Yin Yang Hot Sauce Review

Yin Yang

Yin and yang, the forces that contrast and complement to create a unifying whole, a very old observation of balance and the concept of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. In this regard, I think the sauce is a success at living up to its name. We have some astringency from the vinegar, some light sweetness from the raisins, some minimal heat and smokiness from the fire-roasted Habaneros, and a scant amount of umami as well to sort of round it out and bring it all home, though for me, it could have used a lot more of it. What I will say is that it’s hard for me to describe this as a hot sauce.

I think it’s a fairly daring choice to use raisins. Hot sauces do not generally do that and I suppose on the surface, in a strictly literal sense, you can make any sauce “hot” by adding peppers, in some form or other to it. Spicy ketchup, for instance, could qualify. Yes, ketchup is more or less a sauce and if you add in, say mighty mighty Reapers, it will also be hot. But, if we’re talking about the condiment more colloquially known as hot sauce, it strongly suggests other things.

The reason why I called the usage of raisins a daring choice, other than the fact that I rarely see grapes being used, at all, in hot sauces, whether desiccated or otherwise, is the thought that grapes are rarely used for any sauce and as a flavor, do not really lend themselves especially well in terms of integrating into food. There are limited exceptions, to be sure, but overall, not so much. That is the smaller element here, though. The bigger one is that one of the most well-known brands of condiments utilizes them fairly extensively and has captured the minds and taste buds of people to such a degree that using them will immediately call to mind the comparison. I am, of course, referring to A1 Steak sauce. 

Indeed, in many ways, this reminds me of a much less flavor density, slightly smokier, and somewhat hotter version of that condiment, a familiarity that I find it hard to shake. This is even more strongly reinforced when, despite trying it on a variety of things other than grilled darker meats, I found it kind of baffling. Once I put it on the right food, things locked in and we got some of that food harmony that itself is a callback to the sauce name, particularly those umami-rich foods...which also bolsters the idea that this would do well to have more umami.

Bottom line: I’m not going to directly call this a mislabeled steak sauce, so much as noting that it worked better there than on everything else, where it didn’t work particularly well at all. I really like the concept, but think this either needs further refining or maybe reworking, or just a rebranding as an actual steak sauce. 

Breakdown:

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

Overall: 3

 

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

La Perrona Original Hot Sauce Review

La Perrona Original

Very often, Mexican style sauces will have a certain sameness to them. Certainly it is with good reason, as the combinations of flavors are a very tried and true combination, but it’s also nice to both reference that style and break out of it a bit. This is more or less what this sauce does, by sort of moving away from the richness and earthiness of some of the other entries and dialing the astringency up a bit and going with a couple of very flavorful peppers, the Arbol, which is near-ubiquitous, and the Chiltepin, which was used less, but has recently become sort of a darling and is cropping up everywhere. It brings a nice degree of heat while retaining a very solid flavor balance, so small wonder that it’s gaining in popularity.

“La Perrona” can either refer to a large canine or possibly, in a slang. colloquial sense, to something that is “kick ass” or otherwise denotation of a positive impression. I would imagine that both senses are meant by this name, but there is also a picture of a dog on the label up front and that is the more literal meaning, so if I were to have to forcibly defer to one, it would be that. 

One issue I do kind of have with this sauce, aside from it being slightly more astringent than is my preference in this style of sauce, is that it appears to be made from dried peppers that were reconstituted to make the sauce. This is a fine, well, and good practice, and can result, as it does here in a fairly concentrated and pepper-forward flavor, but it also is prone to introducing bits of hard pepper, which can lead to a certain gritty aspect, as this one does. It is not egregious, but I do find it off-putting every time I encounter it, which is frequent with this sauce. Again, this is, I suppose, another differentiator, as most sauces of this type tend to be much smoother and refined. If anything, this reminds me somewhat of the house sauces that Mexican restaurants will sometimes make. 

