The Hot Ones Constrictor
Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VLkw4I-e24
This is another sauce that was evidently devised from the thoroughly wicked mind of "Smokin'" Ed Currie for The Hot Ones game show and which has never appeared on the actual Hot Ones show. It is also the last of the sauces I got from the 3-pack as a birthday gift in 2020 and also has been sitting in my fridge for the better part of the last 6 weeks or so, which is an unusually long time for me to wait to review something, even during the lulls of earlier years, but definitely in comparison to recently. Partly, this was a result of more battles with my stupid fucking tooth, which very unkindly broke the day before I was set to leave for my Albuquerque trip to the Fiery Show 2022 (notes on that elsewhere in the blog), and which started really giving me fits in May. Anyway, it was only partially fixed in June and by July, was roaring back. I mention all of this mostly because I had to significantly change my diet, which moved it out of the realm of spending time with this or any other sauces on the hotter side, which naturally drove my tolerance way down.
I had most of my thoughts in order prior to those weeks, but wanted to sort of move them past gelling a bit into more of a cement, but after reuniting with the sauce, it's pretty clear that nothing has changed. This sauce is intended as a mouthful of blast furnace and that's more or less what it is. There is some suspicion it's even hotter than the Last Dab Apollo, which is possible, I suppose, but if so, it's not by a great deal. I'd put them more neck and neck, I think. I saw somewhere that it was rated 11/10 as far as heat, which is a bit further than I'd put it, but it's unquestionably hot. That is the entire point, from what I can see.
Aside from some vinegar, it has fresh Reaper pods (the idea is being tendered that there are 36 Reapers per bottle), Reaper powder, and Reaper distillate. The last two are concentrates and I've seen a lot of verbiage that the distillate is closer to a reduction than to an actual extract, which may be the case. However, all of them are forms of concentrate, which means a shift away from flavor and more towards heat. So, I suppose this is meant to be a super stepped-up Reaper sauce.
I can't speak to it in terms of the flavor of Reapers in comparison to the sauce, as my relationship with Reapers tends to be a bit complicated. There is obviously a lot of Reaper flavor there, unquestionably, but how heavily it is skewed towards the bitter side vs. whatever is normal, I don't know. This sauce gives a smidgeon of the superhot flavor of Reapers, but none of the sweetness I've noted in other sauces shows up, instead it gives way to the bitter nearly immediately in a wave of Reaper fury. That said, I do like the flavor of this sauce somewhat more than I expected, as there is little to no floral notes hanging about. It is not a sauce I use regularly, but it is fairly neutral, which means you could readily add it to dishes, to punch them up, without compromising flavor too much. It is clearly meant as a challenge sauce, though, a heat delivery system and little else. One could, say, since you can control the amount, use this as a stepladder to acquaint yourself with Reaper heat, so as to avoid a full blown panic when you a mouthful of the blazing wrath of that pepper. In fact, one of the better uses I've found for it is to gauge my tolerance (or to build it), but I can't realistically say I would buy a sauce solely for that purpose. Given how expensive this sauce is, that pretty much puts that out of range immediately.
Bottom line: Flavor is largely out the window here in favor of heat and this is easily the hottest sauce I've had in quite some time. Chileheads only and at that, somewhat more experienced ones.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 7
Flavor: 3
Flexibility: 6
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 2
Overall: 5
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