Rising Smoke Pineapple Oasis Hot Sauce Review

Rising Smoke Pineapple Oasis

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

Another from one of the newer sauce companies and my understanding was that there was a smoke component to their sauces, hence the company name. I might be misunderstanding that, however, as there is no smoke flavor to be had in this particular sauce. Instead, while it positions itself along the lines of pineapple-coconut, with the coconut coming from one of the vinegars, instead this is a much stronger fresh ginger flavor, thanks to the ginger puree. Ginger is one of those ingredients that requires some caution. Use too little and it gets lost, but use too little and it can easily becoming dominant, like it is here. I like fresh ginger quite a lot, but here it overtakes the sauce, leaving it a bit one-note.

The pepper is the Aji pepper, which is a relatively mild Caribbean pepper. I don't read a lot of it or the roasted yellow bells particularly, with it mostly being fresh ginger tempered with a slight pineapple back end. Heat is almost entirely non-existent. With ginger as high in the flavor profile as this is, yet a touch on the sweeter side, this does very nicely with Asian dishes, but cuts the normal applications for fruit-based sweet hots nearly in half. This is not something I find palatable on pizza, for instance, and it is mostly just ok on chicken strips. I sort of dislike it on grilled meats, so that flexibility window is a bit narrow for this one. 

Consistency-wise, it is more or less like you'd expect with crushed pineapple as the first ingredient and relatively loose additional ingredients from there. One of the aspects of this is that it tends to separate rather readily once out of the bottle. Inside the bottle can be deceiving, since it is contained by glass walls. Once outside, nearly immediately, a pool of water juice will take its leave, or try to, and the pulp will sort of sit there in a pile. The overall effect leans a bit towards the unrefined side, though, I don't have issue with it on a taste front, being a fan of ginger in all its myriad forms.

Bottom line: If you're looking for a sauce that's ginger-forward with a touch of sweetness, this is your sauce. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 7
            Flexibility: 3
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 3

Overall: 3