Spice Dog Provisions Sailor’s Sky Hot Sauce Review

Spice Dog Provisions Sailor’s Sky

Story time: There is a really lovely standalone display at Roger’s Ogden location of Burn Your Tongue. It’s this sort of taller cardboard jobbie that fits a bunch of sauces in it and there were pretty much every variety from Spice Dog in it, being that is who the display is from. You’ve no doubt seen similar display in grocery stores, but I find it fairly rare for a hot sauce company to do this kind of marketing. Anyway, I’ve passed by it numerous times, always meaning to one day grab something, that old familiar refrain I’ve said many a time about many a backburnered sauce, but on the occasion I’d pick up a bottle, I’d see onions or, as was more often the case, my basket was already full with a number of other sauces I’d had on the hit list for longer or which had burned hotter and then I’d forget until I ran across the display again.

This time, the stars finally aligned, and while selection was notably down from the previous levels to the visit before this latest one, I still had some space in the basket and saw the display and figured I’d make good on that prior notion, finally. This was the only one I saw that struck me that day which didn’t have onions on it, so I picked up a bottle, so it could more conveniently sit on my shelf for a few weeks, but I got to this one in fairly fast time, considering.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was probably not this, which is a composite flavor profile, in which the ingredients all contribute to a greater whole, but no one part is particularly dominant in the flavor, though cinnamon does show up as an aftertaste probably the most frequently. Both Habaneros and Scotch Bonnets are here and those, in conjunction with the Bells and the pineapple, create a sort of tropical pepper vibe, which, despite the pineapple and additional sugar, is a touch vinegary. This is certainly an interesting and definitely unique flavor, nearly unto itself, as sauces that are composites tend to be. Heat-wise, given the peppers involved, this is quite moderate.

The drawback to these kinds of sauces is that they don’t tend to mesh well with other foods and unless you can find something readily to pair it with, these can linger around in the fridge for bit, both of which are true here. The flavor isn’t bad, but it’s a bit hard to figure. It doesn’t naturally lend itself to any one style, other than working pretty solidly with fried foods. I spaced over it a few times reaching for other stuff and, remembering that I hadn’t agitated it enough one time, that I got a lot of cinnamon, decided to try it as a dessert sauce, but it is in no way sweet enough for that. So, it winds up a sauce with a sort of self-defining identity and while I like it for a change of pace, I don’t like it well enough for this to be in regular usage.

Bottom line: If you’re been following this blog for any amount of time, you’ve perhaps ran across the phrase “more interesting than good,” and this is a sauce that is a prime example of that.

Breakdown:

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

Overall: 3