Q3 2K16 Update

This is the first time in the history of this blog of back to back blog updates, but sauce usage fell right off the radar pretty much this quarter, which is to be expected, given the busiest time of the year for my job, which tends to mean a ton of travel and about the last thing I want to do is pack sauce around and where I go generally does not have tons of sauce hanging around that is not mass-produced stuff. I also eat out a lot, in general, but especially on those trips and I’m not the guy whipping out a bottle of hot sauce at a restaurant. 

This did give me a nice chance to clean out the fridge and I’m nearly out of open bottles now. Q4 sees me hanging around the city a bit more, so I’m hoping for more chances…truth be told, I don’t have ANY contenders at all for the SOTY and the same dilemma as last year is going on. I feel confident something will come up and Roger at Burn Your Tongue in Ogden has a lot of cool stuff coming, so I’m not super worried…yet.

Speaking of Burn Your Tongue, if you’re a chilehead and located from Nephi north, it’s worth the drive up, so definitely keep your eye on his social media stuff as he expands. 

I’ve also continued to try everything spicy offered by any of the chain restaurants and several of whatever local ones I could find. I remember being moderately impressed by a ghost chili something-or-other at TGI Friday’s, but apparently not enough to remember the name. It was not what I’d consider challenging for a chilehead, but surprisingly more than expected for them or any other chain. Aside from that, lots of Habanero-flavored stuff floating around but not a lot of it any good…

Q2 2K16 Update

Some housekeeping from the last go-around, when I made this nifty Table Of Contents and then promptly forgot to update it. That has been corrected now, so it’s usable and up to date. I also added some more sauce bottle photos, though I still have a number that I’m working on. I hope to be able to get this wrapped up by the end of the year, but finding time is persistently an issue…

I added another 7 sauces this last quarter, which is nearly double what I did the previous quarter. Slowly by slowly starting to replenish the door shelf, though I also need to wipe about most of what is there, then go on another shopping trip in the near future as mostly what I have waiting on the on-deck shelf is superhots and I don’t, by and large, always find those suitable for everyday eating. Obviously, I like them a lot, but they tend to get overbearing and impose themselves on both the food and my taste buds and that can quickly get tiresome and unpleasant. The whole point of this is to find a happy medium of adding some nice heat, but more importantly, enhancing and elevating the food to a tastier level.

I’ve also eaten through every single one of the recent corporate “hot “offerings in the fast food world and universally, all of them are junk and not something I care to repeat. I keep debating doing a write-up on those, but then ultimately decide that, despite my temptation, they are not worth my time and effort to do that. It is nice to see Sriracha doing so well in various snack foods. Though I’ve long since tired and moved beyond the flavor, it will always hold fond remembrances and a special place in my heart accordingly and David Tran seems to me to be one of the “good guys” in the industry.

As always, if there is a sauce you want me to try, as long as it does not have either onions or extract, let me know and I’ll take a look at getting it in the queue. Thanks for dropping  in.

Texas Pete Sabor! Hot Sauce Review

Texas Pete Sabor! Hot Sauce Review

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDn76jJtfvc

So...Texas Pete, long a bastion of the Louisiana-style sauces and Chick-Fil-A restaurant chain, has finally decided to follow Tabasco into deviation and release some alternate-theme flavored sauces. While I find their Louisiana-style Original sauce to be a good standby, I personally think companies that do this often undertake such variation to somewhat limited results.

I don't hate this, but it's not too far off from saying "wow, you just added Ancho (and possibly Arbol) chili powder and a whole bunch of cumin to the Original sauce and called it a day." Heavy vinegar sauces rarely work well in a Mexican sauce setting and here, again, while it works somewhat better than many I've had, it also falls pretty far short of being actually good. Heat is very minor and the taste is somewhat mild, if a bit heavy on both salt and cumin, which tends to conflict a lot with the actual dishes. This is a sauce that would probably be acceptable with some Cup O' Noodles until you got something better.

Trying to flavor and spike in a different style an already popular sauce in the original style is a tough gig and I really wish sauce makers would quit trying to do it. I understand there is big money involved and using the same base is a lot more efficient and cost-effective, but therein lies the difference between churning out product and a good-tasting sauce, commerce vs. art, if you will forgive me the conceit. This is clearly not art.