Bottom line: This overall is a very solid, middle of the road entry into things, a good “change of pace” sauce, if you’re tired of the other Mexican style sauces you may keep on standby, with enough heat to be notable, but not so much as to be overbearing. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 5
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 6

Palo Alto Firefighters Habanero Pepper Sauce Review

Palo Alto Firefighters Habanero

I can’t remember how I came across this one initially, but I stuck it in a wish list and there it sat for quite a while, just hanging out, waiting... Eventually, I wound up needing another for shipping, though I was looking more for sweet hots at the time, and tossed it in because I’d only initially been curious but had seen it enough times that my idle curiousity was getting a tad more pronounced over time. This is not uncommon for me, as I keep lists of lots of stuff, but the ones that aren’t quite red burning hot will get shuffled to one of the cooler burners in the back, still there, but more just being there until the mood strikes.

Anyway, I didn’t know quite what to expect with this one, other than I expected it to be mild, as the ingredients were fairly non-descript. One of those, “spice,” is doing quite a bit of work and encompasses, at minimum, some cumin, onion powder, and garlic powder, meanwhile paprika is specifically named out. The first two ingredients here are the red Jalapeno, always a great choice, and the Habanero, which is there to be the heat driver, so as a pepper sauce, peppers are fairly forward.. There is a notable degree of tang and tartness from the vinegar, which is a touch strong for my preference, and I could have done with a lot less of the cumin.

What this reads as is a hotter version of the Ortega or La Victoria hot sauce bottles you can see pretty readily on grocery store shelves. For many of us, these were among out first introductions to hot sauce, with a fairly low key and mild flavor, being perhaps akin to liquified taco packet seasoning, which, for better or worse, is around where I would put this. Given the Habanero, it is notably hotter than anything I’ve had from either of those two companies, but also given the Habanero, nothing I consider particularly challenging. Unless I miss my guess, they were definitely aiming more at a table sauce here, but I suppose because my memories are too tied into those foods I mentioned, taco seasoning packet tacos and so on, this seems much more in line with that than with a more universal table sauce. Even down to the color itself strikes me as much more in that vein. 

Bottom line: While a tad too cumin-heavy and vinegar-forward for my personal tastes, this is a very nice smooth, slightly runny, hotter and ultimately higher end taco sauce. 

Breakdown:

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

Overall: 4 

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

Barnacle Foods Habanero Hot Sauce Review

 Barnacle Foods Habanero

I’ve mentioned before, how my good friend, the wise and sage Roger Damptz of Burn Your Tongue, not only saved this here blog, but also kickstarted the FOH video series on YouTube. Back some time ago, a few years, probably, I was kicking around the aisles of one of the BYT locations and we were able to catch up. He was showing me some of the various sauces, and he pointed out this brand, as having a very unique ingredient that didn’t often show up in sauces, as well as being out of Alaska, itself a rarity. At the time, Peri-Peri, the pepper in the other sauce (review coming in the future) wasn’t too high on my radar and Habanero definitely wasn’t, as it has taken me a long time to come to terms with the flavor of it, though I can at least somewhat appreciate it more these days. Anyway, point being, I took a pass on it and went with other stuff, but figured, since it did not contain onions, I’d get to it at some point.

Lo and behold, I just kept right on forgetting...and forgetting...and forgetting, until finally picking it up in another different shopping trip to another BYT location (which did not exist at the time he introduced me to the sauce), where I want for something else entirely, but predictably wound up leaving with about twice as much as I was expecting to get going in. *ahem* After looking more closely at the ingredient list, I got real interest real fast and cracked it open, only to find myself faced with yet another entry to a category of foods I’ve dubbed “kick me,” meaning that having it makes me want to kick my own ass for not having it sooner. 

What we have here is a very nicely umami-forward sauce. Habanero is pretty up front as well as a flavor and there is a background of some tartness from the vinegar and here and there some sweetness, which vacillates between the tropical sweetness of the mango and the desert sweetness of the agave. This is a combination I would never have thought of and this is just one aspect of this meticulously well-crafted gem of a sauce. It is a tad on the thin side, which might need to be accounted for in usage, but there is not a single thing I tried it on where it didn’t work, until I eventually just gave up trying to find something where it wouldn’t work. This sauce reinforces something I’ve said here before: if you make a great-tasting enough sauce, it automatically drives the flexibility higher. That is definitely the case here, but furthermore, given how umami rich and with Habanero, it’s a tad light on the heat side, this is the perfect sauce to give someone who says they don’t like hot sauce.

Bottom line: This is very much, if not obvious by now, another Sauce Of The Year candidate for 2025, making this the first year with 5. An absolute stunner of the sauce and one of the few that I strongly recommend everyone try...and will probably enjoy.

