Tennessee Honey Habanero Hot Sauce Review

Tennessee Honey Habanero

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DEOPLP7IAc

I think, at this point, I can pretty safely say that this is a hot sauce company whereupon everyone that cares about this kind of thing should go find a bottle that appeals to them and try something. Not all of the sauces I've done so far have hit with me, but of the ones that did, when they did, they did to massive effect and, not to put too fine of a point on it, this is exactly the kind of hot sauce company we should, as chileheads, be supporting, the kind who put flavor first and have a very comprehensive approach, all the way down to their phenomenal website. 

The first of those sauces that blew me away was the Blood Orange Ghost (reviewed elsewhere here) and this is the second. While I think heat could stand to be slightly hotter here (it is quite minimal overall), my sole complaint with this one is that the sauce is a lot looser than I would prefer and not only does it try to run down the threads and the neck of the bottle, but that same looseness also inhibits its flexibility somewhat. This winds up putting it more or less into the Louisiana-style category, as far as application, though the inherent sweetness here might not always quite be what I want in some of those uses.

The flavor is fantastic, both starting and finishing with honey, while the vinegar and Habanero does a very nice balancing job during the in-between. This is another so delicious that I had to purposely reach for other sauces so that I didn't wind up just blasting through the entire bottle before I had a chance to film anything for the FOH accompaniment to this. Prior to that series, I would have probably finished this bottle in 1 - 3 days, as it hits a lot of the sweet spots, so to speak, for me. I hasten to add that though there is honey flavor and a bit of sweetness fore and aft, it is not overall generally what I would call a sweet sauce, as the vinegar is quite present. Pairing the Habaneros with bell pepper also seems to have tempered the flavor of the former somewhat, which works wonderfully.

Bottom line: This is a truly magnificent sauce from a flavor perspective and while the heat probably won't be satisfying for chileheads, it is a near-perfect gateway sauce for the chili-curious, who like the more vinegar forward entries out there.

Breakdown:

           Heat level: 1
           Flavor: 10
           Flexibility: 7
           Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 7