Uncle Chainsaw Scassa La Bocca Hot Sauce Review

Uncle Chainsaw Scassa La Bocca

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOzxC69NIHs

Before I get into the review proper, I need to discuss something briefly, so skip ahead to the third paragraph if you're not interested. That something has to do with price points and not filling bottles completely. I know this is a newer sauce company and still developing (as an aside, their website could use some fleshing out as well), but I can't let this kind of thing pass. I did an FOH video about where the levels are for the various fluid ounces comprising the usual 5 fluid ounce bottles hot sauces tend to come in (check the FOH Random playlist for this) and this sauce, which I didn't notice at the time, as I was doing a bulk buy and not paying strict attention, was well below the level of the label. This means it was less than 4 ounces of sauce in the bottle. The bottle itself was $12, so rather than $2.40/fl.oz., had it been 5 fl. oz., because it was 4 oz. for the same $12,  it was closer to $3/fl. oz. Ok, kind of annoying, but not the end of the world...

...except there was some in the neck of the bottle, discolored and dried up towards the bottom. It took more sauce in order to clear the jam, so it wound up closer to 3 fl. oz. actually usable, though it was hard to specifically tell, since the label covers the lower part pretty thoroughly. In any case, what should have been $2.40/fl. oz. was now closer to $4/fl. oz. and this is not the kind of thing anyone should want. Fortunately, the rest of the sauce didn't turn, but with that much air in the bottle, it runs a huge risk of oxidation, which will tend to ruin sauces, both in terms of discoloration and altered flavor. There is no way this sauce should have been put on shelves like this.

There is much to like about this company, from the nifty name, to constant callbacks to heavy metal, both with the horns and death metalization of the logo on the label, to the idea that their approach is that of a chef towards hot sauce, with flavor far outpacing heat. With this particular sauce, Scassa La Bocca roughly translating to "crack/wreck/smash the mouth, the idea is that it is comprised of ingredients entirely imported from Italy, which I love the concept of. The first taste of this was replete with green olives and capers and it was quite nice, unquestionably. The creaminess the oil adds is also a nice touch and it's a very strong first step.

The downside to this lies in the additional spices and herbs. There is definitely some oregano in there, probably some basil as well, possibly some rosemary, thyme, and sage as well, and all of that seems to point pretty strongly at tomato-based Italian sauces, for a pasta dish, for instance. Indeed, I think this is one of the few sauces that would be quite good there, though I don't know that I will have this sauce around (in addition to starting at a lower level, I'm also burning through what's there, as it definitely speaks to my preferences and it's fun to test) by the time it gets cool enough for me to consider cooking again, but I didn't find it worked well on frozen pizza. With the green olives, I feel like it needs to go in places where you'd want that flavor, which I think inherently limits it a bit and even moreso with the addition of spices, which I wish were either not present at all or at minimum, dialed way, way back. 

The peppers here are Calabrians, which are one of my absolute favorites. Calabrian is a very flavor-oriented pepper, with not a great amount of heat, so what heat there is here is fairly minimal. It is also a bit streaky, in that at times, I get a bit of a heat charge and in others, I won't get any heat at all. I don't mind that a great deal, though, as heat is clearly not the intent and the flavor, for the most part, is pretty wonderful. I can't think of any other out there quite like this and with some minor fine tuning, this could approach magical.

Bottom line: A very strong debut sauce from this company for me, though I find it to be quite dependent on the setting it's used in. If you're looking for that hot sauce to go with Italian foods, this would be a good one to take a look at.

Breakdown:

       Heat level: 1
       Flavor: 8
       Flexibility: 4
       Enjoyment to dollar factor: 6

Overall: 5

Char Man Dos Locals Hot Sauce Review

Char Man  Dos Locals

Note: This sauce was provided for purposes of review by Roger Damptz of Burn Your Tongue. Check him out on Facebook or, better yet, head on over to his new online outlet where you can shop the widest selection available anywhere, www.burnyourtongueonline.com. 

