Luck O' The Irish Hot Sauce Review

Peppers.com Luck O' The Irish

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q-_6rYIVyc

I didn't realize, until after I'd gotten this home, that it was a Peppers.com branded hot sauce. Peppers.com I was familiar with from several online orders, after I'd both picked through the shelves of Grove Market and before I discovered there was something so wonderful as the shelves of Burn Your Tongue or the "hidden" area towards the back of Pirate O's. I have no idea which online retailer is the "it" thing now as nearly all of my hot sauce purchasing dollars go to Burn Your Tongue, but for a while Peppers.com was a reliable outlet. 

That aside, I still am at a loss as to why I picked up this sauce. There is a green hat on the front of it, presumably meant to be that of a leprechaun, which has a 3-leafted clover in the belt around the hat and the entire thing is fairly non-descript. I imagine it's because the idea of a hot sauce referencing a region that is not particularly known for spicy foods, let alone bold flavors, I found amusing. Or maybe the price point, which was definitely at an attractive level, considering how expensive hot sauces have become these days. 

Whatever the reason, I'm glad I did. Here we have a veritable hodge podge of ingredients, including Habaneros, Cayenne and Scotch Bonnets, on the pepper front. There is a motley crew of other ingredients, including sweet potatoes (this may have also been of interest to me), key lime juice, and the two more dominant flavors, that of shoyu and molasses. More than anything, this tastes like a slightly astringent molasses-soy sauce combination, with occasional hints of citrus and a very low key bit of smoldering heat, though it is by no means a hot sauce. In fact, as a hot sauce, I rather dislike it, as it is far too salty for my taste. As a grill sauce, however, it is dynamite, one of the better ones I've had, particularly if you're a big fan of teriyaki. This definitely is not a teriyaki sauce per se, but it is somewhat reminiscent of that general idea.

It is fairly thick, with the consistency closer to the molasses and it sticks exceedingly well to food. This does present a bit of a problem for me specifically, in that as a hot sauce, it is kind of non-functional, but as a grill sauce, it's pretty great, particularly since there is ample sugar content to really carmelize well. It does extremely well with both pork and chicken and would do well as a marinade also. I'm rating it here as a hot sauce, with the context that it functions much better in an alternate usage. 

Bottom line: Essentially a molasses-soy flavor profile, with hints of citrus, and a very moderate degree of heat. I find it overly salty for an actual hot sauce, but fantastic as a grill sauce. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 6
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 8

Overall: 5