Angry Goat Heatonist No. 7 Hot Sauce Review

Angry Goat Heatonist No. 7

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xdaONfzMQY

I have reviewed a lot of stuff, beyond just the 400+ hot sauces (as of this writing) on this blog. It's covered everything from wine to beer to whiskey to restaurants to music to movies to books to cars to bikes to fitness supplements and beyond. One of the tendencies in any given area when one does this a lot is there starts to become a certain commonality, wherein things wind up being more the same than not. So it is a rare treat when something comes along both unexpected and fantastic. That is this sauce.

This will probably be my favorite sauce of the year, possibly the best-tasting sauce I will have in 2023, but it will not be Sauce Of The Year [if you're wondering why, I've mentioned it many times over the year, but it's by design that one specific criteria cannot skew the overall rating - also noting now that the final rating was entirely coincidental to the name of this sauce]. It's a delicious, wild, often surprising ride, pulling in elements of pickled peppers, pickled beets, pistachio, and pomegranate into this wonderful miasma that defies easy encapsulation. It is a near-transcendent experience, unique to not only the hot sauce world, but perhaps to sauces in general. At the risk of overstating things, I've had nothing quite like it before.

Does it work on everything? No. While I found it greatly entertaining and novel on pizza, I also find that one needs to have a food where a pickled pepper (banana or cherry, preferably) would be at home for its best suiting. So, sub sandwiches, salads (with a creamy dressing), the aforementioned pizza, chicken, fish, all are excellent with this sauce. Things that are heavy and rich, such as Alfredos and mac & cheese leave much to be desired when paired with this. You wouldn't want to do that anyway, as this wonderful lightness allows things like the subtlety of the beets to shine through and it will be killed and stomped to death by that heavy of a sauce. I included pizza, which also does this a bit, but which lends itself well to pickled peppers...for me, anyway. I will note that pizza can be a bit of a challenge, though, as this sauce tends to separate fairly readily.

Heat-wise, this is very moderate. We're talking Serrano here, which is another pepper I'd consider more as candy for chileheads. Using it here really allows that pepper to shine, though, another bit of brilliance from whoever came up with this outstanding concoction. This won't be a challenge to anyone on the heat side, but this is a sauce that is meant to give you several difference grace notes. It's a sauce on a mission and it fulfills it wonderfully, all the way down to the very well-designed label. 

Bottom line: Very rarely do I say a sauce is genius, but here, nothing else typifies it so much. You need not necessarily be a fan of beets or pistachios to experience this wonder, which is quite unlike any other. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 10
            Flexibility: 7
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 7

Retsuko Rage (FYE Exclusive) Hot Sauce Review

Retsuko Rage

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XhqE0VSwnw

There is a Japanese anime called Aggretsuko and it looks as if it would be a very cool show. I like the premise, like the character, generally like anime, but admittedly have not watched any of it, so I could be off-base. FYE is a former media concern that is making the shift away from things like movies and music towards pop culture stuff like figures, apparel, and edible items relative to various characters in the public consciousness. This is a sauce that, all the way down to the Iron Maiden-esque font on the label, seems to be an epitome of the character in her aggressive death metal phase and so naturally, it had my interest once I became aware it existed. From here follows a very long and sordid tale of a struggle to actually obtain it (the website sucks, you will have to go to a physical location, call first, but it is way, way, way worth it because the 8 oz. bottles I got cost me a hefty $3, making this perhaps the best value for any sauce I've done on this blog, ever), but once I did, I was cautiously optimistic.

Sometimes I can find references to who is actually producing the sauce, in this case, I could not, other than it appears to originate (possibly) from Canada somewhere. What we have here is a sauce with several peppers in it, with the hottest being Ghosties, and a definite push to remind people of the awesome power in flavor and in heat that pepper can deliver. Also appearing are a chili sauce (which I won't even begin to guess what that could conceivably mean), Habaneros, Peri-peris, and some Cayenne to boot. 