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk3W3xW94UY

Char Man is another name I've had on the list for a while, a long, long while, and am only now barely getting to checking out. This is, I believe, one of their newer sauces and is another that uses booze, specifically a lager called Dos Topas from the Topa Topa brewing company. It also features a "salsa macha," which is a chili oil made with Morita and Guajillo peppers, the former being one I don't run across especially often. It sounded like it might be an interesting adventure, albeit one I expected, given also the heavy presence of Jalapenos, more along the lines of a Mexican-style sauce.

I can't say that I continue to think that, truth be told .This is a fairly difficult sauce to categorize and one that I've spent a lot of time testing, mostly because there are not a lot of natural places that suggest themselves. The company recommends tacos, pizzas, and burgers, but I found it difficult to get a good balance with the tacos, without the flavor of the sauce becoming dominant. So, too, with the pizza, but with the burgers, here we had enough stuff that it tended to complement the food fairly well. On chicken tendies, I found it acceptable, but just. It occurred to me that it might be better as a component of something and that called to mind chili and I figured if this sauce was still around when the weather turned cold enough for me to want to cook indoors again, I could definitely use it there. 

It's not at all a bad-tasting sauce, though very distinct to itself. As noted, I'm not sure how I would categorize it, though I suppose a straightforward, albeit creamier than normal, sauce is probably where I'd go. The flavor is very distinct and we have the beer and the salsa macha very forward in the mix, the former being a flavor I'd prefer not be there at all. I think this may be another of those where if you like beer in your hot sauces, you will probably find this more preferable. For me, it has some fairly narrow flexibility. Heat-wise, this is fairly moderate. What heat there is will blast forward initially, but then as quickly taper. 

Bottom line: Definitely a very unique sauce, but one I found difficult to use without it being obtrusive. The creaminess is also a touch off-putting and I found the flavor of the beer to be a bit distracting.

Breakdown:

       Heat level: 1
       Flavor: 7
       Flexibility: 3
       Enjoyment to dollar factor: 5

Overall: 4

Mythos Thor Hot Sauce Review

Mythos Thor

Note: This sauce was provided for purposes of review by Roger Damptz of Burn Your Tongue. Check him out on Facebook or, better yet, head on over to his new online outlet where you can shop the widest selection available anywhere, www.burnyourtongueonline.com. 

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YJBpGBpFY0

As I've noted once I started to get more into those, Fresnos for me are one of the better tasting peppers out there. They're fantastic in sauce, so good, in fact, that they can almost combat the awfulness of the use of the apple cider vinegar here...almost. Apple cider vinegar is, of course, one of the longer running "health" fads, largely propagated by the Bragg's company and their ace marketing and like all fads, it tends not to be particularly rooted in truth as well as greatly overstaying its relative welcome. I, for one, will be beyond thrilled when it finally ends and makers stop wrecking their hot sauces with it.

I suppose I've probably been fairly clear on my thoughts on the flavor notes here, but it's a shame as this could have been an excellent Cajun style sauce, by way of coming a bit closer in feel and tone to Louisiana-style. It is quite watery and the blend of Fresno and Habanero is a quite good one. In fact, had not this been somewhat ruined by the flavor notes of the apple cider vinegar which, admittedly, show up inconsistently, as this is a sauce that needs frequent agitation, we would have had a very excellently flavored entry on our hands here. As it is, it's more streaky than anything. When you don't get the apple cider vinegar hit, you get a good impression of what could have been and it's a shame the sauce is not all like that. Heat-wise, with only Habanero as the heat driver, it was never going to be particularly blazing and this is a fairly moderate round heat.

This is my first product from Mythos and I really love the idea here. Clean, slick labels, though the ingredient text is way, way too small, easily recognizable and with a nice call back to mythology, which has long been a story branch I've loved. I think the ideas of the sauces, fairly simplistic and basic, also match the ideals implied by the labels well and there is some strong potential here. But, for all that, what's in the bottles, the actual sauces have to hit and this one is rather a mixed bag for me. 

Bottom line: How much you will like this sauce is directly dependent on your view of apple cider vinegar as a flavoring, but if it's something you find more preferable than I, this is worth checking out as a slightly hotter than normal Cajun or Louisiana-style sauce.

