Angry Goat Red Armadillo Hot Sauce Review

Angry Goat Red Armadillo

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6750K5bG80

So we have here, as they say, another banger from Angry Goat. This one, along the lines of Sweaty Beaver (reviewed elsewhere here), is in the Mexican-style/Southwestern flavoring vibe. We've got the usual suspects you might find in your favorite taco sauce, with chile powder, cumin, and granulated garlic, but additionally, there's the sweet loving kiss of the pure Vermont maple syrup that Angry Goat likes to use as well. For a heat driver, there's Habanero powder, but it's pretty far back in the mix, which makes this a rather tame sauce.

This is clearly intended to be more of a flavor push and in that regard, it does very nicely, in particular with pork. Pork tends to have a bit of natural saltiness, which lends itself well to sweetness, which this sauce has in abundance, though stopping just short of something like the level of a sweet-hot, so there's a very natural fit with that meat. I rather enjoyed tinkering around with different Mexican dishes and it has a nice robustness to the flavor, a sort of rich depth, along with a mouth feel on the thicker side, reminding me a touch of a mole. It worked extremely well in that setting, but my favorite was probably my vaunted breakfast burritos. I liked it there so well that though I tried it in other places, that was fairly limited as I specifically wanted to reserve it just for that.

While this is an utterly delicious sauce, it is, as noted, tending on the sweet side, which may be off-putting a bit for some people who prefer their Mexican-style sauces to not have that characteristic. I'm probably one of them, but I found this such a refreshing change of pace that I was quite happy to have it there. I do have the very slight and minor complaint that I wish they chose a different vinegar other than apple cider and I could have done with it being somewhat hotter than it was, but certainly not enough to dissuade me from enjoying it immensely.

Bottom line:  Another innovative sauce from Angry Goat, this time in the fairly well-established field of Mexican style sauces. The attention to flavor and the sweetness definitely make this stand out among those.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 10
            Flexibility: 4
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 6