At times, this reminds me of a fairly neutral and vague "chili" sweet-hot style and at times it reminds me a bit of actual BBQ sauce, but this is its own thing. The flavor is neutral enough to cover a very broad swath of food. In point of fact, I have not come across a food where I don't think it works, including both Asian AND Mexican, which is a rarity among rare stars to see. It is an absolutely delicious sauce though enough of the superhot bitterness will start to creep up a bit, so some judiciousness must be used if you're after flavor. It is a medium-thick sauce, so controlling the pour shouldn't be too much of an issue. If there is one minor caveat I have, it's in the vinegar. I do enjoy a good red wine vinegar lightly sprinkled on a sub sandwich, but I have yet to have a hot sauce where I found it was a welcome ingredien

Heat-wise, this one packs a pretty solid wallop. I was surprised by the charge here and the impish chilehead in me grins fiendishly thinking of all the unsuspecting fans who might buy this and actually use the sauce and get a mouth full of flames. I am absolutely delighted that this sauce works well for those who are just going to buy it and add it to their anime shrine display or whatever, as well as being a tasty enough sauce for those who are daring enough to actually get into it. I would say the heat is enough to be chilehead only. Also, this will be the first bottle I keep once the sauce is done. I really like what they did with it and I will also be adding it to one of my office displays. In a shocking twist, it is also in contention for Sauce Of The Year, which, I readily admit, kind of amazes me for what is marketed as a novelty sauce.

Bottom line: This is an absolute must, if you can get your hands on a bottle. Not only is it a delightful sauce, but it is a stunning value and absolutely great package. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 4
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 10
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 8

Whitehouse Station Conclave Skullflower White Peach Hot Sauce Review

Whitehouse Station Conclave Skullflower White Peach 

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VClTfEqsm6o

Decidedly long name for this one, which features an ingredient I don't often see in hot sauces, namely the white peach. Calling this another take on the peach-Habanero sauces might not be super far off on a superficial basis, but this sauce is far more about the interplay between the IPA (Conclave Skullflower) and the peach. I find a lot of these collabs with hot sauces and breweries kind of fascinating, but I don't know that I find it also results in a sauce I particularly like. In this case, I'm way more interested in trying the beer than in continuing on with the hot sauce.

This is probably suggestive of the idea that I think the sauce is bad, which is not the case. I find it to be an intriguing, often subtle, but frequently elusive blend of the various flavors into a rather unique profile. It is still discernibly peach-heavy, which one would definitely want in any sauce with the word "peach" in its title, of course, but the vinegar, sugar, salt, and Habaneros do not show up strictly in terms of the flavor. When I said I was really interested in the beer earlier, it is more to get a baseline on what that flavor is doing here, what it's adding, which parts it's responsible for, etc. I can't find a lot of information on the beer, but evidently it is somewhat of a citra IPA, with various fruit notes as part of it, which goes some way to explaining the dynamic. Skullflower implies the idea of a honey in the mix, but can't find any information on this, including on their website, which doesn't list it at all.

Because this is a somewhat low key sauce, it doesn't lend itself well to a lot of applications. It's best with lighter meats, but put it on something like pizza and it tends towards a very lightly peach sweetness, with the rather flowery notes of the typically hoppy IPA behind it.  White peach is not a flavor I've ever found to be particularly strong, comparatively, and so too is it not here. While I don't dislike the flavor, it is one I find myself experiencing flavor fatigue rather rapidly with, so it essentially winds up being more of a palate refresher or change of pace, rather than a sauce I find myself really wanting to lean into. It's not quite sweet enough to be a solid grill sauce, though I am going to test this theory if this sauce hangs in long enough.

As far as the heat, it's pretty non-existent. There can be a slight build, over time, but the Habanero is definitely here more as an afterthought, and possibly for the sake of being able to call this a hot sauce rather than a peach-IPA sauce. I will also note that this label is among the worst I've seen, largely due to the odd color scheme and some confusion as to the actual sauce name.

Bottom line: If you're a fan of beer in hot sauce, or of white peach generally, this is well worth taking a look at. Ultimately, for me, it winds up being another case of a sauce more interesting than good.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 4
            Flexibility: 2
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 2

Overall: 2

Yeak Chruk Hot Sauce Review

Yeak Chruk

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjyCCbxqpjY

I saw this one crop up in a few places when I was poking around during Black Friday stuff last year and a couple things grabbed my eye. I had no idea what it was, exactly, but Cambodian anything, particularly food, is fairly rare for  me to come across and I've certainly never had a hot sauce. Also, without looking too far into the ingredients, the idea of Habanero and palm, me thinking it was more like a hearts of palm thing (it is actually palm sugar, which I find a bit deceptive), could be a very intriguing blend. Anyway, I took a chance on it, as it was on special, if nothing else to check those boxes.