Breakdown:

       Heat level: 1
       Flavor: 6
       Flexibility: 7
       Enjoyment to dollar factor: 5

Overall: 5

Zia Chile Traders La Llorona Hot Sauce Review

Zia Chile Traders La Llorona

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mi6GAdgYvU

The man, the icon, the legend, John Hard has triumphantly returned to the creation of hot sauces out of his new locale in Las Cruces, NM, after departing the shores of Ohio and with that return comes some new ingredients, new flavors, and very new vibes, all of it resonant to the area.We'll get into the sauce proper shortly (skip ahead to paragraph 4 where the review picks up again), but we can't go much further without addressing the name.

La Llorona, while very well known to Mexico, parts of Central America, and the Southwestern US, is not one I had heard of at all, let alone was familiar with, prior to a few years ago. My introduction came in a Batwoman comic, which painted her both as malevolent entity, as well as a tragic figure. I started digging into the lore a bit more and the basic gist is that a woman had either a husband or lover and with that man, had a couple of kids. Somewhere along the lines, she caught him or was otherwise made aware of his infidelity and in a fit of violent rage, drowned both the children and herself, with the man not referenced further, but perhaps was unscathed from to any direct actions from him to her.

In any case, she was tethered to the world, unable to pass on without her children, and condemned to haunt bodies of water, forever fruitlessly searching for her children. Depending on if she is read as a vengeful spirit or not, which also depends on the telling, she is either drowning the children of other women maliciously or in a misguided attempt to reclaim her children. The story itself appears to trace back to Aztec times and there is a lot of suggestion it was modified to represent another figure of legend and allegorically in reference to the native population of women once the Spanish conquistadors arrived. I don't know enough to comment on this, but her story always struck me as a bit sad, with her as victim, first of her husband/lover, then of her own actions and emotions. The tale is now largely one similar to when I was growing up of the "boogeyman," who would come take errant and misbehaving children away, though for La Llorona, it is a reference and admonishment to children to be careful in the waters and not to go out too deep, where she may take them. 

I don't understand what she has to do with a hot sauce, unless it has Ghost peppers, given that La Llorona would fit into that category. This sauce, however, has yellow Moruga Scorpions and a Hatch pepper called Lumbre. There is some text on the back about the story but not why the sauce is named after it, so definitely the naming convention is pretty beyond me here. This sauce also has a mustard by way of Southwestern style, which I didn't know existed until this sauce, so both that style, called Bajan, and the Lumbre, are new to me here. As if that wasn't enough, we also have a tropical salad, with pineapple, papaya, and passion fruit, all of it rounded out at the very end with tomato paste, to really get an interesting dynamic going.

This is a very thick sauce, very, very thick, almost too thick (hello tomato paste) to really work well in the usual 5 oz. bottle. Agitating it is somewhat of a chore, but separation is not really an issue here, so just as well, I suppose. I would rather this have been in a squeeze bottle, if possible. It also pours out a bit chunky, thanks to the tropical salad, and there is a grittiness to the texture, most likely from the peppers themselves. The sauce itself looks quite gorgeous, sort of a yellowish orange, and the label art, of La Llorona, is spectacular.

Flavor-wise, we have something that is more a bridge between mustard and hot sauce, than either one of them individually. This might be the first sauce that has done this successfully, though many others have tried. There is definitely a strong mustard presence, but elements such as the tomato paste and tropical salad keep it from going too far in that territory. There is also the bitter superhot notes, and a depth of flavor as well as some subtle taste hints from the tomato paste. The tropical salad more blends in than is its own note, I would say, and might contribute a bit more texturally than in flavor. At times, this will seem to be more of a tropical fruit-based sweet-hot mustard, and at other times, more into a composite flavor, which is one of the neater aspects of this sauce. It works well on a variety of foods, but depending on what you pair with it, you'll get a different, sometimes vastly different, flavor experience.

