Head Hunter's Paradise Hot Sauce Review

Wicked Cactus Head Hunter's Paradise Hot Sauce

In another in an increasingly long line of sauces I acquired as a result of the Ultimate Hot Sauce competition going now at www.scottrobertsweb.com, we see a return to the fruit-based sauces. I admit that I was somewhat excited after reading Scott's review of it. Scott makes it sound positively glorious and perhaps it was when he reviewed it in 2010. Fast forward 3 years to now, though and we have a different story.

Gone is that vibrant sort of orangey color of the sauce in his pictures. Replaced instead is a sort of dingy brown with flecks of dark bits, which I presume is the roasted red bell pepper. There is no dropper cap, which is good because it would be largely impossible to get this out otherwise. The texture of the sauce is also considerably different than it appears in the spoon in his picture. Instead, it comes out largely in glops of stringy pineapple fibers. Habanero, instead of being the third ingredient, as it was on his bottle, is now gone entirely, though I presume it was a label misprint as the last ingredient on mine simply reads "Smoked" and I'm assuming that is to be smoked habanero. The text is also in a slightly different font as well. I know sauce manufacturers like to refine things for various reasons, a motivation I would hope is improvement, but I can't help but think that I would rather have had the sauce Scott had.

Regardless of those differences, this is not a bad sauce by any means. It seems very flexible and winds up making a nice compliment, especially in heat, to a variety of foods that I had little hope for. That the bottle is nearly gone as I write this should be some testament to its tastiness and versatility. The sweetness, while present, is far from overbearing, yet it sometimes will make things taste "off", especially in conjunction with the apple cider vinegar. The smokiness aspect and the nice degree of heat, again, far from scorching, are enough to offset some of the less appealing aspects of this. By itself, it is a somewhat strange conglomeration of the oranges, vinegar, pineapple and smoked habaneros, but when added to food, it does tend to blend well and add to the flavor and enjoyment, which is what a good hot sauce should do. It is not good enough to stand alone, however, to use as a dipping sauce, for instance...

Bottom line: When this bottle is gone, I don't know that I will get another. I do not enjoy the neck of the bottle being clotted constantly, no matter how well the sauce is agitated and the gloppiness makes it more of a challenge to get a desired amount than I would like. The taste is not spectacular but nor is it sub par. It is another sauce that I would label overall as just ok.

Breakdown:

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

Overall: 5