Grace Scotch Bonnet Pepper Sauce

Grace Scotch Bonnet Hot Pepper Sauce

A while back, I reviewed another of the Grace products, their sort of generically-named "Hot Pepper Sauce," which you can access via the TOC, if you want to read that review. It was a pretty positive review. Scotch Bonnet are also a pepper that has my immediate interest, if I come across it. It is often paired with onions, so I don't enjoy it in sauces as much as I like, but like fire-roasted anything, if I see it, I'm immediately interested.

With those two things going for it, this should have been an easy slam dunk, but instead, a sauce I was greatly looking forward to enjoying turned out as one of the worst things I've ever put in my mouth. I have no idea where it went wrong, but fighting back a gag reflex to smell, let alone eat, the sauce, is several bridges too far. Even if it wrecks my streak of filming a video for every sauce in 2020, that streak ends here as this sauce is unusable. From my attempts, it does have an ok heat factor, but the flavor (and odor) is noxious. Maybe the sauce went bad, I don't know, but it comes out with the thickness of gravy and is repulsive. I had harbored, for a bit, the thought that I could mix it in with something, but even that failed, and then wrecked what I was attempting it with. That, naturally, was the final straw and my disappointment is great.

Bottom line: I have no idea who would conceivably enjoy this, but it wasn't miss. An offensive waste of good Scotch Bonnet peppers.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: -8
            Flexibility: 0
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 0

Overall: 0

Mikey V's Sweet Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce Review

Mikey V's Sweet Ghost Pepper Sauce - [TSAAF Sauce Of The Year 2020]

UPDATE: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK4sWES9-xA

This is one of those few sauces that I feel fortunate to have stumbled across. It is easily the best sweet-hot Asian style sauce I've ever had, very deftly combining stunning flavor with a very pleasant amount of heat, definitely more substantial than Zenso or any of the other sauces in that vein, but not so hot as to overshadow the tremendous flavor. Though it has been since surpassed as reigning SHU champ, the Jolokias and I seem to get along very well and there are not very many sauces that come to mind with it as the main heat driver that I haven't like and quite a number where I found it to be a vast improvement, such as this one. It definitely works very well in Asian style sauces and I again find myself surprised there are not more of those floating around. In many respects, this is a lot like the Pure Death in that the sauce itself is so good, I have trouble finding things it doesn't go well with, aside from things I dislike sweet in, such as ramen or Mexican food.

That leaves a pretty solid myriad of choices, though. It works fantastically on meats, with cheeses. It even works in a PB & J sandwich or as a dipping sauce or on pizza. Where it shines, of course, is where you would naturally use it, in various Asian dishes. I didn't love it on a few of those things, but it wasn't awful or inedible, but more unusual in a way that made me think it was an interesting experiment, but would be a waste of sauce to continue along that path.

Heat-wise, it definitely blows everything else in that style out of the water, but the very thick nature of it does some odd things to the consistency of heat. No change to that stellar flavor, but I'd find pockets where the heat was a very robust warmth, much past anything else out there, and a few places where it was more similar to the other sauces, wherein the heat is minimal. No agitation would change that and it wasn't a huge bother, just more something to observe. There are also a lot of largish particulates suspended in the sauce, besides the usual red pepper and pepper seeds, which is again not a bother for me, but bears noting.

Bottom line: Easily the best of the Asian style sweet-hot sauces I've had and the new peak of what that kind of sauce can be at its finest. It is also not only another candidate for SOTY, but is now the new frontrunner.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 3
            Flavor: 10
            Flexibility: 8
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 8

Lola's Original Hot Sauce Review

Lola's Fine Hot Sauce Original

UPDATE: Video support available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8Afeq2AoXI

Since Roger has brought back Burn Your Tongue, I do this a lot less, but still like to cruise the sauce aisles at grocery stores every once in a while, partly to see what's new and partly because so many of them stock sauces in such a seeming random and haphazard fashion, it's easy to miss things you may not have noticed and "new" stuff will be uncovered during an aisle shuffle. This particular sauce was one such find and the store had four of their entries (out of 6 for the full line) and all of them were on sale, so nothing ventured, always need new content, etc. etc.

The sauce is...curious. The ingredient panel seemed to me, with its leading of both Jalapeno and Habanero, to be taking aim at a Mexican style sauce, also borne out by the addition of lime. The flavor is somewhat more vinegar-forward than other sauces of that type, so I hopped on the website. There is a short video about the company, apparently out of Des Moines, Iowa, and the story itself is: daughter gets family recipe (and some sauce) from mother, makes some herself, takes to work, everyone wants to buy it, makes more for a Farmer's Market, everyone also loves it and wants to buy it and then the feel-good story hits the road until it winds up on a grocery store shelf 4 states away in Utah. The labels are also very slick and professional, which sort of works against the homegrown feel they're aiming for here.