Bottom line: The name John Hard needs no introduction from me and he's an absolute legend, whose return should be heralded. The sauce I find a bit confusing, as it doesn't seem to have direct natural tie-ins, but if you're like me and love to take a wonderfully flavored sauce, like this one, and apply it to different foods in the name of testing and experimentation, you'll have a grand old time...as I am with this.

Breakdown:

       Heat level: 2
       Flavor: 8
       Flexibility: 7
       Enjoyment to dollar factor: 8

Overall: 6

Freddy vs. Jason Hot Sauce Set (FYE Exclusive) Mini-Review(s)

Freddy vs. Jason Hot Sauce Set

Fire Scorch (Freddy Krueger)
Deadly Duel
Camp Fire (Jason Voorhees)

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6PKs4HBlSM

So now we get more into what I had anticipated from FYE novelty/branded sauces, namely relabels where the tie-in was more important than the product. This (and the Dungeons & Dragons Dragon's Breath, which I did a full review on - check TOC at right, if you want to check that out) originate from Southwest Specialty, famous for their Desert Creatures, From Hell, Whoop Ass, and perhaps most famous of all, Ass-Kickin' product lines.

We'll start with the mildest, which is the Fire Scorch sauce. The main pepper here is the Jalapeno, probably red Jalapeno at that. This one, unless I miss my guess, is from the Desert Creatures line and is probably the Coyote's Howl sauce. I could be wrong, as I've not tried that specific sauce, but the ingredients line up pretty closely. This is perhaps the prettiest sauce, a very deep, rich red, in addition to the lowest heat (as in there is really none to be found), but the more memorable thing, besides Krueger on the label, is this rather odd off-taste that's in the sauce. It tastes almost like dust or dirt, which is rather strange. Even stranger, it seems almost random. I'm noting this at room temp, but will test it again after it's had time to chill. The flavor, when that presence is not there, is overall pretty good and probably the best of the lot solo. 

With food, however, it's another story. Here, with the Deadly Duel, we have a sauce I wasn't able to match specifically to ingredient panels as closely (this may be the Lazy Ass Habanero - again, not had that one, so not sure specifically). This sauce, with the Habanero as the main pepper, is a much paler orange and visually...not super appetizing, if I'm being honest. It is also the thinnest of the 3 sauces. It did work the best of the three on food and seemed to meld a lot better than the others, but part of this is due to the weird off-flavor of the Fire Scorch. Heat-wise, it varies between a 2 pushing 3 and has a certain degree of bitterness to it. This combination, I suspect, would put this more applicably into chilehead only territory. 

Last, and maybe somewhat least, is the Camp Fire. This one, featuring the mighty Carolina Reaper, is back towards the red hue, though more of a red-brown tone. This is the one I'm more sure about regarding the SSF lineup as the only other sauce I could find with Reapers and fresh garlic was the Ass Kickin' Carolina Reaper, a sauce I think I may have tried, but don't remember specifically. It is much thicker than the others as well as being much, much hotter, an easy 4, which puts it well out of range for normies. Even if they were daring, I doubt they would enjoy it much as this has a ton of superhot bitterness and is a generally unpleasant flavor experience. Indeed, this sauce is a good example of the concept of "hot for the sake of being hot."

Overall, I didn't really have a lot of expectations for this, other than that the Reaper sauce would probably be hot. It was $10 for the set and I'm largely expecting to run out the Deadly Duel, may try to tinker around with the Fire Scorch a bit, but am going to try the Camp Fire chilled (if there is any difference to any of these refrigerated rather than room temp, I will update this) again, probably once, and then bin the entire thing. I don't anticipate finishing the Fire Scorch, either, so as it shakes out, one sauce for $9.99, which isn't out of line, generally, though it probably is for the SSF lineup, and a cool shelf display for my son, that last being at least a major part of my motivation to get this set in the first place.

Pepper North Stargazer Hot Sauce Review

Pepper North Stargazer

Note: This sauce appears on Season 11 of The Hot Ones.

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjZa1PQQ5RE

Hailing from Canada, here we have a sauce that, indirectly via an Amazon search a while ago, led me to the information that there is a writer of (presumably steamy) romance books by the name of Pepper North out there as well. I don't believe she has any books called Stargazer, though...at least not as of this writing.

