Smokin' Ed's Pepper X Mustard Dill Hot Sauce Review

Smokin’ Ed’s Pepper X Mustard Dill

When I initially saw this, I put it on my list, but on the longer range side...after cussing myself out a bit as I hadn’t noticed it when I was buying during a sale and surely would have just added it for the discount, had I observed it then. It waited quite a while, as I’d gone through, at the time, most of the sauces from both Puckerbutt and Smokin’ Ed’s that were of interest to me or had them coming on the way already. In any event, I figured it was probably another mustard being mislabeled as a hot sauce, and was kind of hoping for that, if I’m being honest, as I like to keep a mustard on hand and newer ones have been kind of in short supply, at least the ones more easily in convenient reach, that is.

As it was, when I opened the bottle, it did not seem at all like this was a mustard masquerading as a hot sauce, but indeed, a mustard-based hot sauce...it was also one of the sourest sauces I’ve had in a while. If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that sour sauces are not at all near my favorites...in fact, generally quite the opposite. However, this was initial opening, at room temperature, etc. and I figured that as there became more space in the bottle and it was chilled, it might swing the needle a bit. Indeed, I do, like actual mustard, much prefer this sauce chilled.

Even chilled, though, it is still quite sour. It smells very pungent, but the flavor is not really that of vinegar or mustard, but of something tending towards unripe. I will state that Smokin’ Ed Currie has forgotten more about peppers than I will ever know, but I am quite familiar with both unripe fruits and vegetables and the attendant sourness is quite distinctive. I found this to be fairly reminiscent of that aspect. 

I was able to buffer some of that out by adding salt, which made it much more towards an actual mustard, and separately, by adding a sweetener, which brought forward the Pepper X flavor and heat quite notably, but that’s me tinkering. As-is, unfortunately, I don’t really find this usable particularly. The flavors, when they can push through that sour wall, are pretty interesting and I find myself intrigued by the sauce this could have been and plan on experimenting with it, as when those flavors do make it through, I do like them...but much of the time, they don’t. This definitely cuts down the flexibility, along with flavor, substantially. Heat-wise, as this is Pepper X, the reigning hottest pod on the planet, it’s definitely a punchy sauce and in that respect, will likely push non-chileheads pretty hard.

Bottom line: If you like sour sauces more than me, this may be up your alley, but for everyone else, I guess be prepared to tinker with it to suit it to your particular palate. 

Breakdown:

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

Overall: 2