Revved Up Spicy Cayenne
Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF4k7hlEgEI
Revved Up is one of the newer sauce companies on the scene, hailing from the desert sands of Las Vegas. I can't think off-hand of many, if any, sauce companies out of Nevada, but I admittedly didn't pay strict attention in the past (and often forget even now). There seems to be some backing behind this company, as the website is one of the slicker (and also more annoying, with kind of clunky scrolling and a pop-up that is very insistent) I've seen, which I suspect is indicative of grand designs for the company. This slickness somewhat applies also to the label, which really tries to pack a lot of information in a small space.
This is another sauce that I think is confused as to what it wants to be, however. It's on the medium thick side (given the tomato paste, one would expect that), yet comes confusingly with a restrictor cap. Cayenne is the featured pepper in the name, but is nearly the last ingredient in the panel. With Cayenne, the general expectation is usually towards a Louisiana-style or Cajun type of sauce, but here, it's very unclear where this is meant to fit. It also has Worcestershire sauce and molasses, so one might get the idea that it's aiming more at a sort of everyday sauce, but this definitely is not that. What I find most interesting is the idea that the main ingredient is Habanero, which doesn't really show up as flavor and which is not imparting a particularly high amount of heat, either. Possibly the label order is incorrect.
I am inclined to call this a "learning" sauce as this one really drove home that if I see the ingredients molasses, or particularly, red wine vinegar, to be leery. I don't dislike either ingredient, in fact, red wine vinegar is one of my favorite vinegars, if a high quality one, but red wine vinegar also tends to color the flavor of whatever it's used on or in. In the case of, say, a Subway sandwich, this adds and enhances. Here, where it's meant to coalesce with other things, results are a lot less satisfactory. Indeed, without intense agitation, there is a sour "off" note to this sauce, which is probably that red wine vinegar. I don't really understand the point of having both white vinegar and red wine vinegar in the same sauce, but both are here. I think this also calls to mind a discussion as to which peppers go more naturally with which vinegar. I think there's a pretty substantial reason that white vinegar is the standard, as it doesn't tend to color the food and why it's the standard for Louisiana-style sauces. I can't put the finger on the molasses, as it doesn't really show up here (other than in vague hints here and there, depending on what you use the sauce on), same with the tomato paste.
This is not to say it is entirely unpalatable, but rather that it's another sauce that seems to require a lot of agitation to get closer to a smooth mix of flavors, rather than ingredients conflicting and trying to overpower another. It's one that's relatively ok, if you can get the ratio of sauce to whatever you're eating correctly, but if not, this sauce frequently imparts a jarring note to things that I find unfavorable. Heat-wise, despite the Habaneros being first, it's fairly low.
Bottom line: Perhaps the best explanation is they were going for a gourmet type sauce, in which case the ambitiousness is perhaps overly enthusiastic. It's a sauce that's trying to do too much at once and doesn't quite gel into anything cohesive.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 1
Flavor: 3
Flexibility: 3
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 2
Overall: 0
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