Merman’s Revenge Cajun Hot Sauce Review

Merman’s Revenge Cajun

This is the second product I’ve from this company, the first a glaze that I did an FOH video on in the late part of last year, but which wasn’t a hot sauce per se and so didn’t show up here. I wasn’t overly fond of that sauce and some of the aspects that stuck out a bit to me also appear here, namely the rather forceful nature of the garlic. I don’t mind garlic and in quite a few settings, like it considerably, but in hot sauces, I prefer it be more accent, something more like another component instead of abrasively aggressive. Unfortunately, it winds up being more the latter here. To wit, there are both garlic bits and granulated garlic in the proceedings. The garlic pieces are reading more as jarlic to me, which probably explains the harsh nature of that component.

Cajun sauces are essentially Lousiana-style Cayenne sauces with extra ingredients and for the base Cayenne sauce here, we have a lot of pepper bits in it. The flavor of that part reminds me a lot more of the vinegary hit of something like Crystal, while the pepper pieces and the garlic impart a grit that sort of makes an unpleasant mouth feel, depending on where you use it. I don’t generally get a lot of Cajun sauces, as I think garlic, while a flavor I’m generally favorable towards, has a lot of potential to be overused in the overall flavor mix. I very definitely do not find the approach here to be particularly enjoyable. 

Both the grit and the overly garlic-forward flavor cut down the flexibility quite a lot for me here. There is plenty of a vinegar charge to cut through the richness of foods and at times, the garlic won’t read too obnoxiously, but one really has to be judicious with applying it, perhaps doubly so since this did not come with a restrictor cap. I presume it doesn’t because of all the bits and pieces in the sauce, but the potential for oversaucing with this loose of a sauce is quite pronounced and for me, this is definitely not something I would like to oversauce with. This style of sauce tends to have fairly low heat and this fits nicely into that motif, though I didn’t find it registered much heat at all, even for the style. It’s not egregious enough that I’m going to bin the sauce, but it is one that I will be using up perhaps somewhat grudgingly.

Bottom line: If you’re a fan of fairly prominent and forceful garlic notes in your low-to-no heat vinegar-based hot sauces and don’t mind some grit, this is probably well worth a look. 

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 0
            Flavor: 3
            Flexibility: 3
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 2

Overall: 2