Butterfly Bakery Vienna Lager Mustard Hot Sauce Review

Butterfly Bakery Vienna Lager Mustard

I don’t often think of Vermont, but when I do, it’s usually in the context of one of the two sauce companies in my favored nations list (see SOTY page, link at right), namely Silk City and Angry Goat, and if I’m not careful, I might just up and add this to that list as well. This is my introductory sauce to Butterfly Bakery (of Vermont, not to be confused with Lincoln, NE, as if anyone ever would) and to say I’m blown away would be a vast understatement.

I think we need to discuss, at this point, or rather I will discuss, the concept of “sweet spot.” It does not have anything to do with sugary flavors, but rather, a sort of advantageous zone or set of circumstances in which to arrive at an optimal result. It was frequently used in terms of what area to strike an approaching baseball with a baseball bat, but here, we are applying it to flavor. I think everyone has one, that one (or more) food or type of foods that are always an instant hit, that one never seems to tire of, that is just immediate and instant flavor gratification.

Now, the reason I bring this up is because I have a number of them. There are a few restaurants where I will inevitably order the same exact order (which is kind of a rarity for me) because it is just so magnificent and the bar set too high for anything to compete (often, I will note this after testing). I think there is some commonality to my palate, certain flavor combinations I greatly admire in a hot sauce, and this one, while not entirely similar to other previous SOTY winners, does echo a few a bit. It also strongly brings to mind cherry peppers, one of my all-time favorite things, yet this sauce is definitely more than just a version of a cherry pepper relish.

Indeed, there are none of those peppers, but red Serranos, which I was kind of shocked by how much I liked. Heat is minimal, to be sure, given the Serranos, but the flavor is outstanding. Add to that a high quality vinegar and one of my favorite beer types and round it out with some salt and mustard and you’ve got a definitely world-beater here. I’ve long said that if a sauce is good enough, flexibility ceases to be much of a factor or even consideration, because it will be good on anything. This sauce bears that out as everything I’ve tried it on has been excellent. Just truly a remarkable sauce and in many ways, this kind of watershed sauce is exactly what I want for the SOTY candidates, of which this is the first for 2025, and the actual winners.

Bottom line: Absolutely brilliant sauce, combining flavors spectacularly, and culminating in a cohesive whole far greater than the sum of its parts. Absolutely a must.

Breakdown:

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

Overall: 8