What this turned out to be is yet another offering that pushes hard at the boundaries of what is a hot sauce. In this case, it pushes hard at the idea that it's even a sauce, as this is one of the more watery things I've yet had that called itself a sauce at all, let alone a hot sauce. Looking at the verbiage on the label, I got as far as them "starting with a brine" and got it immediately. They started with a brine and just never quite got past that. Although I dislike the practice, I understand entirely why so many things that I don't consider hot sauces call themselves that, though. The hot sauce industry is a billion dollar one, so calling yourself a hot sauce, rather than more correctly a brine, is almost certainly likely to result in higher interest as well as sales.

Anyway, for this, we have the fairly basic flavors of vinegar, Habanero, salt, sweet (from the sugar), and some very light traces of garlic, all of it heavily muted or "watered-down," if you will, though I say it with quotations facetiously as this is quite literally what happened.  I'm not a fan of pouring water on my food, truth be told. I don't like things that approximate it, such as French dip sandwiches. If I get those, I never dunk them, as soggy food strikes several wrong texture notes with me. With soup and sandwiches, I *may* consider it with tomato soup, as that has a typically much higher consistency (much moreso than this, certainly), but even then it's unlikely. This aspect, as one might expect, interferes considerably with flexibility of use.

I don't dislike the flavor of this at all; indeed, I found what was there to be pretty solid, but it takes a lot of chasing to get anywhere near the concentration I want. This also applies to the heat. Though water does not change capsaicin, dispersing it over a greater amount of liquid is necessarily going to change how hot it reads. Again, this is rather a shame. Had they reduced this down somewhat, and made it closer in thickness to an actual sauce, the nifty squeeze bottle + cap packaging be damned, this would have been considerably improved. As it is, I find this a brine that is packaged with a labeling error (I will say their label overall is quite good, though, very legible and giving food suggestions) calling it a hot sauce. While I will be using it up, I will be treating it as a brine once the support video is filmed.

Bottom line:  This is a brine, not a hot sauce. A certainly very tasty brine, but a brine no less.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 2
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4

Overall: 4

Smart Way Hot Sauce Review

Smart Way

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXRX6nx1xiY

Part of the idea that informed this blog could be characterized by the phrase "Habanero or higher," an effort to stick to a certain pepper or higher as the lower ones did not strike me as probably ever hitting enough of the heat notes to constitute something that might fulfill the concept of "chilehead." I relented on that here and there, and also modified it to include Scotch Bonnets by considering them more or less on par with Habanero (also "Scotch Bonnet or higher" doesn't have the same ring), but for the most part, I tried to keep somewhat of a heatseeker motif intact. By now, though, I've got a fairly extensive list of sauces that have passed through these parts, some of them not appearing anywhere other than this blog (and/or FOH YouTube video series). As has happened in the past, I've filtered out a lot of what is on store shelves in the grocery stores and various other outlets, basically any brick-and-mortar that is not one of the larger Burn Your Tongue outlets. This, in addition to trying to open things up a bit more for the FOH side, means I necessarily relax my former kinda sorta guiding principle.

I saw this one some time back and briefly looked at it, but took a pass because I wasn't in need and realistically don't expect a whole ton from 12 oz. of sauce for $1.49. Still, the stars aligned and I'm out of Louisiana-style sauce, so I figured now was as good of a time as any to take it out for a test drive, if I was ever going to. 

I'm almost tempted to review this as a straightforward sauce, but Smart Way is a budget line for the store brand of Kroger. This means everything in that line is a knockoff, an attempt to clone higher priced name brand stuff. Here, that name brand is Frank's. I'm no fan of Frank's and find it to be a rather bland, lowest common denominator type sauce that doesn't do much of anything well and is more or less just ok in a pinch, like if there is nothing else handy. This one has a flavor profile that is kind of like a smoother, more muted version of the Frank's flavor. So, it certainly won't be fooling too many people into thinking it's a good sauce, unless they were predisposed to that anyway. 

What it is is mostly serviceable. All the rough edges of a normal Louisiana-style sauce are sanded off and we have basically just the flavors of Cayenne, a softer vinegar, and a slight back end of garlic. This would make it more of a Cajun style than strictly a Louisiana-style, but it's not forceful in flavor to any particular degree. It more or less does the job, but with the flavor dialed down as much as it is, a lot more needs to be used to achieve the same effect. Fine, it's slightly more than a dime an ounce, use whatever, but it also never quite hits the notes that I want it to. It comes close, gets in the vicinity, but never quite scratches that itch fully. Heat-wise, it does pack a bit more than I was expecting (I was expecting zero), but it's still on the very low side, as most sauces in this category tend to be.

