Pain Is Good Batch #218 Louisiana Hot Sauce Review

 Pain Is Good Batch #218 Louisiana Hot Sauce

Note: This sauce appears on Seasons One and Two of The Hot Ones.

NOTE: Video support available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnOaSUtrAN0

I had a lot of reservations about this sauce and passed it up, literally for years, because I disliked the Cayenne version from this company (which also makes the Pain percentage line and the Da' Bomb line) so intensely. Indeed, I have liked literally nothing they've produced thus far, so to say this wasn't even on my radar at all would be a gross understatement. Of course, then cue Roger at BYT for the rejuvenation of this blog last year, in the course of which, I came across The Hot Ones. I had not heard of it before that, but once I did, given the prominence of it in the industry, it made sense to take a look at the various sauces appearing that I had not done, one of which was this one.

Like the Cayenne sauce, this one has no idea what it actually wants to be. Calling it Louisiana-style is ridiculous and flatly false. If it came from the state, I could maybe give this a pass, but the company is out of Kansas. If they called it Cajun, they might be closer, as that style allows for a lot more elements than just Cayenne, salt, and vinegar, but this one is chock full of a lot of stuff that you would more normally expect to find in a barbeque sauce. This one is hotter than nearly every barbeque sauce I've had and I don't think there is quite enough sugar content in there for it to be a proper grilling sauce, but the smokiness and the tomato elements leads one there readily.

I am going to attempt to grill with it before the season closes down for the year, but have not as of this writing (the results will be in the video support, when that goes up), and instead have tried to use it as I do both Cajun and actual Louisiana-style. It works pretty well as a dipping sauce, acceptably in ramen, but the overall resemblance always harkens back to a poorly made, though somewhat hot, barbeque sauce. I do like that they used the Habanero mainly for heat and not flavor. The Cayenne is definitely the dominant pepper flavor, but spends a lot of time trying to fend off all the other competing flavors. I would anticipate it will probably work well as a wing sauce, but grilling could go either way, honestly.

As to heat, I would put this one slightly above a 3, but not enough to give it the push to 4. It definitely is enough to give non-chileheads pause, though no chileheads will be challenged by this. 

Bottom line: A very odd sauce, with a somewhat confusing taste profile, that bears little to no resemblance to the type of sauce indicated on the label. This is one that I'm not upset I bought, though it was mostly due to The Hot Ones inclusion, but would also have been ok with not ever having. Also, I will not be replacing once the bottle is done.

Breakdown:

Heat level: 3
Flavor: 6
Flexibility: 5
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4

Overall: 5