Bottom line: Not the worst entry into a different category by a major sauce company but not a very compelling one, either. Yet another unnecessary item competing for shelf space in the hot sauce aisle at your local grocer's, but not completely offensive and, I suppose, better than nothing.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 0
            Flavor: 2
            Flexibility: 2
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 1

Overall: 1

Water Of Life Hot Sauce Review

Terrapin Station Smoking Co. Water Of Life Hot Sauce

This is the first review (that I can think of off the top of my head, anyway) of a sauce made by a company from Utah, let alone one local to Salt Lake City, which Terrapin Station is...they are perhaps a bit more known for their selection of dried meats and snack nuts than the hot sauce, though I have seen this one around a bit. I've had it on my list but neglected to pick up a bottle as it never coincided with a need for what appeared to be a fruit-based sauce (and it is) at the time I saw it. However, I spied a bottle at a convenience store, of all places and snagged it on the spot...then promptly forgot about it on the shelf for a few weeks...when I did get it, the wax label was nearly fused on, which was an enormous pain to remove, but well worth the effort, in the end.

Fruit-based sauces are not something I eat a lot of and their sauce is best described as occasional use by me. I do like it on fried chicken strips quite a bit and keep some on hand for that, so I can mix and match with my eternally beloved Louisiana-style sauce, but I don't typically have fried chicken all that much, so a bottle can go a good long while and I don't tend to have more than 1 of those open at once. In this case, I sort of made it a point and immediately kicked myself for passing it by for so long and waiting so long to try it.

Make no mistake; this is a ghost pepper sauce, so it does have a pretty decent kick to it. The fruit is definitely leaning far heavier towards the tropical and citrus side of things and I imagine this would have pretty far ranging uses with things outside of chicken, such as pork, fish or even drinks, if you're into that kind of thing. There is an interesting use of tamarind in here as well, though I don't see this overall going particularly well with Asiatic dishes, unless they too lean towards the citrus-y or tropical side of things. It is at once a very pleasant and very interesting taste, but unless you're partaking of something that will do well with sweet heat, it won't be compatible across the board.

Bottom line: Very, very solid entry from Terrapin and a sauce I found somewhat engaging and dazzling...at least in the proper application. Heat is solid, but not overbearing for chileheads, though I suspect non-chileheads will probably find this too much for comfort.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 6
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 6
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 9

Overall: 7

The Antidote Hot Sauce Review

Zombie Cajun The Antidote Hot Sauce

On the surface, this seems like an easy way to spike a Louisiana-style sauce: simply add the relatively popular Habanero, which will supply a solid amount of heat and not be too offensive taste-wise, containing none of the bitterness, for instance, of the Scorpion or Jolokia peppers. I think this temptation is certainly attractive to sauce-makers on a number of levels and I see it even as far as Tabasco using it and it definitely adds more heat, typically on the back end, but to me, it also adds an element to a Louisiana-style sauce I don't necessarily want, since I am not, by rights, much of a fan of Habanero and certainly not to the extent of the gorgeous Cayenne, for instance.

As Habanero-flavored Louisiana-style sauces go, this is a good one, definitely one of the better entries on that side of thing. If you're a fan of that flavor combination, you will find much to enjoy here. There is solid heat, but nothing particularly scorching, although it seems to be amplified a bit by the heavy vinegar presence. It definitely is hotter than most of the Louisiana-style sauces and probably a bit moreso than several of the ones using Habanero also. It is also notably redder than the original Zombie Cajun.

Taste is pretty solid as well. This is very nicely blended, but for me, I find the presence of Habanero to be more distracting than anything. This is also a sauce that needs considerably more agitation than the regular Zombie Cajun, with what I'm guessing is pepper mash that likes to stick to the side of the plastic bottle. Again, no restrictor cap, either, so oversaucing is always on the table (no pun) and this would probably not be a good sauce to do that with. Happily, it is somewhat of an improvement on the taste of the original and the odd flavoring note I mentioned in the other one is entirely absent here. This one tends to overpower stuff, though, so usage tends to be restricted to foods with a stronger flavor base.

