UPDATE: Support video now available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqsmH95OMlsI've got to say that I'm really becoming an admirer of Irazu. I think they make some very high quality and quite tasty sauces in a variety of categories. The devil's in the details, so the saying goes and Irazu seems to make some very clever twists to differentiate their offerings from the norm in those categories. Take this one, for instance.
Now, it's no secret that a good Lousiana-style sauce is one of my very favorites and there are a few things that they need if they really want to win me over. The first one is to use Cayenne as a base. Cayenne, as a pepper, has long been one of my most favored and possibly my very favorite overall and if any other pepper is used as a base for this sauce, other than Cayenne, I inevitably wind up thinking that it would have been better if Cayenne were used or how much I missed the Cayenne in it. Choosing a vinegar requires some care, for if it's too harsh, it will tend to run the food. Heat tends to be a bit minor on these sauces, because spiking them tends to ruin the flavor or the balance.
What Irazu did here was a very clever thing. To combat the lack of heat that these sauces frequently run into, they added Naga Jolokia pepper pulp. Not a ton, to be sure, but just enough to give it a little edge, thereby accomplishing both the spiking and leaving the phenomenal flavor that Cayenne is known for and imparts, intact. This, in fact, may be one of the best uses for the ghost pepper I've yet seen. It definitely is the smartest, as it avoids the somewhat noxious taste that ghost peppers can sometimes have.
Bottom line: If this is not the best Louisiana-style sauce out there, it's in the running. This one is very well-designed and though there's not a whole lot of heat, there's noticeably more than usual. Flavor is everything you'd expect from a Louisiana-style sauce.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 3
Flavor: 8
Flexibility: 8
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 8
Overall: 7
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