The Hot Ones Eye Of The Scorpion Hot Sauce
Note: This sauce appears on Season 14 of The Hot Ones.
This, along with a few other Hot Ones sauces, were gifts I received for my birthday and this marks both the first actual Hot Ones sauce I've had, as well as the sauce that now puts me as having done at least one review in every season of the show. Honestly, these are sauces that are both somewhat expensive, comparatively, and also feature a pepper I'm not overly fond of, the Scorpion pepper, so these would have been very definitely more back burner, if left to my own devices to receive. Still, I didn't have a Season 14 entry, so I was glad to have them.
I mentioned the Tabasco Scorpion (reviewed elsewhere here) as a good gateway to the flavor of the actual Scorpion pepper itself and I think that still holds true, as it is tamed down enough to be able to get the gist of the flavor without being overpowered by accompanying heat. This one is like that, though several notches higher. It is borderline more puree than sauce, must be used a lot more judiciously, as it definitely is quite spiky and will start to pack a wallop with continued use. The flavor is overrun fairly quickly by the heat punch. While I am no fan of the very flowery flavor of the Scorpion pepper generally, which shows up in spades here, of course, one of the things I rather dislike about this sauce is the propensity of it to constantly clot the neck of the bottle. This definitely could have done with an emulsifier or possibly more vinegar to thin it out a tish more. The pour of this is chunky and thick as well and one I find a bit on the irritating side to use.
In Season 14, it was the #9 slotted sauce, so it definitely is meant to be a scorcher, with both the Scorpion peppers and then Scorpion pepper powder as well, just to kind of confirm things. I wouldn't call it breathtaking heat or anything, at least not for chileheads, but this will probably be somewhat punishing for non-chileheads and unless they really like the flowery flavor aspect, might serve to put them off hot sauce entirely. I still haven't really found an application where I'm fond of that Scorpion pepper flavor, but it seems to work reasonably acceptably on chicken strips. It doesn't really lend itself to me wanting to try it in various other settings.
Bottom line: If you're a chilehead AND a fan of the flowery aspects of the Scorpion pepper (or are trying to do your own Hot Ones run), this is a sauce well worth trying. If you are not, those, YMMV.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 6
Flavor: 2
Flexibility: 2
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 0
Overall: 3
