just leave that link and call it a review, but I think, for now, I will just leave both up as perhaps expanding on the original review.

Timing on this could not have been much better. Grill season kicked off for me more or less right on time in early April and in fairly short order, I was running out of the mustard (Captain Mowatt’s Sharkbite) I had at hand, mostly because it was quite tasty. So, I was in need and this happened to be on sale at a time when I was on Amazon and also needed some stuff for free shipping. The stars aligned very nicely and all, but if this is a mustard, then why is it on this blog?

Well, you see, Mythical Meats is calling it a hot sauce. It is not. It starts with horseradish, then tosses in some Ghosties, but then reverts back to Dijon mustard before adding in horseradish powder. I am not the biggest fan of horseradish, one might say charitably, and Dijon is not among my favorite mustards, but I was pleasantly surprised as I dug into this one. Heat is a bit punchy for a mustard, both because, one presumes, the horseradish, but also the Ghosties so far forward in the mix. This one can border on the bitter fairly readily, so getting a good ratio of food to condiment is definitely the good move.

Because it is a mustard and I don’t find those particularly flexible overall, this is getting dinged a bit accordingly there. I do like the flavor, but don’t love it, though I will certainly use up the bottle. Mystical Meats is a company better known for, as you might have surmised already, meats, so having sauces that would accompany meats, such as sausages, makes sense, but again, I think it’s fine to call a mustard a mustard and not try to refer to it as a hot sauce, which it isn’t.

Bottom line: Another mustard masquerading as a hot sauce, but if you like horseradish, Dijon mustard, or both, and wish you could have a hotter version, this one is very well done.

 Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 4
            Flexibility: 2
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 5

Overall: 3

Monoloco XXX Hot Sauce Mini-Review

Monoloco XXX

I decided that I could not, in all good conscience, rate this in a full review setting. This is not a sauce I was ever likely to be predisposed to like and that is for one simple reason: one of the ingredients is curry. I am not a fan, after many, many repeated attempts, of Indian food and not particularly of curry generally, either. I can tolerate Thai red and Thai green curries, but neither would be particularly my preference. This one reminds me more of the golden curry you can buy in packets to make gravy with. To be perfectly blunt, if you don’t like curry, you won’t like this sauce, even though it is not nearly as forward with this flavor as an actual curry. For me, a little goes a long way and this is well past a little...

I did not acquire this by choice. This was sent to me incorrectly instead of something else I tried to order and I thought I would give it a chance, as it did not have onions. As it was, I gave it a few chances, but this is not a flavor I find at all enjoyable. Obviously, I will neither be keeping the bottle not finishing it out. Heat-wise, despite the goofy label copy warnings and Ghosties being in the mix, this is fairly tame. I would probably give it a 1.

Captain Mowatt's Luscious Hot Sauce Review

Captain Mowatt’s Luscious

A lot of people will note that I “sure must love hot sauce,” when they find out about the breadth and depth of this here blog and the FOH video series or see how I generally will accompany food in a less public setting. To a degree, this is true, however, if you look at the actual grading curve from last year’s Year End Update, you will see that the skewing is definitely not on the higher side, where one might conceivably expect it. I think part of it is because those people are not privy to my actual mindset, which is that condiments and spices and flavorings are more or less tools and just as you would not generally try to remove a bolt with only a hammer, the sauces are fairly use-specific to me.

A fair number of sauces I find myself feeling somewhat ambivalent about, such as this one. It is essentially a fruit-based sweet hot, with tropical fruit notes being the more forward. The peppers are Fresno, Cayenne, and Bird’s Eye, the first two being wonderfully flavored, but they don’t really show in the flavor as this is much more a pungent sauce. Pineapple, one of the two fruits, does show up a bit in the aftertaste, but it is generally not really specific to that.

For me, there is nothing really wrong with this sauce. It tastes fine, heat is very moderate, and most of the time I don’t get too clanged by the apple cider vinegar, lending its distinctive “tang” to the proceedings here, yet it is also not a sauce that I’m particularly wowed by or find especially favorable or notable. My preference is definitely more towards the sweeter side of things, which is perhaps playing into my detachment here, but the sauce is, for lack of better word, fine. It is a take on the fruit-based sweet hots, but I can’t also say particularly that I think it’s what I would call representative of the style and for those unfamiliar, I’d start elsewhere first.

Bottom line: As much as I hate damning things I review with faint praise, that is unfortunately where this one fits best...it’s there and it’s acceptable as a generally tropical fruity very tame sweet hot.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 6
            Flexibility: 5
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 5

Overall: 4

Anderson Pepper One Bad Mother Hot Sauce Review

Anderson Pepper Co. One Bad Mother Pineapple Reaper

This is one I put off getting for a while, both because I had a lot of other stuff on deck (I guess I generally always have a lot of stuff on deck), but also because the verbiage around it sort of pushed the idea it was punishingly hot and I only like to have so many of those open at once. Also, I was not what one would call impressed with the previous entry from this company, the Don’t Touch The Baby hot sauce (reviewed elsewhere here), which did not get a video. If you’ve been around for a while, you know what that means.

This sauce I do like a lot better, but there is one aspect about it that I really dislike and that is the consistency, which is quite loose. If I say the word “diluted,” probably one of the first thing that comes to mind is that something is watered down, which was a pretty common thing for certain bars to do, particularly with the clearer liquids...or at least get accused of doing, I guess I should say...or kids who wanted to pinch some of the stash where their parents kept the liquor, though maybe this is more of a Gen X thing.

Regardless, it is not really something you want at the front of mind in reference to your sauce and here, that is what kind of springs to mind for me. What flavors are there are super nice. I really think the flavor combination of raisin/pineapple/Reaper is an excellent one, but the overly liquidy nature of this makes it a touch hard to pour as well as making me feel like I’m chasing the flavor concentration I want around when eating it...agitation is an absolute must here or you wind up with a slightly tropical vinegary aspect to things, which isn’t bad, but is not really a hot sauce per se, either. I do think the flavor is quite unique and can’t think of anything like it.

This brings us to the heat. It is the mighty mighty Reaper, so there is a blast here and there and it does build up a bit. I wavered between a 1 and a 2, since it sort of falls between them, but figured I’d be generous and give it the push to a 2, but it is a low 2. I don’t think this will challenge too many chile curious and definitely not actual chileheads. The main issue here, though, is that with the consistency as it is, it cuts down on all of the criteria of rating. If it were thicker, this would definitely get a higher score, particularly in flexibility. I always considered that category to be one based mostly in flavor (I mean in type not necessarily quality, by the by),  but I’ve had enough entries sort of defying that with an odd consistency.

Bottom line: If this were more concentrated/reduced down and hence, thicker, this would be a quite good sauce. As it is, it seems slightly unrefined and in need of a bit more development.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 6
            Flexibility: 3
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4

Overall: 4