After the glory that was Z's Shield Maiden (SOTY 2017 and review elsewhere in this blog), I bought every other Z's hot sauce I could find (they also have a mustard sauce, which I may get and possibly another that I haven't been able to find anywhere). I saved this one for last of those that I could find, as typically hot sauce companies, when they put the word "blood" in the title, mean it to be something particularly hot, usually referencing a demonic entity, i.e devil's blood, demon's blood, Satan's blood, volcano's blood, etc. This was also reinforced by the black wax melted over the cap, which, again, is typically only seen in the hotter sauces. The black wax here was actually a bit excessive in that it took me quite a bit of time to remove, but smaller hot sauce company and they're out there hustling to get their name out and all, so I can forgive that.When I finally got to this, I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. It was nowhere near anything hot, not even to the somewhat moderate level of Shield Maiden, which was kind of a surprise as I didn't remember Shield Maiden having wax at all. After reading the ingredient panel (and seeing the apple cider vinegar again!), I concluded that it was meant more for Mexican-style food flavors and keyed it accordingly. It does work fantastically well there...but only as an accent. By itself, as many other sauces are, not too wonderful, which means some caution must be employed to avoid over-saucing.
If you're familiar with Danny Cash's Salvation Sauce or his Bottled-Up Anger or even the Private Selection Jalapeno Tomatillo, this is more or less along those lines. a pretty good-tasting overall sauce when used in conjunction with Mexican-style food. By itself, not so good and like those others not particularly hot. This one does not have tomatillo and the apple cider vinegar isn't super-overbearing, again, presuming you don't over-sauce. In fact, this is probably my favorite sauce that utilizes apple cider vinegar, but truth be told, I also strongly wish it wasn't present at all.
Bottom line: A very strong contender in the Serrano pepper/green sauce category. I don't particularly utilize that kind of sauce much, but my wife does, so this could be a good fit there. If you like those kinds of sauces, this is definitely a good one to have on hand.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 2
Flavor: 6
Flexibility: 4
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 6
Overall: 5
