Grapes Of Wrath Hot Sauce Review

High River Sauces Grapes Of Wrath

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxaU1vObTmI

UPDATE 09.16.23: Usually, I don't make these notations when a review changes after filming (I just filmed the support video for this, which will be live in November), but this one is old enough and has enough changing throughout that I thought it bears noting that the previous review of this sauce was notably different, a given, I suppose, since this review is well over 10 years old at this point. Obviously much can change in that time and it's always interesting going back and reading some of the posts closer to the beginning of the blog.

I almost don't know where to start with this one...if ever there was a "kitchen sink" or, as I like to call them, "garbage pail" sauce, this is it. Granted, the Orange Krush sauce (reviewed elsewhere in this blog) has a pile of ingredients, but I think this sauce probably tops that one handily. With that many ingredients, it becomes very difficult to isolate one particular ingredient when tasted solo, but if using this sauce on various foods, there comes a certain cancellation effect and different elements will be pulled forward. I forget which dish exactly it was, but I tried this on one of the more exotic experiments my wife made and the sauce was transformed into basically salty and somewhat spicy berries and that was it. The dominant flavor of the sauce solo, which is the pumpkin pie spice, was negated entirely.

Like Tears Of The Sun, this is one that came about as a direct result of nominations for the upcoming (sometime) Scott Roberts Hot Sauce Tourney and like that one, I have sort of hedged thoughts about it. I appreciate the novelty of it, but I get the impression this was designed around one particular time of the year and wasn't really intended too much outside of that. That time, of course, would be Thanksgiving and the "Limited Edition" moniker on the label and the suggestion of applying it to turkey or goose bolsters that. [This sauce has never, to my knowledge, been unavailable in the 10+ years since I originally wrote this - DW]

Unlike the Tears, in which everything is held together in that thick, sticky gluey liquid, the heavier elements here will drift down and if you don't shake it well, you will get a thin runny watery sort of salty, vaguely winey grape juice with superhot elements. Once the heavier elements are incorporated, it comes out as chunks of berries and cabbage combined with the thin runny grape water sauce. I didn't mind this part, but frequently had mounds of hot berry debris and various bits of the sauce elsewhere. This does complicate usage somewhat. It reminds me a lot of if someone decided to play a prank on Grandpa and sneak hot chilis into his berry compote or into Aunt Edna's homemade cranberry sauce.

The real issue here is the taste. Like many of you out there, my wife is a Netflix subscriber and frequently we will watch a movie and say that it is the definition of a "2.5 star" movie, a rating that does not currently exist. Here, this sauce solo is an example of the definite of a 2.5 star sauce, or a 5, using my rating system. It's ok, unique, unlike anything else, but of a flavor I found frequently difficult to use, aside from roasted fowl (turkey, goose, chicken and I'd bet duck), where it is tremendous and roast pork, where it is less tremendous but still not too shabby. One every other thing I had, it either didn't work well or was an outright distraction.

This comes on with a minor blast of initial heat that levels of quickly and keeps at a fairly low level, though given the Habaneros and Scorpions, there is somewhat of a low build. It dissipates nearly entirely almost immediately after finishing, which I found somewhat of a neat trick. It is probably enough, though, that this is a sauce better reserved for chileheads, as I don't see normies admiring the flavor combination in conjunction with the notable heat too enjoyable. 

Bottom line: This is another more occasional use sauce. Though it is good in the very narrow and specific applications where it works (and works well), it's hard to see keeping a bottle of sauce around for roasted bird that I rarely have and it  significantly reduced my enjoyment of some of the other foods I used it on. I really do admire the spirit of adventurism here, though, and thought it was well worth it to try a bottle.

Breakdown:

       Heat level: 3
       Flavor: 7
       Flexibility: 3
       Enjoyment to dollar factor: 5

Overall: 5