Boyle's Irish Scream Hot Sauce
This was part of a package of various kinda sorta novelty sauces that I bought on a whim during, as memory goes, a Black Friday sale somewhere. I put various sauces in my cart that I'd been curious about but had not ever seen on Roger's (Burn Your Tongue) shelf (and would never dream of asking him to try to get a single bottle of something that may or may not even be any good, unless he was already carrying that particular sauce maker). I'm not usually inclined towards novelty sauces, but I needed more in the cart for free shipping, after I'd already added a pretty substantial number of Cayenne sauces, so I threw in some cheaper, random ones. This was one of those.
I don't know, to what degree, if any, Ireland is known for either spicy foods or hot peppers, and the main impetus of calling this Irish appears to be the addition of Irish whiskey. Fortunately, this does not cause the sauce to taste alcoholic. Here, we have a blend of Jalapeno, Cayenne, and Habanero, with that last providing most of the heat and perhaps a good degree of bitterness as well, which is not helped at all by the whiskey, which notably ramps that part up. The sauce is inexplicably rounded out by Yellow 5 and Blue 4, which are food dyes and elements I'm confused at to their presence here.
Sauce is chunky, but not particularly smooth, and there is a slight grittiness to it as well, which presents a touch of a problem as best results are if it's used somewhat sparingly and when it clots, the bitterness is reinforced significantly, to the point it becomes overpowering and unpleasant. Flavor notes are definitely more towards the Habanero, though elements of the Jalapeno, Cayenne, and the Irish whiskey will occasionally come through. Heat-wise, this reminds me of both Orange Krush and El Yucateco Red (both reviewed elsewhere here) in that the heat is a very up-front blast, which then plateaus. It is not a heat to give any chileheads pause, but may take non-chileheads aback. This could have been a much more palatable sauce if the bitterness had been dialed back...
Bottom line: I'm somewhat confused by what this sauce is meant to be, with the unusual combination of peppers and food dyes. It's hard to see this not as a novelty sauce, with the leprechaun on the label and the addition of Irish whiskey rounding out that theme. Novelty sauces are definitely of a "mileage may vary" type, which is where this one falls for me.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 2
Flavor: 5
Flexibility: 5
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4
Overall: 4
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