UPDATE: I hate to write this type of thing, but it cannot go unmentioned. This product has been reformulated since I wrote this review. I don't know if the bottle I had was a placeholder formulation or the exact specifics, but having had the reformulation, it is far from the same sauce. The reformulation would be nowhere near any SOTY criteria for me, and is flatly awful, but as I leave other sauces now discontinued posted, I will leave this here, as a monument to posterity of a sauce that once was. Though it has taken me, as of this writing, about 5 weeks to post again, I think I can make a strong and bold claim that this will be a good year for hot sauce for me, as it has started in spectacular fashion as soon as I broke the seal on this bad boy and busted it out.
Because it had been a bit between when I ordered it and when I opened it, upon spinning the cap, I got a pretty solid blast of ghost chili, both in smell and in taste, but the most I shook it up, the more the smokiness merged with the wonderful blend they've devised here. The heat is a lot like Pure Death in that continuing to eat it, particularly with the healthy Habanero dose, will allow it to continue to build, but it never really gets too far out of hand. Like that other one, it is so skillfully blended and so tasty, it is very difficult to not continue eating it, though the flavors are drastically different.
This one has the warmth, though this is greatly simplifying things, of a cup of chili, with the punch of Habanero, tempered by the smokiness and bitter end with the Jolokia and with a good degree of front end and some very nice back end heat. In the mix are some of the other elements of chili, including red Bell pepper, which also adds a bit of sweetness. We see cumin, which adds nice earthiness and garlic, which lends a degree of roundness to things. The vinegar and lime elements keep this from getting too bogged down, so we have a very solid sauce that is neither too thin nor too thick, nor too light nor too heavy, but a very nice medium of all those things, though I think this is the hottest in BTH's line-up and both the Habaneros and Ghosts make their presence known, in taste and feel. This makes this flexible enough to work well with Italian food, one of the more difficult types to mesh with hot sauce in general, though it does take a backseat to Pure Death in this department.
Bottom line: In any year, this is a Sauce Of The Year candidate, which is why I say it's going to be a great year for hot sauce, starting off the year with this strong of a contender, which instantly emerges as the full-on leader. This particular sauce has won numerous awards already and it's very easy to see why this gets (and deserves) so many accolades. Probably in the Top 5 sauces I've had overall, historically.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 6
Flavor: 10
Flexibility: 9
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10
Overall: 9
