Back a while ago, when I had run myself dangerously low on one of my perennial favorite sauce types, the Louisiana-style, I went hunting and sort of randomly came across this on Amazon. Now, I don't typically buy sauces from there, mostly because it's not free shipping on those things when they build a hefty markup into the price and if I'm going to pay exaggerated monies, I'm going to an actual brick-and-mortar locally first. This (and another counterpart coming in a later review), for whatever reason, struck me as somewhat intriguing, despite my usual disdain for novelty sauces. Sticking the word "zombie" onto a hot sauce label does not strike me as reasonable, in any capacity, so these sauces had everything working against them, yet I went forward with the order anyway.By the time I got them, of course, I had forgotten I'd ordered them at all, so they were sort of a nice welcome surprise. The follow-up from one Ricky Hooter, who evidently is the mastermind behind all of this, was also a bit unexpected, but a nice touch. All so far, so good and they were yet another company who has apparently gotten the memo and is now aligning with those in the industry pushing flavor far more than any SHU rating.
As to that flavor (and consistency), it's on par with your usual Cayenne-based Louisiana-style hot sauces. I wouldn't put it as high as either Irazu or Trappey's Red Devil, but it's probably right around the TryMe Sunshine(s) range or so, i.e. very solid, but more middle-of-the-road. There's no sweetness here at all, so it definitely stays true to the Louisiana-style motif, which is something I appreciated quite a bit. One thing I do note is that it does have a bit of bitterness I find unappealing when taken straight. Obviously, we rarely will eat sauce straight unless we're just opening the bottle and trying to get a feel for it, but why this matters is that if you over-sauce something, the negative traits can be amplified to the extent of potentially wrecking your food. Overall, this tends to work well with the usual foods, though without a restrictor cap, over-saucing could be a possibility.
You won't have to worry about rendering it too hot to tolerate, though, even if you do over-sauce. Heat is mostly non-existent, another shared attribute with Red Devil. Frankly, I could have definitely used a higher charge with this and given that the last few bottles of the Louisiana-style have tended to have a greater degree of spike to them, I found myself missing that attribute. It's definitely on the lower side of what I usually like, but I think they designed it more for accessibility.
Bottom line: It's a fine, perfectly acceptable sauce, no more, no less. I don't know that I would get it again, due partially to availability. Amazon's price point definitely makes future purchases of this a struggle, but frankly, there are other sauces in this segment I prefer more.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 1
Flavor: 6
Flexibility: 8
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4
Overall: 5
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