Note: Video support available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmTSUNOooKo I should start this one off by noting right away that this is not so much to me what I would call a hot sauce, as much as it is a sweeter, pour-able dijon style mustard. The label calls itself a hot sauce, though, and that's what I try to go by when reviewing entries, but I don't consider it a hot sauce, per se. For heat, it relies on the wonderful Scotch Bonnet and I was kind of hoping it would be similar to the Bad Brains hot sauce kicking around a few years back. It wasn't quite hot sauce in that direction or to that level, instead definitely far more learning hard in the direction of mustard. It reminded me at times of that old favorite, as well as at times a nice honey mustard, though not heavy enough on the honey there for my taste. I eventually modified that with some raw honey and was well-pleased with the results.
This is also one of my more thoroughly, perhaps even somewhat exhaustively, tested sauces, as the flavor I loved instantly. I would not hesitate to call this perhaps the best mustard I've had. There was some minor suspension issue and the top of the bottle definitely was a bit different than the rest, once I got into it a bit enough to agitate, but all of it was great. Heat is relatively minor, as these things go, but, like Louisiana-style sauces, I don't necessarily want a whole ton of heat to go with them. It also comes in a flask, which I like quite a bit, as a rule (I don't know why, exactly, but I do).
The big question for me was whether or not this was going to fit into the SOTY criteria and that's not an easy answer. Mustards are a bit limited in what I like them on and dijons a bit narrower still. I had a couple of easy 10s in flavor and value, but heat as a 3 is about right. How then, could I conceivably get this into that higher echelon? The best mustard ever surely must belong in a conversation about SOTY? Right? But the best Cajun style sauce I had (also this year) missed the cut also. It brings back to why I have the categories I do. Getting near SOTY should not be an easy thing. It should be hard. It should be a trial.
But I loved this sauce, so much so that I tried it on everything in the vain hope that I could realistically give it a higher flexibility rating. Mustard on pizza...not a good idea normally, here, two flavors I liked separate, and together, just tasted like two separate flavors I liked in my mouth at once. On chicken strips, it was ok, but not sweet enough (hence my addition of raw honey). for my taste. Where it really excelled was on sandwiches and I came up with a variety of sandwiches, including hot ones, like hamburgers, to test this. I almost never have hot sauce on a cold sandwich, but here, this sauce excelled in an application that nearly no other sauce has or is likely to do in future. That has to mean something...but alas, I can't, in good conscience, given it enough of a nudge to get into the running for this year. Still a great mustard and if you love Scotch Bonnets in a mustard style sauce, or dijon mustard in general, this one will make you quite happy.
Bottom line: Best mustard I've ever had, and as a hot sauce, the best mustard I've ever had. Outstanding.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 3
Flavor: 10
Flexibility: 6
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10
Overall: 7
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