Those that know me know that there is no way I would pass this by on a shelf, just on name alone. The bottle imagery is actually quite cool as well, not that I typically care about that kind of thing, but just sayin'. Had it had either onions or extract, obviously, I would have skipped it, but despite the more Mexican-y sounding name, this is not a thing you would normally put on tacos or even want to put on tacos. No, this is much more of a Louisiana-style sauce.As long-time readers know, that style is probably my overall favorite of all of the various styles there are.It is also no secret that I think the best of those sauces tend to heavily (even exclusively) favor Cayenne peppers, but that I further find the combination of the Naga Jolokia with Cayenne to also be a strong one, such as my more usual standby sauce in this category, the Irazu. Irazu has been difficult for me to locate lately, however, so I was cautiously hopeful when I picked this one up, as I'm always in need for a good Louisiana-style sauce. This is definitely a good one and possibly the best sauce I've had this year.
It's a bit hard to judge flavor notes with this style of sauce, as it is not at all meant to be consumed by itself, but this is consistent with the best of the category. It has worked marvelously with every food that I normally use this type of sauce on, so I have zero complaints. It acts as I would expect and does what I want the sauce to do. I wouldn't probably place it right at the top, but instead very near the top, along the lines of the Irazu. It is a bit spicier than this style tends to be, thanks to the Naga, but the flavoring profile is definitely hard along the lines of the Cayenne, right where it should be.
Bottom line: Catchy (though non-descriptive) name for a very strong entry into the Louisiana-style sauce category. Fans of that style would do well to look into a bottle of this.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 4
Flavor: 8
Flexibility: 8
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10
Overall: 8
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