Torchbearer The Rapture Hot Sauce Review

Torchbearer's The Rapture Hot Sauce

Billed as the hottest natural hot sauce in the world and the hottest of the entire Torchbearer line-up, I've seen it listed at more than 1.2 million SHU, which, if true, makes this probably the hottest sauces I've reviewed in these pages and the hottest sauce I've had that did not have an extract element. It is also quite flavorful, with a very nice sweet and citrusy element, which I've heard ascribed to the presence of the mandarin oranges and carrots. Obviously, with the crazy amount of superhot peppers - specifically the Trinidad Scorpion, the Jolokias and the Habaneros for 66.6% of the actual sauce content - you probably will be straining to get a lot of that flavor while your mouth slowly begins its meltdown, but it is definitely present, at least in the beginning.

This is a sauce that takes some degree of caution for best results. I made the mistake of oversaucing a few things with it and that is a mistake you will have plenty of time to contemplate if you also do it. It will be edible, but if you use it sparingly, you can achieve a very nice balance that complements foods, particularly fried foods, such as the ubiquitous chicken strips, quite nicely. Go too far overboard, though and this thing will tend to send your senses over the edge, which makes things rather unenjoyable for a while. It is a slow build, if you use it the way I described as preferable, but it will nail things to the wall fairly immediately (but still not as fast as extract), if you go full boat and overload things. It's a very expensive sauce to use in that manner also...consequently, it is realistically somewhat low use, but for this kind of a trophy sauce, that's probably more what you want.

It is blended nicely and this is a sauce where clearly the designers had a very specific goal in mind and frankly nailed it. Because it clears the million SHU mark and I don't see a lot of non-extract sauces clearing that particular hurdle (and because I hate extract sauces and generally refuse to consume or review them), this also is the first sauce that gets all 10 points for heat. It is also my first SOTY  contender for 2017.

Bottom line: This is a great sauce to have in your stable. It won't go with everything and needs to have a fairly strong, yet uncomplicated flavor profile of the food you put it on for best results, but it is a very pleasant-tasting sauce overall and Torchbearer rightfully deserves much acclaim for it.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 8
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 7
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 8

Overall: 8