Angry Goat Dreams Of Calypso Hot Sauce Review

Angry Goat Pepper Co. Dreams Of Calypso Hot Sauce

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8UwNn66CPs

Ahhh, Calypso, beautiful and alluring famed water nymph of the Odyssey and a style of Caribbean music, the latter of which perhaps has some bearing here. Yet, we see on the label that the Greek mythology figure is much in mind as well, so we have a melding of two very distant through time and disparate references into the product. 

The Caribbean, of course, is immediately apparent through the Scotch Bonnet peppers and the use of tropical fruits. Mustard plays a role here as well and I had intended this to be my final entry in the FOH Summer Of Mustards 2021 series, but this is very clearly not intended as an actual mustard. The label does not make that particularly clear, but going on the website to try gain some insight as to what the makers meant and see them listing it as a hot sauce helped me decide to move more towards that arena, which includes a review here, which is not the case for the mustards.

That aside, we have a gorgeous yellow color to it and a very smooth pour. Taste-wise, this is intriguing as it is very fruit forward, with a mustard back end. That back end gives me some pause. It is a flavor note that comes across as a touch off and a bit off-putting, depending on where I use it and this limits a bit where this sauce is useful. I did not love it on chicken and mustard and pizza is a non-starter for me. The label suggested ham, which does blend nicely with both tropical fruits and mustard, and I wound up using it quite successfully as a grill sauce as well. I did not attempt it in salads, i.e. egg salad or potato salad, where I would normally use a mustard, as I don't generally put hot sauces or fruit in those. This would also make sort of an interesting sauce to use on brats, possibly. The suggestions also included egg rolls (which I'm not going to make for the sake of trying this and dislike generally) and rice, where it would be kind of interesting, if you were having a dish of that style. I think it also mentioned jerk chicken, which probably would work better. I think you need a certain saltiness to the meat for this to truly shine.

Heat-wise, this is minimal. As with most sauce companies, I usually halve whatever their rating and here, that is about exactly right. They place it a 2 - 3 of 10, which I am rating as half of the low side. 

Bottom line: This is a very interesting sauce. While I applaud the makers for both using Scotch Bonnet, their references in naming it, and the spirit of experimentalism, I find, as is often the case with sauces more on the interesting and novel side, that I have a bit of difficulty finding a food anchor for it.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 7
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4

Overall: 4