No, this is another of the sauces as part of the great canvassing project as I slowly cover as many of the sauces on the show (you can see my progress in the link on the right) as I find acceptable and can locate. Here, we have a sauce that should have been right up my alley, with Scotch Bonnet and Ghosties, two of my faves, along with both Jalapeno and Chipotle, two great-tasting peppers. Add in a little maple syrup (Canada, eh?) and some other bits and bobs and this should be a pretty solid sauce.

If I had to pick one word to describe this sauce, it would probably be that: solid. It's fine on things like chicken, fish, pizza, and burgers, but is not the first thing I'd reach for on any of those. I suspect this is due to the vinegar being apple cider, which remains one of my least favorite forms. There is also some lime and maple, which may be contributing somewhat to that effect, or the combination thereof, but something about the flavor of this sauce just doesn't hit with me. It isn't bad, with the peppers all coming together and harmonizing in a slightly smokey pepper flavor, but overall, the effect is just kind of...eh.

Texturally, there is quite a lot of particles in there, so the sauce is quite gritty, almost unpleasantly so. It's readily masked on composite foods, like burgers, but in other applications, where the sauce more stands a bit on its own, it's far more unfortunately apparent. Heat-wise, this is definitely a chilehead only sauce. The Ghosties take things to a nice roar and hold it there, which is a quite pleasant level for me, but that, in combination with the grit and the slight element of superhot bitter, will put off any normies who may want to try to contend with the heat.

Bottom line: Very middle of the road entry from the show, neither good nor bad, particularly, just kind of solid, but hot enough to restrict to chileheads.

Breakdown: 

Heat level: 3
Flavor: 6
Flexibility: 8
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4

Overall: 5

Bumblefoot Bumblicious Hot Sauce Review

Bumblefoot Bumblicious

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxhRwEvMT6A

I remember when this sauce (and the others under the Bumblefoot (guitarist Ron Thal) vanity line) were introduced, back when it was still part of the CaJohn's lineup, before they changed branding. I added it to my mental list as something that might be interesting some day, but it got pretty immediately backburnered (and forgotten) for quite a while as I had a lot of things, even back then, that I wanted to get to first. The last big haul shopping trip I had at BYT, I was a bit light on sauces that were striking me, so I finally got around to picking up a bottle of this.

Looking at the profile, it reminded me a bit of the CaJohn's BICH (both variations reviewed elsewhere here) and also as to why I skipped it for so long (the main heat driver is Chipotle, which is to say, little to none). Getting into it, the flavor definitely reminded me a lot of the BICH again, but moreso the Black Cherry Vanilla variation, just with some changes, such as a lack of both vanilla and Habanero, and it was considerably thicker, much more reminiscent of an actual barbecue sauce than a hot sauce.So, much like the BICH sauces, I find this to work much better as a grill sauce. 

Despite there being precious little to no heat to this sauce, the insistence is on marketing it as a hot sauce, so that is how I will be judging it. It's quite thick and flows slowly and a bit grainy, no doubt from starting with brown sugar as the first ingredient. There are elements of cherry to the flavor, but the smokiness is considerably lower than I would have expected (and wanted). Bourbon also shows up as a flavor note here, but almost more like a bourbon flavoring rather than actual bourbon. I find this note to be a bit disruptive and somewhat unenjoyable overall.

For me, as a "live" sauce, meaning out of the bottle, it does not work for me particularly well as a sauce of any kind and as a hot sauce, not really at all. As a grill sauce, it definitely shines a lot more and is easily sweet enough to carmelize, but like the BICH sauces, which carry this same general characteristic, I won't be using it outside of it being a grill sauce, which ultimately makes it, in the end, somewhat of a more expensive barbecue sauce.

Bottom line: While this sauce isn't exactly awful, in practical usage, I'm not sure why anyone would buy it, as it functions poorly as a barbecue sauce, outside of the grill application, where other sauces perform better, and as a hot sauce not at all.

