2K20 Q2 Update

2K20 Q2 Update

Super huge update, pack a lunch and let’s get to it.

From the last update, I resolved the filming issue for the Fundamentals of Heat video series on YouTube, which you can check out by clicking on any of the links in the Table Of Contents here for any sauces that have a video available. The plan to steadily shoot enough on weekends only to keep ahead is working well. As of this write-up, August and part of September is in the can.

I had to get a bit rangey (even though that took some slumming, dipping even as low as Takis)  to keep things at 2 posts a week, but I’m good through probably October at this point, maybe beyond a bit.  The non-sauce stuff was always meant to be temporary, but I want to keep it rolling as long as I can because those videos are pretty fun to tod. I do have some good sources for other snacks that I’ve recently discovered, so it will be a while before I have to move to every other week on those. I also have thought of a new series, though I think more likely that won’t start until 2021. Still undecided and need to work out the formatting a bit more in my head. As to sauces specifically, I now have enough waiting on the shelf that I will not be able to film them all this year (written review, maybe, but probably not).

I now have 4 separate playlists available in the FOH video series as well, to try to make it a bit easier to digest. I have added all of those playlists to the blog, as well, in another side widget.

I’ve been pretty pleased with this year so far, specific to sauces, the blog and videos only. Obviously, this is a very difficult and stressful year otherwise... For sauces, so far, I’ve had the best Asian-style sweet, the best Cajun, and the best mustard ever, which is pretty nutty when I think about it, considering how long I’ve been eating hot sauces, mustards even longer. The video series is definitely doing an ace job of driving posts for the blog and I’m hopeful it will grow in its own right. If you have not checked it out, please do so.

As of right now, speaking to the blog, I’m beyond the total amount of posts for all of 2018 (15) & 2016 (19) and tied now with last year, 2019 (20). The next ones are 2012 (21), 2014 & 2017, both with 23, and I fully expect to surpass those before end of Q3 this year. That would put us in range of 2015 (32). I think that one is also somewhat likely to fall, but I doubt we will approach the high point of 2013 (52). I will get into the whys of this a bit more in the end of the year recap.

I also have 4 SOTY contenders right now (Private Selection Calabrian, Arthur Wayne Limitless, Monroy’s Death By Kraken & Mikey V’s Sweet Ghost Pepper, if you haven’t ready them yet and are interested in checking them out), which is a great relief to me, as the last few years it has been nearly right down to the wire. Of those, Calabrian was eaten the fastest, Death By Kraken packed the biggest wallop and the Sweet Ghost Pepper is, by far, the best-tasting). I have also solved a mystery here in Q2, which was also kind of fun and cool to take a bit of a trip down through history.

Obviously, one of the side effects of the COVID-19 measures is that I have a far greater deal of time at home now, so I’m able to bank videos into the future. I don’t do that at all with the blog, but the sauce videos, especially for the new sauces, take much longer to film, since I have to actually do all the testing for the blog post well before I consider shooting a single frame for the videos. With the non-food stuff, I can generally just open a bag or box or can or whatever and dig right in. They have their own challenge with availability, though, as there are a lot more hot sauces than there are packaged spicy foods.

That aside, one of the things I’ve been trying to focus on, once it became clear that I was going to have some struggles coming up with all of the previous SOTY winners, is to work through a lot of those Hot Ones sauces. My tentative goal right now is to get all 4 of the first seasons (for the sauces that I will consider doing, that is) in the can by the end of the year. If I can do more, of course, I will, but that is the soft goal. Along with that, as many SOTYs as possible, and any Standbys I haven’t done. I’ve gone through all of the sauces Roger (Burn Your Tongue - find him on Facebook and show him some love) shot my way, along with a number of back catalog stuff and some newer ones that looked interesting. Of the SOTY winners, I have done videos for 3 and 3 are discontinued. This leaves 2 that I need to obtain in order to film.

As to those Standbys, once I have the SOTYs done, the Standbys will also be done. I’m not going to bother chasing down the Emeritus sauces, unless there’s a significant demand. I have also revised my Standby list as well. Barring anything unforeseen, I should be able to get all of the SOTYs and Standbys done by end of the year, and put a healthy dent into the sauces for The Hot Ones that I want to get to.

Speaking of the Hot Ones, the list for Season 12 has been posted and I have updated that TOC page with the new info...so, 12 seasons, 10 sauces a season is 120 sauces...except there are many, many repeats. Deleting the repeats gives us 87 individual sauces. However, there are some discontinued/limited edition items on there also. Removing those puts us at 84. Still a solid amount, a good respectable number. I have waived my extract exclusion for this series, but the onions ban is still in place. Ejecting those gives us 50 possible sauces. I have reviewed 15 already, which leaves us 35 to go to get this covered. Interestingly, I have not reviewed a sauce that appears past Season 5. I do want to note that the Hot Ones sauces, especially in the later seasons, tend to be more expensive than everything else out there, even beyond the Hot Ones branded flavors that are only available via Heatonist, which curbs my interest a bit. I don’t know if this is because of some kickback arrangement with the sauce companies and First We Feast, but I get a little balky at anything past $10/bottle (assuming 5 oz. bottle), unless the sauce has some super exotic ingredient, like truffles. Many of those sauces are $14/bottle and higher, which lowers their priority for me significantly and, if I’m being honest, will also tend to impact their Enjoyment To Dollar Factor rating...

You got a little bit there in that preceding paragraph, but I’ve really been trying to compile data, both because I have, like a lot of everyone these days, some goodly amounts of time on my hands, and because I’m somewhat of a data junkie (one of my soft goals is also to get an average rating), but also because it helps me to get an idea for future projection. I’ve added a few new pictures (and am getting closer to the point where nearly everything that I can add pictures to on the blog now has pictures) and started chopping out titles from the list that are no longer produced, such as the Zakk Wylde stuff and the Bad Brains sauce. There are a number of others that were evidently limited editions, now gone, so I will never be able to get to 100%. One hot sauce company, Wicked Cactus, sadly is shuttered entirely. By having an idea of how many I can possibly get, that will give me an idea of how long into 2021 I can extend the weekly video thing. There are also a number of sauces that have been reformulated in a way that will cause me to exclude them from future consideration and a number I intensely disliked and probably will not be bothering with at all, since I’m not going to re-buy sauces for the purpose of a single video (unless this somehow wildly takes off and I can do it professionally). 

As of right now, I have 183 full reviews on the blog, which puts me well over 200, if you count the mini-reviews. 200 full reviews is do-able for 2020, but unlikely, as I also have some back catalog stuff to get in there for the blog/FOH tie-in. There will not be videos for everything or probably even close to it, but I’d be pretty content at around 50% or so, at least of the full reviews, which also won’t happen this year.  I will probably re-compile everything sometime in Q3, when I start working on 2021. Check back for the quarterly update then, if you’re interested in this.

Hopefully you’ve all been enjoying the new stuff as I try to branch out a bit more. I will say it is a great load of fun to do and I’m enjoying myself immensely producing this content. Of course, if you have any suggestions on anything you could care to see in the world of spicy foods, drop me a line and I’ll definitely try to get to it.