Bottom line: For me, this is not a sauce I would either use regularly or keep on hand, as I'm not a fan of that flavor combination. It is hotter then the original, but it is also different tasting and if you don't like Habanero flavoring in your Louisiana-style sauce, like yours truly, give this one a pass. If you do, however, you will be hard-pressed to improve on this.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 5
            Flavor: 5
            Flexibility: 6
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4

Overall: 5

Cheap Thrill Cayenne Hot Sauce Review

Cheap Thrill Cayenne Hot Sauce

Note: Support video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS82X5lunLo

Here we have what can only charitably be called an unnecessary sauce. We have, in the Louisiana-style hot sauces, the Louisiana Hot Sauce brand, Crystal, Trappey's variations, TryMe brand, even old Tabasco, which is stretching in my mind a bit, but still conceivably fits and my current favorite, Irazu. I don't know where you shop, but bet your bottom dollar they have one (if it's Kroger, they definitely do). Point being, there is tons of sources and at nearly every price point, so to bring something to the table this late in the game, you need to differentiate yourself somehow. These guys evidently are taking aim right for the bottom and shooting for being the low-price leaders.

The sauce isn't quite that bad, but let me be clear. It's not all that wonderful, either. This is a very much middle-of-the-road sauce, but with a price point 3X that of Red Devil, for instance. Is there some heat? Sure, but it is sparing at best. Flavor is a step down and there is nothing really to justify a higher price point. They do some things right, such as using Cayenne as their pepper base for the mash, but they're not re-inventing the wheel here so much as just using different packaging. In this day and age, that's not enough to really entice much interest or excitement.

Bottom line: This is another entry into the Louisiana-style, no more, no less and nothing really to differentiate it, other than a label that uses the word "cheap", which is not an entirely inaccurate description of the actual sauce, but is not reflective of the price, which is considerably more expensive than nearly every other well known sauce in this category. Not much need for this.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 5
            Flexibility: 5
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 3

Overall: 4

Gator Hammock Lethal Gator Hot Sauce Review

Gator Hammock Lethal Gator Hot Sauce

Now I love cracked pepper. Black peppercorns to me for a long time were the epitome of awesome. I like the green and red ones as well but I don't tend to like any of these elements in hot sauce and I'll tell you why. It's because, as anyone who's had a heaping dose of it can tell you, it tends towards bitter. So, let's consider hot sauce...it is cooked down, concentrated and distilled, in a way, which tends to amplify elements like that. In this case, it is to such an extent that it overrides nearly everything else. All you need to do is see the vast amount of black flecks to know that it's a component to an excessive degree.

It features several peppers: Cayenne, Habanero, Jalapeno and one of my all-time favorites, the criminally underutilized Scotch Bonnet but damn if you can pick out much more than the Habanero here and there. Despite this being the hottest entry, I wouldn't put the overall heat much beyond moderate and, as noted, the flavor is far from spectacular. If you were looking to cook with it, this wouldn't be a bad consideration for a pot of chili or something, but there are other things that serve that purpose better and it would really be nothing more than to just use this up. At around $8 a bottle or so, this is a very expensive thing to have that only fills that role.

Bottom line: This is one of the few sauces that one hopes for settling, as it's not a bad sauce when the bitterness of the black pepper isn't overpowering everything, but I made it through maybe 1/3 of a bottle before I called it quits as it was wrecking nearly everything I put it on. 

UPDATE: 08/03/26

Looking back on this 10 years and change later...it didn't seem like I was too overly fond of this one at the time, I suppose one could say. I'm leaving all of the original text in there from that time, verbatim, because it's a good example to me of how my tastes have changed a tad over the years and perhaps leveled out a bit. I do feel I was overly harsh, however, which I sometimes find, looking back. At the time I wrote this, I was maybe 3 years into the blog and it was still sort of orbiting around the eventual shape it would take. Much of the earlier comments are correct. There is still a lot of black pepper, to the point where that and some of the other opponents add a lot of grit and graininess into things. I think there was potential for this sauce, but it suffers too much from kitchen-sink syndrome and winds up as a more confusing composite. There is still much more Habanero as far as the hot peppers, but in the bottle I got to do the video (link will be above, as always, when posted), it seemed tempered a bit more by the Scotch Bonnets. I didn't remark on it then, so I'm not sure if this is newer or I just didn't notice, but I found the newer bottle to be notably salty. The sauce itself is more in the Cajun arena, but is far thicker than those sauces tend to run, which means it also does not like to integrate so much as just sit atop whatever you put it on. This is fine for creamier dishes, where you mix it in, but it's not a good enough tasting sauce for that behavior. I'm kind of surprised that I wound up binning that sauce, and don't actually remember doing that, as it's a decidedly more average sauce than anything else, but certainly not one that I would peg for ejection...maybe I had some other sauces of that type and a lack of door space or something...anyway, the rating has been re-revised, but I've left the rest of the earlier review intact, overly hash as I may find it now...

