Samfuego Onyx Reaper Hot Sauce Review

Samfuego Habitual Special Edition Onyx Reaper Sauce

UPDATE: Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSYyOSqK2Cs

I had not heard of Peach Reaper prior to picking up this sauce. I had heard of the Butch T, but not in relation to a Reaper. Evidently, there is not a Butch T Scorpion Reaper. The bumper paragraph on the side also mentioned some sweetness from black garlic, an ingredient apparently now the new "in thing,", and a touch of Meso Chipotle for smoke. It almost reminds of a holistic approach to health, where various ingredients are meant to have an anti-oxidant effect and when used in conjunction with others, etc. etc. They also added, to make it "interesting," things like daikon and black cherry tomatoes. There are also purple carrots. And dark chocolate. And prickly pears. That is not even the entire list...

I think this approach is successful to a degree. The flavor is, indeed, interesting and unique. I think it may have gone a bit too far, as it also strikes me as being without identity. I'm not clear on where they were trying to go with this. You have a superhot aspect, but this really comes across, particularly with how thick it is and the smooth-ish consistency of the sauce, as a stab towards a mole'. I'm not hugely a fan of those and am very particular as well about which I will consider, so this is not a particularly resonant sauce for me.

It leads with cider vinegar, so this, despite using the current hottest superhot, is not, itself, particularly overly hot. Indeed, it is not until the seventh ingredient that we see an actual pepper. Since I have it stuck in my mind as primarily in relation to a mole, I used it on various Mexican dishes. Prior to that, as a chicken strip dipping sauces and on pizza as well. On the Mexican food, it did somewhat better, as long as there was not a strong flavor. If there was, it became a struggle for supremacy and instant clashing. I don't find this sauce wonderful by itself, but it does not play very nicely with other foods, either, so I don't know where it fits. I'm loathe to call it badly flavored or anything, but the best use, for me, was in a black bean soup, a dish I rarely have.

Bottom line: If you like unique sauces with unique ingredients bringing unique flavors, this is worth a try. I'm not sorry I bought it, but I have little use for it, probably will not use the bottle nor buy again.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 3
            Flavor: 3
            Flexibility: 1
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 2

Overall: 2

Torchbearer Ultimate Annihilation Hot Sauce Review

Torchbearer Ultimate Annihilation Hot Sauce - [TSAAF Sauce Of The Year 2019]

UPDATE: Support video now available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgXlKvSQosQ

Sticking with the superhots for back to back reviews is unusual by itself, but having back to back SOTY candidates...very unusual, yet here we are. The best way I can think of to describe this one is a fairly close analogy to my much beloved Blair's Pure Death sauce (check the TOC if you want to read that one). If you're thinking that this will give it a nod, you're probably right, but the ingredient panels are significantly different.

One of the ways that I can tell my tolerance is up is that a sauce like this, which Torchbearer puts at a very solid 250,000 SHU is notably hotter than Pure Death, yet takes quite a bit before it starts to get things revved. Part of this is some of the heat coming from Habaneros, whose slow burn takes some time to wind up, but it is the overwhelmingly delicious Chocolate Habanero variety. There is some other items in here as well, where the Pure Death is 4 ingredients total. Flavor-wise, very similar, but Ultimate Annihilation is painted a bit more towards the flavor of the superhot Jolokias, which takes it down a touch in flavor, which I suppose makes up for it being hotter. Both of them share the same accessibility to various foods, which is generally quite good on everything that is not Mexican food, so they are great on about the same amount of stuff, though I think Pure Death being one of the all-time greatest sauces helps it quite a bit more here.

The consistency is virtually identical, very thick, very chunky, almost more of a puree, same bright orange-ish coloration. Torchbearer has really been coming on lately, so if you have trouble finding the Pure Death, this is a very excellent substitute and probably more readily available. Of the sauces from them, this is far and away my favorite and I half-wonder if I had found this first rather than the Pure Death, if they would not have been somewhat switched in terms of favor.

Bottom line: Another great entry from Torchbearer. This is a greatly flavorful sauce, with a good dose of heat, which may move it more into the realm of chileheads or developing chileheads only and another SOTY candidate.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 8
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 9
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 9