One of the curious things about all of the sauces in the line (I also have the Ghost, Trinidad Scorpion and Reaper versions - reviews coming in the future) is that they all tend to separate. There is a huge problem with this, actually, as every single use requires agitation. Most chileheads do this by rote anyway, but this is a necessity here and sometimes, you will need to re-agitate during usage. Also, despite this having Habanero as the second listed ingredient (which I'm honestly a bit inclined to doubt), there is very little heat here.

Where I was going with this diversion is that I went to the website to try and figure out what market they were angling towards and this was painted as more of an everyday sauce, that is flexible enough to go with anything. Indeed, a lot of the typical Mexican spices, such as Chile Arbol or cumin, are not present here and this doesn't particularly lend itself well to Mexican style foods. I tried it on a couple and one one, that did have those ingredients, it was pretty solid, but on another, which as plainer, it landed with kind of a thud. As I got into the sauce, it grew increasingly garlic-heavy, with a preponderance on a taste that was most reminiscent of the granulated variety. It's probably a bit much to expect it to be fresh garlic, as the site proclaims, in what is clearly a mass-produced sauce, but concentrated garlic can get away from you. Here, this turns into much more of a garlic sauce than a hot sauce.

That aspect worked well, then, with things where you'd want a healthy blast of garlic, such as on pizza, for instance, but far less well on something like mac & cheese. I also tried it on a breakfast sandwich, which nearly made me want to toss the entire sandwich (which was Canadian Bacon, American cheese, a hash brown and an over-hard egg on English muffin) across the room. I think overall them trying to make this more flexible sort of works against it, as the sauce does not really have an identity nor does it have a good enough flavor to really stand on its own. This is one that really relies on ability to blend in with the food, that food item also needing to be able to somewhat absorb and meld well with intense garlic.

Bottom line: If you don't enjoy a strong garlic flavor, this is a good one to avoid. Flavor is curious and the lime is used well, but the sauce overall is without an identity and ultimately somewhat forgettable.


Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 5
            Flexibility: 5
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4

Overall: 4

TryMe Cajun Sunshine Hot Sauce Review

TryMe Cajun Sunshine Hot Pepper Sauce

UPDATE 1: Video support available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EdoMUPJi-M 

UPDATE 2: Received a response from Reilly Foods. The sauces (see below) are identical and contain different labeling specific to various regions, where one name sells better than the other.  This confirms some of the speculation I indulge in both reviews, and in the video for this sauce.


For a good, long time, I passed this by, in favor of other Louisiana-style sauces. Even once I became more familiar with (brother? clone?) the other entry from TryMe in this market, the Tennessee Sunshine sauce, I still skipped this one, as my preference is nearly always towards a Louisiana-style sauces over a Cajun style, for reasons I have outlined frequently in the various reviews, but will touch on by noting that the Cajun styles tend to feature a lot more spices, garlic and so on, which I find unnecessary at best.

Anyway, I forgot about my apprehensions when poking around and picked this bottle up. It's funny, the naming of the Tennessee sauce was something I found confusing, even back then, along with the seeming duplication. Once I finally cracked open the bottle, things got a lot more confusing. Consistency was similar and since I had an already opened bottle of the Tennessee that I got for the FOH video of that, I was able to compare them head-to-head. There may be a slight difference in viscosity, but it is very hard to detect (will get into this more in the video for this sauce). Looking into it more, it appeared to be  identical to the Tennessee sauce, all the way down to the ingredient panel, even the label copy. The main difference, apparently, was the name. Hmmmmm.

Both are still available on the website, at an identical price point, which leads me to wondering why the company would want such duplication in the line. Answering that question, along with why an obvious Louisiana-styled sauce would be called Tennessee, led me on a quest. I called up Detective Google and tried to unravel this mystery. Tennessee Sunshine, at least at one time, was made in Knoxville, which probably answers that, but why the duplication? Were they making identical sauces in two different states? If so, to what end? Is it so markets that wanted Cajun would just buy that? Was it for people who hated Tennessee? The search led me to a campaign from the state of Louisiana against "counterfeit Cajun," as they evidently take that word very seriously down that way. I was not able to find any sort of definitive answer, I must say, so wrote to Reily Foods, who now own the TryMe line, to see what response I am able to get. I will put any answer from them in either the video or update this review (see above).

For now, let's turn to the sauce. All what I said in the Tennessee Sunshine review applies here. One of these is a clone of the other, as far as I'm able to determine, though I don't know which is which. Neither I would call an actual Cajun sauce, with the ingredients being Cayenne pepper (including bits of it in the actual sauce), vinegar and salt. Both also have vegetable gum, but that's an emulsifier/suspension agent and irrelevant to flavor. The flavor of both is quite good, though there is precious little heat. Both make outstanding demonstrations of a Louisiana-style sauce and if you're looking for the epitome of what that kind of sauce should taste like, this is a good way to be introduced, given that it does not carry as much of the harshness, as something like Crystal does. I will say that I don't prefer the bits of pepper in it, though, and wish they'd strain it before bottling, but a minor quibble overall.