Breakdown (circa 08/2026):

            Heat level: 1
            Flavor: 6
            Flexibility: 6
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 4

Overall: 4

B. J. Bull Hot Sauce Review

B. J. Bull Hot & Spicy Special Sauce

I want to preface this by noting that there is only one place in the world, at least as of this writing and of which I'm aware, where this can be obtained and that is the B. J. Bull Bakery in Elko, Nevada. This is also done, from what I understand, in-house, in small batches.

The original intent is to go with pasties, ala the Cornwall variety and in that case, it does exceedingly well, particularly with the creamier ones, such as the chicken type made in the store. I imagine it would also do particularly well with beef. I have tried it on a number of other foods, as I had to take a bottle home with me and it has done, for the most part, remarkably well, with enough assertiveness not to get lost, but not so much as to overpower things. I've used it as dipping sauce and as accent and it performs equally well in either setting. It won't work for all foods and the very strong-flavored type, such as Mexican, for example, will clash in a big way, but it does very well overall.

It has quite a lot of ingredients and usually in that type of setting, I begin to worry if there is some masking or amateurish "kitchen-sink" notions going on with the chef, but I tell you, it works to perfection here and most of the things can be picked out and all of them combine to a stunning effect. Some of the things included here are chiles (obviously, but 3 or 4 different types), garlic, cloves, tomato puree, light brown sugar (if you're thinking a little barbeque sauce aspect here, you're not far off, but it is definitely NOT a barbeque sauce), currants, curry and good old cracked black pepper.

I'll be honest (as always) and mention this is not a super-roaring "tear your face off" type sauce. There is some heat, but it is mostly of the nice and subtle variety, enough to be present, but, again, not to be overbearing. It is a welcome addition, but part of the entire picture, as all of the components are. It also comes in a very large bottle for a very minimal $6, making this one of the best deals around.

Bottom line: Is this worth the drive to Elko? Probably not (and I'm guessing they would ship you some), but I would, however, detour out of the way a bit to get some of those pasties, pies and another bottle of this sauce. Definitely worth taking for a spin (all of them).


Breakdown:

            Heat level: 2
            Flavor: 8
            Flexibility: 8
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 10

Overall: 7

Wicked Cactus Aliento Del Diablo Hot Sauce Review

Wicked Cactus Aliento Del Diablo Hot Sauce

At the time I saw a lot of production out of Wicked Cactus, this was the hottest they were offering. Not sure if they're still around, as they've kind of dropped off the radar a bit. They had some hallmarks and one of them was for using Ghost Pepper chili dust to spike nearly everything. It tasted a lot like they were using smoked dust, which I didn't mind and in a way, it sort of made sense to give all of their stuff a recognizable signature note...however, often that note was the one pealing the loudest and it wasn't always necessarily the best one to have there.

As to this, it is basically a liquefied version of that note, more or less. This sauce has one of the worst suspension problems I've seen and it takes near-constant agitation to keep it in line. This, as you may expect, is a monumental pain and frankly the sauce isn't flavorful enough to make this too worthwhile. It actually strikes me more as a heat/flavor enhancer than actual sauce, though the heat is pretty far from considerable here.

"Aliento del Diablo" translates literally to "breath of devil", but they more probably meant Devil's Breath and smelling someone else's breath tends not to be super pleasurable and while they meant this for the sort of fiery connotations, it is more the other one that come into the fore here. The first ingredient is anything other than a pepper, which always makes me doubt immediately the veracity of claims of "scorching" or otherwise heat. If I really wanted the smoky sort of pepper taste here, which sort of strikes me a bit more as Habanero, then I could just buy the dust myself rather than use this sauce, mostly because I don't have to constantly agitate that.

Bottom line: As the *ahem* "torchbearer" of the Wicked Cactus line, it was neither the hottest nor the most flavorful and far from the best. It is a sauce that does not particularly go with anything, unless you intend on cooking with it, but that's more just making lemonade at that point. More or less a total misfire, from nearly any aspect.

Breakdown:

            Heat level: 4
            Flavor: 3
            Flexibility: 2
            Enjoyment to dollar factor: 0

Overall: 2