Breakdown:

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

Overall: 8

Volcanic Peppers SUK Hot Sauce Review

Volcanic Peppers SUK

One of the things I’ve noticed a bit about a lot of the fruit-forward sauces, particularly involving mango, is that the flavor of the mango will get lost. Happily, that is not the case here and they are quite front and center. Indeed, of all the various mango-and sauces I’ve had, this is one that does a better job of capturing that flavor profile. This is balanced somewhat with some citrus, which very nicely brightens things up and keeps it from being overly sweet.

Usually, I would not go as low as Serranos, as the motif has been “Habanero or higher,” but really, who am I kidding there? One of my favorite styles is Louisiana-style, which is nearly always Cayenne and Fresnos are one of my all-time favorite peppers, so I’m feeling a lot less that I don’t need to adhere to that frankly very entertaining, but not exactly true, slogan. 

There are a few mysteries about here, such as what the guy on the label is actually meant to be doing and what “SUK” is intended to reference, answers for neither question I’ve been able to unearth, but what really matters ultimately is what’s within the glass, not on the outside of it. What we have here is a quite tasty and pretty well-balanced, tropical fruit-based sweet hot that is excellently and skillfully done.

Given that it is only Serranos, the heat here is quite moderate, which the label copy also notes, so chileheads won’t likely be satisfied, but this could be an excellent gateway or stepping stone sauce. As with fruit-based sweet hots generally, the applications are a tad on the narrow side, but this is quite lovely on fried foods and pairing it with other dishes involving fruits, such as perhaps a quinoa bowl, also works to great effect.

Bottom line: Another lovely entry from the burning masterminds of Bellevue, if you’re a fan of tropical fruit-based sweet hots, this is well worth a look.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 9
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 9

Overall: 6

Sendy Original Hot Sauce Review

Sendy Original

It’s always a little thrill when I happen to stumble across a sauce when I least expect it. Usually this will be on a grocery store shelf, like it was here, of a store I had not visited at all in this year and just happened to be near and looking for something else entirely. But, as is my wont, I always like to wander the store, see what’s new, what else is there and so on, and always, but always, check the condiment section, generally to see what might be on offer for hot sauce. Most of the time is it the usual mass market stuff that we’re all well familiar with, but lately, one of the local chains has made a push, as they do every few years or so, to getting more regional products on the shelf. Given that Colorado seems to have a significant number of hot sauce companies, it is not surprise that many of them, like this, wind up originating from there.

This is a good example of what I’ve mentioned before, that many hot sauces can benefit tremendously from the addition of tomatoes. Here, we have 4 different pods (and black pepper), namely Serrano, Jalapeno, Habanero, and Cayenne, though that last one doesn’t really show up in the mix too much as the first two do, which carry most of the flavor. This is a very nice, pepper forward flavor, with the tomatos adding a nice density and richness to the flavor. The first ingredient is vinegar and, depending on what I have this on, it sometimes will strike me that I would find it more favorable were that aspect dialed down a bit. It is quite a wonderfully flavorful sauce, however, more than making up for the abject goofiness of the name.

“Sendy,” much like the sauce name in the prior review, is an appeal to pushing it all the way over or full tilt or maximum effort or giving it your all, etc. etc. Unlike the cool callback to Star Trek TOS, however, this one is...ummm...decidedly not that, but is kind of awkwardly silly. I hope they revise the label copy, as this sauce deserves better. 

Given the sort of ubiquitous nature of the flavoring, this is a highly flexible sauce. It is not, however, particularly hot. That would be my second complaint, in addition to the slight over-astringency here and there. There is precious little heat there, for all those 4 pods. There is a hotter version, called Full Send, that I will be absolutely on the hunt for, as it would fix at least one of my issues with the sauce, but perhaps they were going more for general accessibility here.

Bottom line: Kind of a silly name, but don’t be deterred from what is a quite tasty robust and pepper forward sauce, albeit one with little to no heat. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 0
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 8
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 8

Overall: 6

Bohica Ghost Juice Hot Sauce Review Addendum

Bohica Ghost Juice

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USy0kSNZ5HQ 

I can’t say I was especially blown away by the previous entry into these annals from Bohica, that being the Hawaiian Lava (check TOC, if interested), but when I looked at this and saw both Ghosties and cantaloupe, my imagination was immediately engaged. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, given that strawberries, citrus juices, and pineapple were also in the mix, but I was unquestionably intrigued and...sometimes you just know. Like, you crack a bottle and as soon as you open the cap and catch a whiff, you immediately know, either for good or ill, how you will react with the sauce. In this case, it was good, most definitely good.

