Butterfly Bakery Maple Rum Chipotle Hot Sauce Review

 Butterfly Bakery Maple Rum Chipotle

I am well prepared to say that Claire Georges, mastermind behind Butterfly Bakery (of Vermont) is a certified hot sauce genius, but I fear that might be understating things. I would not wish to limit it solely to the realm of that particular condiment and strongly suspect it might be far more extensive. The dazzling flavor combinations she comes up with, which translate to the liquid ambrosia pouring out of my various bottles, are absolutely truly something to behold and I am so very thankful for the existence of The Hot Ones show, if only for introducing me to these culinary wonders.

For this one, we have a smokiness that again hearkens back to fall smells, the smoke in the air, the crispness biting your cheeks, and perhaps that motif is not too distant as there is a little nip to this sauce as well, in the form of some maple rum, itself backed by a bit more of that wonderful Vermont maple syrup to boot. While this is definitely not a sweet sauce, it is an immensely flavorful one, but the first aroma is that of the smoke and it both takes me back and perhaps even aback a touch as I admire the callback to my favorite time of year and memories past.

Flavor-wise, this is fresh Chipotle with a dash of some astringency and if you ever thought all Chipotles were the same or wondered the difference between canned and more processed Chipotle vs. fresh Chipotle, get you a bottle of this and wonder no more. The fresh Chipotles are front and center, first ingredient out, and there is a slight degree of higher heat than I would normally associated with Chipotle. Not to say this is hot or punishing, just slightly more surprising in the nice element of heat tingles I was not really expecting. 

Like all Butterfly Bakery sauces, this is also intensely flavorful and I found, given the astringent element, that it really shone on fried foods, but also on things like wings. The recommendations are for pizza (too astringent for my tastes there), as well as red meats, perhaps bowing to the smokiness, but I don’t always love astringency with those either. For me, putting it along the lines of where I might reach for a Louisiana-style, just a really emphatically good-tasting one, where was I liked this best, but all that said, it is an immensely fun sauce with which to experiment.

Bottom line: This is both an excellent gateway sauce for early chileheads, as well as for more established chileheads who are like me and foodies first. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 9
            Flexibility: 7
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 7