UPDATE: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkEAXJEAMmc Despite finding the Tabasco original mostly dreadful and the Green Jalapeno of a good flavor but woefully underpowered, I happened across a coupon for Tabasco and used it to take a shot at the Chipotle, since I like that flavor a lot and heard great things about this variation. The bottle didn't stay on my shelf long before I cracked it open and tried it out with some fried chicken. So far so good there, but it fell pretty flat with homemade chicken tamales.
With this sauce being arguably closer to a BBQ sauce than a hot sauce or maybe as close as hot sauce comes to a BBQ sauce before it crosses the line (and McIlhenny is definitely pushing hard in that direction with this), it works better on richer and denser flavors. It's a very good-tasting sauce, unquestionably, with none of the goofy overbearing vinegary taste of the Original, yet cutting down the chipotle, which can itself become very quickly overpowering as well. It is a fantastic blend, sort of the "best of both worlds," which also does nicely in harmonizing the Tabasco pepper flavoring system.
What it doesn't have is heat, but then again, nothing in the entire Tabasco line does. For most people, Original Tabasco is as hot as it gets and this is in that area, though according to their fantastic website (arguably the best of any sauce vendor), Chipotle rates much less than the Original.
Bottom line: This is a sauce that works best with food that can stand the smokiness. It doesn't have enough vinegar to really "cut" creamy sauces, though it does add a nice flavor aspect. There is not much here in the way of heat, either, so if you're coming to this bottle for that, you're in the wrong place. For around $4/bottle for a 5 oz., you could do worse...but you could also do a lot better.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 1
Flavor: 7
Flexibility: 6
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4
Overall: 5
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