Maui Pepper Smokin' Mango Hot Sauce Review

Maui Pepper Co. Smokin' Mango Hot Sauce

This is ostensibly supposed to be a smoked version of the Mango Meltdown (review elsewhere in this blog) from this same company and this is accomplished by adding Chipotle peppers. Now, the problem with doing such a thing is you start with a fairly mild tasting fruit, in this case those aforementioned mangoes and then add in a much stronger tasting substance, that being the Chipotle peppers and you pretty much drown out a lot of the subtleties and nuances of the prior sauce, which is what happens here.

That being said, this is not a bad sauce. Enough remains of both the nice bit of sweetness, a touch of the fruitiness and the lovely back heat of the Habaneros, along with the smokiness and front heat of the Chipotles to create something more than a full-on smoked pepper blast. The Chipotle is unquestionably the dominant flavor, however. Heat level is around the same as the Mango Meltdown and uses are about the same.

Bottom line: Given that I really enjoyed the subtleties and complexities of the earlier sauce, it was kind of a shame to see the Chipotle wrecking ball come in to the extent it does here. With Chipotle, a little goes a long way. This is perhaps over a little...

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 3
            Flavor: 6
            Flexibility: 7
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 6

Overall: 6