Breakdown: 

Heat level: 0
Flavor: 4
Flexibility: 2
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 3

Overall: 2

Volcanic Peppers Peach Ghost Pucker Hot Sauce Review

Volcanic Peppers Peach Ghost Pucker

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0epK0VBX2L0

In the hallowed shelves of BYT (link to the online store at right), I again ran across this brand, one that I've had on the back burner for some time, but meant to get back to once I narrowed the list down a bit. Whilst perusing the various bottled goodies, I came across this, which had my immediate interest. Peach + one of my favorite superhots? Sign me up...though I do admit to a pause when I came across the cinnamon in the ingredients. Cinnamon is a hard ingredient to use correctly I think, though this might be my rather particular palate, and most of the time I encounter it in sauces I strongly wish I hadn't. As a kid, I hated, just loathed the cinnamon candies, still avoid them now, was actively offended when someone offered me a stick of Big Red and I took it and shoved it in my gob without knowing what it was beforehand, disliked Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, and generally found cinnamon to be a flavor I could largely do without...save for a very specific application that being as accent to heavily buttered toast sprinkled with sugar beforehand. There, I didn't mind as much.

Nostalgia is a beast. When I first tasted the sauce, it brought me racing right back to that time, shoving the toast in my mouth so I could concentrate on running up to try to meet the too-early school bus on a country road, before the driver lost patience and fucked off away. Obviously, melted butter on toast were not part of things here, instead a very nice peach lushness as backdrop. That wave passed quickly though, with a crash as the characteristic superhot bitterness and a very nice heat kicked in. But before the sauce was done, it also delivered a nice bit of pucker, as send-off. Quite the ride and I must admit to loving every second of it. 

I do find it to be somewhat of a unique ride, tasty though it is, and not something I want on everything. For grilled meats, suggested lighter ones or not, I found it didn't quite create the harmonious accompaniment I wanted. Move to chicken tendies, though, with the fairly neutral meat combining with a generally neutral breading and this becomes an instant winner. To my mind, it works well on lighter meats, but moreso when they're breaded and fried. I found it makes a nice dessert element on things like pies, though choosing something overly sweet, as most ice creams are, and all the subtle balance with the peach, cinnamon, sugar, and pucker, gets cancelled out and you're left with the bitter tones of the superhots, which are not exactly an enjoyable component to ice cream. 

But, the bright side is that this is a very lively and fun sauce to experiment with and when you find a place where it works, it tends to work marvelously and to great effect. This is also one of the rarer sauces that I don't find quite makes it to a 3 in heat, but nevertheless, I think most normies will both find it too hot and dislike the flavor roller coaster journey, especially the bitter part in conjunction with that heat. There is quite a bit going on with this sauce and I suppose one needs to like complex sauces a bit to really admire the shine here.

Bottom line: This is an excellent sauce, extremely well-done, but ultimately more of a nice change of pace for me than something I'd want to have all the time. It is also probably better left to chileheads.

Breakdown:

       Heat level: 2
       Flavor: 10
       Flexibility: 5
       Enjoyment to dollar factor: 8

Overall: 6

HUGE SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

I am so thrilled for all of you, since I have just found out that after years in the making, the greatest hot sauce shopping I've ever experienced has finally arrived in the digital realm. I'm talking, of course, about Burn Your Tongue, a name that has graced many pages on this blog for many years and the mighty Roger Damptz, who gave this thing the life it needed. 

So yes, now you too can experience this glory for yourself at www.burnyourtongueonline.com, where you can find many old favorites as well as the best selection of the new hotties on the market. Roger let me in on some of his future plans and while I can't reveal them to you here, you definitely are going to want to bookmark that site and check it frequently, not only to re-up all your sauce needs, but for all the upcoming goodies, as well as the rotating specials that are here and those coming soon.

Alright, as if you need any more incentive to finally check out this place I've been talking about for so long without a pilgrimage to Utah, let me sweeten the deal with one little secret that I will reveal. If you order online, during the month of August 2023, and use the coupon code TSAAF, you can take yourself off a nifty 15%. Can't beat that with a bat and I urge you all now to go forth, in peace, to serve the flame and check out BYT online.