Bottom line: If you need a good fill-in sauce to tide over, such as I'm using it, and don't want to spend a bunch of money, this is a pretty unbeatable value. Not good or great, but more or less adequate.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 4
            Flexibility: 6
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 5

Puckerbutt Pineapple Ginger Hot Sauce Review

Puckerbutt Smokin' Ed's Pineapple Ginger

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4zmDPCnGC8

I could probably put the bottom line up front with this one, I suppose, and just say that if you're not a fan of ginger, specifically fresh ginger, this one may be better off avoided. It is by far the more forward smell and flavor of this, followed behind a bit by the pineapple juice. The vinegar is more or less a balancing offset, to cut down some of the sweetness of the pineapple juice. The peppers, which here are Scotch Bonnet, are listed first in the ingredient list, despite this being a very loose and runny sauce (think pineapple juice) and provided a nice sort of back end heat charge, but don't come through in the flavor profile much. That label order is probably wrong, both given the consistency, as well as the heat being the very nice round one that Scotch Bonnets deliver, but not particularly high. 

Using Scotch Bonnets is not really meant to impart a strong heat surge, though, but rather the fantastic flavor of that pepper and here it melds nicely with the other players. This sauce was meant to accompany (or possibly have dished based on it) various dishes at some Thai and Vietnamese restaurants that are, I assume, in the vicinity of Fort Mill/Charlotte. This sort of brings up one of the challenges of this sauce, for me, in that it's best used in places where one would want fresh ginger, but also a touch of sweetness. I find this narrows the field respectively, as while I do like fresh ginger in a number of Asian dishes, I don't always also like sweetness. 

I did find this very enjoyable on strips, but the runniness created some related isssues. I can't say it sticks particularly well to food, so I had to resort to trying to float it on top enough for it to soak into the breading in order to really get a measure of it as a flavor element. Conversely, I do think it would be marvelous in drinks, anything really with either strong coconut or pineapple flavor, or even something like a kombucha. While I didn't specifically test those things, it strikes me that it would be a rather intriguing addition. Given that the heat is fairly moderate, I don't think most people would find that challenging to the point of bracing, but more enough of a punch to make it a pleasant deviation, especially if it was also a boozy drink.

Bottom line: While this is not a chilehead only sauce, it definitely is better reserved for fans of fresh ginger.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 7
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 6

Overall: 5

Cholula Sweet Habanero Hot Sauce Review

Cholula Sweet Habanero

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3c8WWqgjjM

Another entry in the line and the newest flavor in quite some time from Cholula, who make what I strongly feel is one of the better and more accessible Mexican-style table sauces. Sure, there's a lot of commercialized branding here, such as the distinctive wood cap, to the graphic adoring the labels, but they're very clear that you will wind up getting what you expect by sight alone. However, a lot of their derivatives have left much to be desired. I've reviewed some of them on this blog, but while I admire deeply the Original sauce, and have probably consumed gallons of it, a lot of those variations I found myself wishing they wouldn't have done. Not this one, though.

From the very first taste of it, it was maybe not love, but something akin to familiarity. What I mean is that while I've never had this sauce before, it echoed into a literal translation of what my taste buds expect anytime I get a pineapple-Habanero sauce. This sauce is more or less what I always expect...and often don't get, but I digress. The pineapple is very forward, almost to the point of it reminding me of the forcefulness of a candy, with very little of the typical Cholula flavoring. The Habanero is almost all decidedly on the back end, but wonder of wonder, they actually brought a bit of ooomph with them this time and the heat builds up to an impressively solid (for them or any other mass market sauce maker) level. 

I didn't know what to expect, really, definitely not what was in the bottle, but for a Cholula sauce, it is drastically unlike any other Cholula sauce. There's some continuity, even in the bad ones, with the Original, but here it's so indistinct and under the surface that it takes a bit of digging to pick out and depending on where you use it, might not even be possible. This is, in essence, a fairly straightforward fruit-based sweet hot and not really a Mexican style sauce at all. So, while this takes it out of the running for things like say beef tacos or bean burritos, it does put it very nicely into categories like pizza or wings or strips or anywhere else you'd like to use that style of sweet hot. Given how delicious it is, it lends itself well to experimentation, though definitely I find it a lot better on the lighter meats, personally.

