Pex Peppers Hornet Bomb Hot Sauce
This should be an easy one for me, a total win, absolute ringer. Habanero and honey together is one of the all-time great combinations in hot sauce and is a large part of what makes Z's Shield Maiden (reviewed elsewhere here) one of my SOTYs. There are a few flavor notes that when combined make me an instant fan and the Habanero and honey combination are definitely one of them...when done right.
This should have been in contention for Sauce Of The Year and right now, truth be told, it's in imminent danger of being binned once the nearest quarterly (Q4 -2021) Wing Thing is filmed for the FOH video series. In short, the sauce is more or less the equivalent of the Takis rolled chips flavoring system I dislike so much, in that it is overly astringent and somewhat lime-y, to an unfortunate extent. I can't tell if this is a batch problem (probably) or the design, but starting with a Habanero mash (fine), then adding more vinegar (hmmm), then the honey, then the lime, has rendered this to be a quite sour, with citrus notes, concoction, which is not really palatable...unless that's your thing. It is definitely not mine.
There are a number of pepper particles in there, which is great, but I could not detect honey at all, not even a hint of sweetness. I almost debated adding honey myself to try to tamp it down, but that seems more like a waste of good honey than anything else (still not convinced on the lime). This is a very loose sauce, to the point where a restrictor cap wouldn't totally be out of line, despite it not being the type of sauce where that would usually be called for. That, in combination with the flavoring, creates a difficulty quite unlike the aforementioned Shield Maiden, where I could use it with near-ubiquitousness, in that I have not been able to find a solid application for this. It might be nice in a Bloody Mary mix or something, if I drank those, but it was a near-complete failure, thanks to that unpleasant taste nature I mentioned, on everything I tried it on, including Mexican pork dishes, which should have been a slam dunk. Heat here is very moderate and I strongly suspect, given the track record of Pex, that for this batch, the Habanero mash was over-diluted prior to bottling.
Bottom line: Hugely (surprisingly) disappointing entry from a usually reliable maker. If you like the vinegar and lime combination better than I do, may be worth a go.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 2
Flavor: 2
Flexibility: 0
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 0
Overall: 1
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