Bottom line: Like line-up mate Tennessee Sunshine, this is an excellent tasting entry into the Louisiana-style, but with a lower heat than I prefer, not anything I would keep at hand. Great in a pinch or for an introduction to the style.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 7
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 7

Overall: 6

Death By Kraken Hot Sauce Review

Monroy's Death By Kraken Hot Sauce

Note: This sauce was provided for purposes of review by Roger Damptz of Burn Your Tongue. Check him out on Facebook or, better yet, head on over to his new online outlet where you can shop the widest selection available anywhere, www.burnyourtongueonline.com.

UPDATE: Video support available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14CDkOPd03Q

I think a funny thing happens sometimes to people who consume hot peppers or hot sauce regularly, and who keep up with the happenings in the world them, the so-called chilehead community. That is as we get higher and higher up the chart with different strains and varieties of pepper, setting new SHU records along the way, sometimes we forget about the former top heat holders. The tendency of Reaper this and Pepper X that and Dragon's Breath in the wings and so on, getting all the glory and press, the tendency often seems to degrade the earlier peppers. Because the Carolina Reaper replaced the Trinidad Scorpion does not suddenly make the Ghost peppers any less potent. It doesn't make us automatically and suddenly tolerant to their punch, unlike Habaneros, which would have to work pretty hard to get to that kind of heat.

You talk about peppers hitting, let alone exceeding the million SHU mark, and you're talking about a playground that 85%+ of the planet would never consider passing the gate. It is some fairly rarified air and it's good to remember that. So those other peppers can have their prestige and moment, with all of the various sauce makers diligently putting them through the kitchen paces to come up with the next winning formula. There are still tried and true past masters, like the affable Jolokia, and it's nice to sauce makers still relying on that flavorful entry as an ingredient.

This sauce honestly took me a bit by surprise. I saw it on the shelves, probably a year or so ago, maybe a touch longer, and as I had a number of bottles of superhots already (sauces in that vein I find rarely make good everyday sauces for me), I passed it by, but liked the name (and label) considerably and mentioned the sauce in passing to Roger when I was chatting with him about something or other else. The man remembered (it is a memorable name) and slid a bottle my way, but I had it on my future list, once my other superhots ran down a bit. Fast forward to now and I rather wish I would have picked it up at the time.

The first impression I got was a callback to a sauce that has been gone a good 3 years now, at least, that of the Wicked Cactus Ghost Of The Samurai (see TOC if you want to read that review). It had a very distinctive flavor from the Ghost pepper powder, which this one also shares. Using the powder is something I'm surprised more makers don't do, as you can easily get a wicked amount of heat through the concentration into a powder, while still retaining a more solid flavor profile than using extract. The Ghost chili powder is pretty distinctive, though, but it was a largely welcome one for me, a bit earthy, in the same manner as is cumin, though in a different way and flavor, of course.

The second impression was one of tamarind, which was something I was definitely not expecting. Tamarind is an ingredient I rarely (almost never) see in hot sauces, as there is generally not much of a push at the Asian flavor profiles directly. After scouring the label, I was unable to find that particular ingredient, so I suppose it may be the combination of flavors with the mango. Honestly, all of the individual fruit flavors are pretty lost and it just reads as a general sweetness, albeit along the lines of a sweet plum or tamarind. There is also an unidentified chile pepper as an ingredient, which is odd considering they list out both Bell pepper and Ghost chili powder. If I do have a complaint about the label, it is that facet.

Flavor-wise, I do find it quite favorable and have not found anything I didn't like it on, other than ramen (where I don't like sweet sauces) and Mexican food (clashy, clashy). I say sweetness, but this is not a hugely sweet sauce, not gloppy sugar or anything. The sweetness is more of a grace note than anything, which melds nicely with the Ghost pepper powder flavor.

On the heat side, it definitely packs a wallop. One of the interesting facets of it is that you get the immediate brace of heat that is typical of sauces that use Ghost pepper powder, but then it kind of settles in and opens up after that first shot across the bow. I'm trying to think of a time that it didn't immediately ping the receptors in the back of my mouth and can't, which I found kind of interesting. After the initial flare-up, though, you can get a hotter build fairly readily, and it doesn't have a restrictor cap (bit too thick for that), so using it judiciously is the wisest course.

Bottom line: This is a very unique sauce, with an unexpected flavor that borders on outstanding...and yes, another SOTY candidate.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 7
            Flavor: 7
            Flexibility: 9
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 8


Overall: 8