What we have here is a very nicely balance fruit-based sweet hot, though it is perhaps on the lighter side of sweetness as far as sweet hots go. There is a good mix of the pineapple, citrus, and strawberries, with the cantaloupe providing a nice round foundation. Ghosties are towards the back here, so while there is heat, it is very much to the back. This is unquestionably a quite approachable sauce and I imagine that was what they were going for. For my part, I would have liked heat to be a lot more to the fore, particularly given how much I like Ghosties, but perhaps they can have an alternate version some day.

I like to have, at my disposal, a sort of internal list, where I can point people if they want to try a given style, as both an excellent example of that style, as well as a wonderfully tasting sauce. Given that condiments are food, I find there is nothing so fast as to lead people to the chilehead gateway, as a sauce that provides a sort of smooth and low smolder, combined with a phenomenal flavor, which is perhaps the most apt description of this sauce I can come up with. 

Given the variety of fruits and that it is a tad low on the sweetness scale, this doesn’t work super well on pizza, which I had hopes for, but it does retain a good flexibility for fried foods generally, and lighter meats in particular, though I wouldn’t be afraid to cast it out towards stuff like burgers or other foods. I think it could be particularly wonderful on a salad or perhaps the right kind of sub sandwich. One of the aspects about a great-tasting sauce is that even if it isn’t magnificent in that application, it will generally never be outright bad. 

Bottom line: Hugely impressive flavor profile with this not hugely sweet hot sauce, though a touch light on heat.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 10
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 6

Puckerbutt Peach Habanero Hot Sauce Review

Puckerbutt Peach Habanero

For the review of the Puckerbutt Peach Super Hot Blend (reviewed elsewhere here), the idea struck me that Smokin’ Ed Currie, architect of the sauce, had “forgotten” to add salt to it, essentially making the end result a pepper-flavored vinegar. Perhaps by the time it was discovered, the batch was just bottled, shipped, and sent out anyway, as it was done. I have now observed this phenomenon once again with this sauce, strongly suggesting to me that it weren’t a forgetful error of omission on Ed’s part, but an inaction with direct intention.

I can’t say that I have the time (or interest) to comb through a bunch of Ed Currie interviews, of which there are many, to see if this disdain for salt is real or imagined on my part, nor did a cursory online search reveal much more information than rampant speculation, along with observations from a few other parties matching mine, that this is, in fact, a tendency of Ed’s, at least in regards to Puckerbutt sauces, and is possibly (likely?) related to purported health benefits by the lack of this ingredient. If that rationale is true, this is another point of departure of agreement between himself and I.

In that other review, I went over the basic components, the elements, that I think a condiment needs to be considered a hot sauce. Because that, and now this, are lacking one of those elements, they do not really constitute a hot sauce in my mind, despite the label insisting otherwise. These two are, in fact, more accurately pepper-flavored vinegars. However, as I will approach whatever sauce based on how a maker portrays it, this one, like the other, will be rated as a hot sauce and, also like that other, will suffer slightly for it. 

So, heat-wise, we have a fairly low charge. There are 16 different Habanero varieties, according to the label, and you get a good sense of the flavor there, both the slightly bitter aspect, but also some of the inherent pepper fruitiness. There is obviously a high vinegar charge to it, as well, not to mention a very thin and watery nature, that benefits from repeated agitation. The back end has a subtle fruity sweetness, which brushes towards peach here and there. Once I discovered the lack of salt, I decided to try and “fix” the sauce, with the simple addition of some kosher salt, which not only made the experience better, on the whole, but also brought forth the peach flavor considerably. This is not rating the sauce as-is, however, and the ratings will reflect what is actually in the bottle.

Bottom line: While I think this comes off a bit better than the other “sauce” I mentioned in this review, the lack of salt is a bit detrimental to this overall. It does make a very interestingly sweet-ish pepper-flavored vinegar, but fails as an actual hot sauce.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 4
            Flexibility: 2
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4

Overall: 3