Angry Goat Pumpkin & Habanero Hot Sauce Review

Angry Goat Pepper Co. Pumpkin & Habanero

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9TMh6EwXwg

I don't always get to seasonal blends, given how many sauces I usually have on deck at any given time, but I found myself at the hallowed shelves of BYT to get a couple of fill-in sauces, since I had uncharacteristically run a bit low and I need to little tide-me-over before I do another big bulk buy. When I saw this one, given how close we are to Thanksgiving, it was hardly one I could pass by, given both that it's Angry Goat and one of the few sauces they have that's normally named. 

Among other things not becoming of me, I'm neither a coffee person nor a pumpkin spice person, so almost all of that hurrahing and carrying on is lost on me as an audience. I mean, sure, I'll whip through a sixie or two of a pumpkin beer when those roll out, but generally I'm way good to go for another year after that. Same with pumpkin pie, which is where I thought this sauce was probably aiming at. I was eventually right and what I mean by that is that the earlier parts of the bottle, before I'd eaten enough to agitate more properly, was more pumpkin pie by way of apple, which is, itself, an interesting idea.The pumpkin eventually re-emerged, in a very nice manner. 

This sauce utilizes pumpkin puree and there's no mistaking that on a texture end. I quite like what they've done here, but this is both a thicker sauce and one that will immediately separate once out of the bottle. The flavor of pumpkin pie is somewhat toned down here, with the elements of the aforementioned apple and to a much lesser extent, the Habanero. The molasses and Vermont maple play very nice here together, adding a bit of depth and flavor complexity, while not really adding much to the actual flavor. All in all, this is a very intricate and tasty balancing act, though, as a dessert-ish sauce, I find it better reserved for the lighter meats only.

What it is not, however, is particularly hot. Both Habanero and Cayenne mash show up in the ingredient list, but this is an extremely tame sauce and won't be challenging to anyone, I wouldn't think. Very cleverly of them, this makes the perfect accompaniment to both the turkey and pumpkin pie facets of Thanksgiving dinner (despite the very Halloween-y label), but if you're like me and everything winds up melding on the plate anyway, it will also fit in nicely there as well.

Bottom line: Very nice seasonal winner that I'm glad is here now and will remember fondly (though probably won't pick up again until next year) once it's gone. 

Breakdown:

       Heat level: 1
       Flavor: 9
       Flexibility: 5
       Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 6