Da Kine Hawaiian
Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emGlnCC9diY
Oh boy do I have some problems with this one. I almost don't know where to start, but the positioning of this sauce is something that needs to be addressed. While I will stop short of accusing this company of appropriation of native Hawaii islanders, I will note that of the persons of that lineage I know directly, all of them would be offended at the idea that you can simply list pineapple as an ingredient to make something "Hawaiian." Hawaiian restaurants are one of the largest boom segments in the restaurant industry and it's not surprising that companies would want to jump on with that, as they did with the macadamia nut craze of a while ago (this company also offers products with macademia nuts). The company itself seems to be trying to capitalize on the "all things vaguely Hawaiian" motif and we see product names like Da Rub.
That brings us to the company name, which is islander pidgin for "that one" or "the one," clearly here meant to denote a specific level of quality above all others. If this sauce is a representation of that put into practice, they're missing pretty wildly. The phrase itself is highly contextual, however, depending on both
speaker and usage, so it could also mean something else entirely. I don't usually spend a lot of time on price points of the various sauces, but this one is some serious wolf tickets. We'll circle back to that, but because they're in World Market and catering to shoppers who generally don't know better, it's smart marketing, but a bit on the dubious side.
As to the sauce itself, this is, more or less, a Louisiana-style sauce, or, perhaps more accurately, given the glut of the other ingredients, a Cajun style sauce. However, flavor-wise, none of that reads except for the first three ingredients, which are that of typical Louisiana-style sauces, namely Cayenne, vinegar, water. Frankly, back to the slogan, this company has a lot of nerve calling this a "unique, Hawaiian-style" anything, let alone a hot sauce. I don't know what would be unique about a Lousiana-style Cayenne pepper, a form which is one of the longer running in the hot sauce world generally, let alone Hawaiian, and it's exactly that kind of exaggeration, which is then also reflected in the price point, that I find both highly disingenuous and offensive, not to mention unnecessary.
Look, the sauce is fine. It tastes, more or less, generally, like most of the other Cayenne Louisiana-style sauces out there. This one is a bit more astringent and harsher on the vinegar side, closer to something like Crystal, but it's consistent with the majority of the other ones out there, only at around 3X the cost or more. The garlic (which appears twice), the pineapple juice, the sugar, the "red chili," whatever that's supposed to be...none of that really shows up in the flavor. This is not notably sweeter than any of the other Louisiana-style Cayenne sauces, and as I mentioned, not as smooth as some of the others. Heat-wise, this is probably among the lower of this form, which is fine, as Louisiana-styles in general are not really meant to pack much of a charge.
Bottom line: Your basic, run of the mill, pedestrian, slightly harsh Louisiana-style Cayenne sauce.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 0
Flavor: 6
Flexibility: 5
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 1
Overall: 3
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