Uncle Chainsaw Scassa La Bocca
Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOzxC69NIHs
Before I get into the review proper, I need to discuss something briefly, so skip ahead to the third paragraph if you're not interested. That something has to do with price points and not filling bottles completely. I know this is a newer sauce company and still developing (as an aside, their website could use some fleshing out as well), but I can't let this kind of thing pass. I did an FOH video about where the levels are for the various fluid ounces comprising the usual 5 fluid ounce bottles hot sauces tend to come in (check the FOH Random playlist for this) and this sauce, which I didn't notice at the time, as I was doing a bulk buy and not paying strict attention, was well below the level of the label. This means it was less than 4 ounces of sauce in the bottle. The bottle itself was $12, so rather than $2.40/fl.oz., had it been 5 fl. oz., because it was 4 oz. for the same $12, it was closer to $3/fl. oz. Ok, kind of annoying, but not the end of the world...
...except there was some in the neck of the bottle, discolored and dried up towards the bottom. It took more sauce in order to clear the jam, so it wound up closer to 3 fl. oz. actually usable, though it was hard to specifically tell, since the label covers the lower part pretty thoroughly. In any case, what should have been $2.40/fl. oz. was now closer to $4/fl. oz. and this is not the kind of thing anyone should want. Fortunately, the rest of the sauce didn't turn, but with that much air in the bottle, it runs a huge risk of oxidation, which will tend to ruin sauces, both in terms of discoloration and altered flavor. There is no way this sauce should have been put on shelves like this.
There is much to like about this company, from the nifty name, to constant callbacks to heavy metal, both with the horns and death metalization of the logo on the label, to the idea that their approach is that of a chef towards hot sauce, with flavor far outpacing heat. With this particular sauce, Scassa La Bocca roughly translating to "crack/wreck/smash the mouth, the idea is that it is comprised of ingredients entirely imported from Italy, which I love the concept of. The first taste of this was replete with green olives and capers and it was quite nice, unquestionably. The creaminess the oil adds is also a nice touch and it's a very strong first step.
The downside to this lies in the additional spices and herbs. There is definitely some oregano in there, probably some basil as well, possibly some rosemary, thyme, and sage as well, and all of that seems to point pretty strongly at tomato-based Italian sauces, for a pasta dish, for instance. Indeed, I think this is one of the few sauces that would be quite good there, though I don't know that I will have this sauce around (in addition to starting at a lower level, I'm also burning through what's there, as it definitely speaks to my preferences and it's fun to test) by the time it gets cool enough for me to consider cooking again, but I didn't find it worked well on frozen pizza. With the green olives, I feel like it needs to go in places where you'd want that flavor, which I think inherently limits it a bit and even moreso with the addition of spices, which I wish were either not present at all or at minimum, dialed way, way back.
The peppers here are Calabrians, which are one of my absolute favorites. Calabrian is a very flavor-oriented pepper, with not a great amount of heat, so what heat there is here is fairly minimal. It is also a bit streaky, in that at times, I get a bit of a heat charge and in others, I won't get any heat at all. I don't mind that a great deal, though, as heat is clearly not the intent and the flavor, for the most part, is pretty wonderful. I can't think of any other out there quite like this and with some minor fine tuning, this could approach magical.
Bottom line: A very strong debut sauce from this company for me, though I find it to be quite dependent on the setting it's used in. If you're looking for that hot sauce to go with Italian foods, this would be a good one to take a look at.
Breakdown:
Heat level: 1
Flavor: 8
Flexibility: 4
Enjoyment to dollar factor: 6
Overall: 5
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