Bottom line: Absolutely unexpected banger from Cholula and a very worthy addition to the stable.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 9
            Flexibility: 7
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 7

Angry Goat Sweaty Beaver Hot Sauce Review

Angry Goat Sweaty Beaver

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56dxPD2vbeE

This is another very curious entry from the most wildly inventive hot sauce company out there, this time creating a sauce that manages to have one foot both in a Mexican-style/Southwest-leaning sauce, as well as a more universal sweet-hot. I don't know what the actual intent was, but choosing the former style nearly invariably precludes any other style, thanks to the distinctive flavor elements typical there. Not the case here, perhaps because they don't lean into that style heavily, which keeps it flexible enough to use anywhere that you might like a sweet-hot, if nothing else to try it there. For me, both the Scorpions and the spices were enough for me to not want to use it on pizza, but it works well on things like chickens strips, though its best uses are really the ones in that Mexican-style world.

This sauce is also part of the apparently ultra secret "Forbidden Series," a collection that I have no idea the actual meaning, but seems to be a collection of the more randy and entendre-laden names in their hot sauce catalog. It's a bit thick and grainy, reminding me a lot of a mole sauce, though considerably hotter than any of those that I've ever had. The combination of Chocolate Habanero, Scorpions, and Ghosties is definitely enough to put this into a chilehead-only category and I don't imagine a lot of normies would find the build here to be enjoyable. I gave it a 3 here, but it has spiked to between a 3 and 4, though it took quite a bit of doing to get there. This also does a nice job of warming my esophageal tract, more notably than mouth heat, which is kind of an odd sensation. 

Flavor-wise, we have the combination of those peppers I mentioned, along with a bit of smokiness from the Ghosties, the paprika, and the smoked maple syrup. There is not a maple syrup flavor, though...it's much more of a general sweetness. The predominant flavor is the Habs and Scorpions, with notes from the garlic, vinegar, and cumin chiming in, all of which are riding on an undercurrent of that general sweetness. It's all quite nice, though I could do with less of the Scorpion notes.

Bottom line: This is another fascinating sauce, with a number of different categories and flavor profiles explored, all within a setting that reaches heat enough to put it in the chilehead-only realm. Very nice end result overall. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 3
            Flavor: 7
            Flexibility: 7
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 6

Overall: 6

Tamazula Black Label Extra Hot Hot Sauce Review

Tamazula Black Label Extra Hot

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl6HMnYUWDE

In many ways, this will be one of the easier sauces to review, since I've already done it...but there is a story here, kind of. It has to do with Tamazula, who is the maker of both Tamazula and Valentina hot sauces. At first, I thought it might be more of a regional difference, as in the sauce is called one thing in Mexico (Tamazula) where it originates and another (Valentina) when exported to the US. There are differing packaging restrictions between the two, which could also be part of it. The idea was borne out a bit when I found the Tamazula in a Mexican grocer, the only place I've seen it so far, and the Valentina rather ubiquitously elsewhere, including the Mexican grocer. Well worth noting is how quickly this theory is deflated upon discovery that Valentina is the best-selling sauce in Mexico. For what it's worth, the Tamazula is also notable more expensive on a per ounce basis.

So...is it the same sauce as the Valentina Black Label Extra Hot (the labeling and name also shared with that sister sauce, which is reviewed elsewhere here)? For me, the answer is not so cut and dried. I found the Tamazula to be a lot less harsh and abrasive, much smoother in taste, than the Valentina, however, this could be due to the bottle having a lot less room to agitate and perhaps as I get more towards the end, this will change. The ingredient panels are identical and both use the Puya pepper as the heat source. Color-wise, while I don't have a bottle of the Valentina or a color spectrophotometer to measure, I would put them closer than not. If pressed, I would probably say the same about the taste as well. While I found this one to be silkier in tone and slightly preferable, it is also a bit less hot than I remember the Valentina being, but again, the difference is minute enough to be barely about negligible. 

Either one is going to serve roughly the same purpose, which is as a Mexican table sauce, meant to have a flavor profile that will lend itself to be poured over everything, including possibly desserts. It fulfills this mission well and this is definitely one of the more flexible sauces in that category, as the Valentina also is, though to a lesser degree. While I prefer this one, the Valentina is considerably more available (the website is named after that sauce rather than Tamazula) and it would be kind of interesting to understand why the company both introduced Valentina to the market after the Tamazula sauce and why they keep both in production.

Bottom line: Not exactly a clone, but more like the Valentina Black Label than not, this is right at the top of the various Mexican-style table sauces.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 8
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 7