Big Red's Smokey Habanero Hot Sauce Review

Big Red's Smokey Habanero Hot Sauce

UPDATE: Video support available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzqXF6Re2P8

This is a relatively new company to me and it's clear that they definitely like to have fun with the labels. This is the first of the sauces I've tried and, as mentioned, since I somehow got on the old chasing-down-a-standby-Mexican-style-sauce trail again, this one moved to the front of the line. I've said it elsewhere, but I now have a much better idea what I actually want out of this kind of sauce. I've settled down onto the idea of Habanero, as I don't think most of the other peppers would be fitting (ghost also would be fine, but not enough people use it in this style), but with a strong preference towards either fire-roasted or smoked. In this case, we have the addition of a Chipotle powder and smoke flavor, the latter of which is fairly novel to me in this setting. 

I was pretty curious to see how this would work, once I discovered this, but the results are...curious. What we have here is a sauce somewhat reminiscent of a taco sauce, along with a strong Habanero undercurrent. There is quite a number of ingredients in this sauce and some of them seem to be there in appearance only, such as the flecks of cilantro. This has a solid bit of heat, though it's definitely on the lower side of the scale. There is also the presence of Cayenne here also, which I encounter pretty rarely in a Mexican style sauce. The end result, though, is a bit confusing to me, as there are a number of competing flavors. The overall subtlety of this sauce enables different elements to shine through, but it did not ever quite make it to a cohesive whole for me. 

The subtlety is also somewhat of a problem, actually, as it makes this sauce much less universal on foods, even if restricted to Mexican-style foods. If you don't have somewhat of a heavy pour, the presence may show up in a slight heat increase and little else, but too heavy and those grace notes amplify depending on what you put it on and may show up enough to introduce diminishing returns. This aspect makes it a bit of a frustrating sauce to use. In addition to missing the mark on the flavor I'm after, it also dials down the universality, at least in regards to Mexican foods, my ideal standby sauce would have.

Bottom line: Definitely one of the more interesting takes on a Mexican-style sauce I've had, but one that is both a bit too busy and subtle and not particularly resonant with my palate. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 5
            Flexibility: 3
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 6

Overall: 4