Whitehouse Station Conclave Skullflower White Peach Hot Sauce Review

Whitehouse Station Conclave Skullflower White Peach 

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VClTfEqsm6o

Decidedly long name for this one, which features an ingredient I don't often see in hot sauces, namely the white peach. Calling this another take on the peach-Habanero sauces might not be super far off on a superficial basis, but this sauce is far more about the interplay between the IPA (Conclave Skullflower) and the peach. I find a lot of these collabs with hot sauces and breweries kind of fascinating, but I don't know that I find it also results in a sauce I particularly like. In this case, I'm way more interested in trying the beer than in continuing on with the hot sauce.

This is probably suggestive of the idea that I think the sauce is bad, which is not the case. I find it to be an intriguing, often subtle, but frequently elusive blend of the various flavors into a rather unique profile. It is still discernibly peach-heavy, which one would definitely want in any sauce with the word "peach" in its title, of course, but the vinegar, sugar, salt, and Habaneros do not show up strictly in terms of the flavor. When I said I was really interested in the beer earlier, it is more to get a baseline on what that flavor is doing here, what it's adding, which parts it's responsible for, etc. I can't find a lot of information on the beer, but evidently it is somewhat of a citra IPA, with various fruit notes as part of it, which goes some way to explaining the dynamic. Skullflower implies the idea of a honey in the mix, but can't find any information on this, including on their website, which doesn't list it at all.

Because this is a somewhat low key sauce, it doesn't lend itself well to a lot of applications. It's best with lighter meats, but put it on something like pizza and it tends towards a very lightly peach sweetness, with the rather flowery notes of the typically hoppy IPA behind it.  White peach is not a flavor I've ever found to be particularly strong, comparatively, and so too is it not here. While I don't dislike the flavor, it is one I find myself experiencing flavor fatigue rather rapidly with, so it essentially winds up being more of a palate refresher or change of pace, rather than a sauce I find myself really wanting to lean into. It's not quite sweet enough to be a solid grill sauce, though I am going to test this theory if this sauce hangs in long enough.

As far as the heat, it's pretty non-existent. There can be a slight build, over time, but the Habanero is definitely here more as an afterthought, and possibly for the sake of being able to call this a hot sauce rather than a peach-IPA sauce. I will also note that this label is among the worst I've seen, largely due to the odd color scheme and some confusion as to the actual sauce name.

Bottom line: If you're a fan of beer in hot sauce, or of white peach generally, this is well worth taking a look at. Ultimately, for me, it winds up being another case of a sauce more interesting than good.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 4
            Flexibility: 2
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 2

Overall: 2