Tortuga Caribbean Hell-Fire Hot Sauce Review

Tortuga Caribbean Hell-Fire Hot Sauce

Now, I've said it before and I'll say it again that lord knows I love Cayenne pepper as my favorite and probably Louisiana as my all-around favorite style of sauce, but a very close second is probably the Scotch Bonnet. Yes, I know it's a close relative of the Habanero, which I have sort somewhat of an antagonistic relationship with, but I've loved the Scotch Bonnets since the day I had one. I think they have a more vibrant and fruitier flavor, are much better-tasting overall and are nearly the ultimate as far as peppers go with great taste and very good heat. This extends to the sauces as well and some of the sauces I've enjoyed most have utilized that pepper.

Now, I got this one when I was shopping for new Louisiana-style sauces, as frequently the Caribbean style will be close enough that I can make it work, albeit somewhat sweeter typically. That is also the case here, but this is pretty far away from a Louisiana-style. If anything, it's closer to more of an Asian sweet chili sauce, yet it's nowhere near that cloying, as those can frequently be. It doesn't have much of a vinegar blast, yet there is enough there to temper the sweetness of the cane sugar and refined enough that it's more of a hint. It also allows those wonderful Scotch Bonnets to shine through. This is a simply a very well-crafted and very well-designed sauce.

It's this kind of skill in creating it that allows it to be so versatile. It's one of those sauces that you can use on nearly anything. Much like the Blair Pure Death sauce, this one can be used nearly everywhere, but unlike that other sauce, it's not hugely overpowering but so flavorful you can't help but love it anyway. This one accents and uplifts the food, in exactly the manner we hope for when we buy sauce, assuming that you're like me and buy for flavor and greater enjoyment and not in an exercise of blasting your mouth skin into tiny stringy pieces.

No discussion is really complete without mentioning the heat and while there's not a ton of it here, there is enough there that you're likely to miss it and it really gives a nice round level...bordering on a good solid punch to the mush, but never quite making it all the way there. It's around the aforementioned Pure Death, but not quite there. All in all, very well-tempered.

Bottom line: In case you hadn't gotten it by now, I've finally come across my first contender of 2015 for Sauce Of The Year. This thing is simply great and definitely a worthy addition to your stable.

Breakdown:

   Heat level: 5
   Flavor: 9
   Flexibility: 10
   Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 9