Maritime Madness Giv'er Hot Sauce Review

Maritime Madness Giv’er 

One of my more favorite things about Canada is the strong enthusiasm for Candians to come up with the most quaint and deliciously eclectic colloquialisms and there are many. While I don’t have a particular favorite, it was kind of entertaining to learn, from this hot sauce, as I’ve not heard it from any Canadians that I know directly, that “Giv ‘er,” which is evidently meant to be a shortening of “give her.” I don’t know how long it’s been in use, but I suspected the meaning was perhaps either from or similar in meaning to famous Canadian James Doohan and his character Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott’s famed phrase of “I’m giving her all she’s got, Captain,” from the Star Trek Original Series. As a long-time fan of Star Trek TOS, I like that idea immensely and will not readily part with it, but I have no idea if that is the case or not. The sentiment, of putting forth maximum effort, or in this case, an allusion to maximum heat, seems to be around the same sentiment.

Now, do I think this is anywhere near maximum heat? No, and evidently neither did Maritime Madness, as they came up with an Ultimate Giv’er sauce, which adds Reapers, if I’m remembering right. I may get to that someday. I also may not, as I think this sauce falls a bit in the middle for me. Because the hot peppers, Ghosties, in this case, are front and center as the first ingredient, what heat this has goes full tilt from the jump. I think it is enough to probably be off-putting to normies, but it also tapers fairly quickly and most chileheads won’t be challenged. Along with it comes the usual superhot bitterness, which is pretty prominent. The rest of the ingredients, the vinegar, salt, and garlic, all play second fiddle to this attribute. While grace notes of the latter two will show up here and there, depending on what you use it on, the vinegar, after the initial hit I mentioned, will make its presence known, but this is not a hugely astringent sauce. Give than the ingredients are more along the lines of a Cajun sauce, this is kind of interesting.

For me, who is not a huge fan of bitter as a flavor element, a little of this goes a pretty long way and perhaps that’s what they intended. However, this also reduces its flexibility a bit, as I didn’t find it too enjoyable outside of either creamy sauce dishes or perhaps on fairly stronger-flavored and more complex foods, like a fast food chicken sandwich, for example. I didn’t dislike it, to be sure, when I used it where the taste would be relatively unaltered, such as say for chicken tendie dipping sauce, but it is not the pairing I really wanted nor would I reach for this past something else. It definitely has its uses, but I think it needs to be matched well.

Bottom line: Definitely the hottest of the Maritime Madness sauce I’ve had, but more towards the middle of the pack in terms of what I enjoyed.

Breakdown:

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

Overall: 4