Double Take Scotch Bonnet Mustard Hot Sauce Review

Double Take Scotch Bonnet Mustard Hot Sauce

Note: This sauce appeared on Season 11 of The Hot Ones.

Note:  Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fTAd-8Er2U

Getting in a lot more mustards this year than I planned, even the ones positioning themselves as hot sauces. In the case of the Z's (reviewed here elsewhere), I think it was more misbranding of what is at heart a spicy mustard. For this one, however, it's a lot closer to the line, to the point where I find that, while it could go either way and there is a very hearty mustard component, this is enough hot sauce to fit neatly into that category as well. As an actual mustard, this one brings a lot more heat than one might normally expect to find in even a spicy mustard and I'm not sure if they used actual Scotch Bonnet peppers or a derivative, such as powder, but there is enough accompanying bitterness that I kind of thing it's the latter. It may be overly hot, in fact, for usage as a straight mustard, which tends to be used as a complement a lot of the time.

The start is here with deli mustard, which tend to be more towards dijon. though this one is noted as a yellow deli mustard. So, we already have a degree of bitterness to start with at the base. Scotch Bonnets are one of my favorite peppers and one I do not seem to come across often enough in sauces, but, in the wrong hands, this has capacity to be a truly awful-tasting pepper. It is thankfully rare that I come across this, and certainly not the case here, but when the heat comes on, a bit delayed, it comes on with a powerful degree of bitterness and very little of the actual Scotch Bonnet flavor. There is brown sugar in there, to sort of smooth things out a bit, but it is a flavor note a bit lower key than it should be. I wish there had been either more of it or perhaps paired with a honey, which would have tempered the bitterness somewhat while still retaining the heat charge.

As far as hot mustards go, this is probably among the hottest I've come across. In that respect, it definitely belongs as a hot sauce, but with such a strong heat component, much more of a natural fit for hot sauces. Because mustard is so prominent, though, it does limit the usage somewhat more than general hot sauces. I would not use it on pizza or mac & cheese, for instance, though things like chicken, in nearly all forms, including strips (though using it here makes me really wish it was sweeter), burgers, sandwiches, hot dogs/sausages (where I would generally not use too many hot sauces) work well with it. I have yet to try it in more mustard-specific settings, such as egg salad or potato salad, but if there is still some left, once I get closer to that point, I undoubtedly will. Another very solid Hot Ones show sauce and my first experience with Double Take, a sauce company that states they put flavor before heat. That philosophy is right up my alley, even if this sauce didn't quite live up to that for me, and I'm excited to try more of their stuff.

Bottom line: Delicately straddling the line between mustard and hot sauce, it's at least somewhat functional in both worlds. Smooth, but packing a very solid punch, this one may be best left to chileheads. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 3
            Flavor: 7
            Flexibility: 6
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 6

Overall: 6