Bell River Caribbean Hot Sauce Review

Bell River Brand Caribbean Hot Sauce 

Bell River appears to be a division of Heartbreaking Dawn. That particular company is probably on the radar of most discriminating chileheads and has been on mine for a while, not least because of its intriguing naming system of using years for the sauce, as well as the descriptive nature of adding descriptors in the form of nicknames, i.e. "Cauterizer", for the different variations. They've made a great name for themselves and they're on my radar, but due to either an unfortunate lust of theirs for using onions in everything or an unfortunate reaction with my own chemistry that reacts negatively and forcefully to onions, I have not seen a product of theirs I've been able to pull the trigger on. With them creating the product line for this entry from Bell River, that has now been rectified.

Using the word "Caribbean" with things lends the mind to a certain direction, which is perhaps best culminated and most renowned in the Jamaican "jerk" seasoning profile, though when I picked this up, I didn't really expect that. It looked in the bottle more like a Louisiana-style sauce to me, just with a lot of other additions. In several respects, that is true. There are at least over 20 listed ingredients to this, including orange and red Habaneros and Datil peppers, though there are probably 10 ingredients that come before the peppers. One might think this would be a not particularly piquant sauce, but one would only be half-right there.

This is certainly no full-throttled SHU rager or anything, but there is plenty there to add a decent amount of punch to things. I also rarely say this, but given the thinness of this sauce, I would have preferred a dropper cap here, as this stuff is definitely right along the lines of Louisiana-style sauce in flavor as well. There are no Cayennes or Tabascos to be found and it doesn't have that nice bit of zing, that tangy harshness that most Louisiana-styles sauces have. Instead, it is a fuller, rounder, smoother, much more complex and slightly sweeter version, which goes a long way towards fulfilling the promise of using the word "Caribbean" as a descriptor. Usage, however, is primarily the same as a Louisiana-style sauce and this works best as a substitute for an existing sauce type, not necessarily a new style all its own.

Bottom line: This is a very tasty sauce and at $5 a bottle, dollar for dollar, one of the best values out there. I don't know that I would use it to replace any of my existing Louisiana-style sauces, particularly if I happen to want a punch in the mouth with my food, but I would definitely not shy away from it, either, inconvenience of no dropper cap aside. I could see myself getting another bottle of this, depending on what else was available.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 4
            Flavor: 9
            Flexibility: 7
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 9

Overall: 7