Cholula Reserva Tequila & Lime
Note: Support video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3R2FHbazeU
The temptation is so strong to say something along the lines of "never been a fan of tequila or lime and then I had the sauce and what the Hell? Now I love both," as I believe there is some sort of meme or something along those lines floating around out there to that effect, but I will refrain. Definitely went through my mind, though. To be clear, I don't dislike lime particularly. It can be used to great effect when done correctly, which is sadly somewhat seldom. The fake lime I like even less and good uses are even more seldom, though I think that might be what's in this. To be sure, the lime is fairly subtle, much more an accent than anything, despite being a part of the name.
Another temptation might be to look at this sauce and figure it as basically Cholula Original, with added elements of the Tequila and Lime, though that would not be a correct assessment. The tequila is very forward here and I admittedly am no connoisseur, but I'm not sure I've had the agave tequila before. Agave is yet another hit and miss ingredient for me, but I may have been doing myself a disservice as I quite like the effect they gathered here with the tequila. That sort of "icky" tequila flavor that the brown stuff tends to have is entirely absent and instead is a very light, effervescent, lively sauce...that bears almost no resemblance at all to the Original.
This is both a good and a gutsy thing. Cholula, despite being perhaps the main Mexican style sauce that comes to mind for folks, doesn't need to step out like this. They could just do endless spinoffs of their outstanding Original sauce and call it a day, but both with this and the Sweet Habanero (reviewed elsewhere here), they instead take steps to be bold and refreshing, coming up with new taste concoctions well removed from the flavor of the Original. I'm quite a fan of the experimental and adventurous and I commend them for this.
As for this, we do have a bit of an alcohol hit (don't usually like booze in sauces, again, because it's rarely done well), but it works very nicely with the peppers, the salt, and a backend hint of the lime. One of the suggestions on the website is to use it in drinks and I think that might be the actual intended usage, as it would work extremely well in a variety of drinks where one might be tempted to add a hot sauce. They also suggested enchiladas, which calls to mind, for me, the idea of cheese and lime, which...ummm...not going to be trying.
When paired with foods, it lets off the gas a bit. It definitely wants to be the star, so if you put it with another food that has its own strong flavoring, it tends to clash. Meanwhile, it does need at least somewhat of a foil to play against or results are similarly diminished, just in different fashion. For me, on seafood and chicken was where it worked best. I might play around with it more on pork, as I think it may work there also, but it definitely is nowhere near accessible enough to function as a table sauce, as the Original also does frequently.
Heat-wise, this is pretty low. Because the alcohol is "live" and there is enough in there to be noticed, since alcohol tags the TRPV1 receptors in the same way as does capcaisin, it can be a bit difficult to place an actual heat level attendant to the peppers. I've decided to call it a 1 and leave it at that, but no one is going to be challenged by this, or any other, in the Cholula lineup.
Bottom line: Another entry from Cholula taking a wild leap into the unknown with a new sauce and this one is unexpectedly brilliant and phenomenal. It definitely is not highly flexible, but what it works on, it opens up a whole new flavor world.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 1
Flavor: 8
Flexibility: 4
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 8
Overall: 5
No comments:
Post a Comment