Ginger Goat Tropic Star Hot Sauce Review

Ginger Goat Tropic Star

Note: This sauce appears on Season 22 of The Hot Ones.

This sauce is probably the best use of an oil in any hot sauce, including wing sauces, ever. It imparts a touch of flavor, but a very nice silkiness to the mouth feel, without feeling slick or greasy. It is not at all sludgy, as sometimes sauces with that component will tend to be, but quite pleasant. The pastel yellow is also a part I get a tremendous kick out of and it all lends itself to the greater whole that this sauce is unlike anything else out there.

The flavor is quite distinctive. Sometimes we can glean hints from the sauce names and other times, it is a vague at best reference and this one seems more the latter. Certainly the presence of mangoes will lend to a tropical vibe, but they don’t play into the flavor as much as the garlic and the superhot peach blend (whatever it is - it is not defined in the ingredients) and the lemongrass and some of the spices. Those more contribute to a sort of Asian-y flavor vibe, which is perhaps why rice vinegar was used. I’m not quite sure the need for two vinegars, but the apple cider vinegar does not show up particularly forcefully, so fine.

When sauces tend to be this unique, they also tend not to mesh well with a great variety of food and I think that is also the case here. The more you can have foods that will move out of the way a bit and let the sauce shine, the better the results. The sauce seems to have a delicate balance and can be a bit prone to flavor cancellation, but despite that, it is never anything less than utterly tasty. This is a sauce that you may have to tinker with a bit to find where it works best (I liked it on breaded meats and suspect it would be wonderful in a salad), but it is well worth that effort. Heat-wise, there is definitely the superhot bitterness, but no accompanying floral, so if I had to guess, I’d imagine maybe a peach Ghostie and peach Reaper. This will probably push some non-chileheads a bit, but is far from overbearing.

Bottom line: Definitely one of the more unique and delightful flavor experiences from the show and generally. Absolutely well worth grabbing a bottle if you’re a foodie and a very impressive outing from Ginger Goat.

Breakdown:

           Heat level: 2
           Flavor: 8
           Flexibility: 3
           Enjoyment to dollar factor: 7

Overall: 5