Hot Sauce Depot Blog

Producer: Marie Sharp’s Fine Foods

Price: 5oz: $3.95, 10oz: $4.99

Ingredients: Green Mangoes, Tamarind, Raisins, Ginger, Sugar, Vinegar, Onions, Garlic, Habanero Peppers and Spices

Appearance: Thick, deep brown sauce with smooth consistency

Aroma: The mix of tamarind and sweetness of fruit give a very complex aroma

Taste: A sweet mix of mangoes, tamarind, and spice, with a hint of vinegar, this sauce shows no noticeable heat and is very similar to many steak sauces. I would not consider this a ‘hot sauce‘. This sauce would go very well on grilled chicken, as a glaze for beef roast, or as a dipping sauce for steak.

Heat: Mild (1).

Conclusion/General Comments: Marie Sharp’s Exotic Sauce has a complex flavor and very pleasant aroma, but would be improved by moving the habanero peppers up in the ingredient list to give the sauce some heat.

Overall Rating
Heat: 1 Flavor: 6

Brewhaus is Moving!

Our continued growth has left us literally tripping over stock in our current location. For more than a year we have been searching for a larger warehouse to suit our needs, and that search has finally come to an end! Our new 7000 square foot warehouse opens up the room to operate more efficiently, gives us the ability to add more lines of hot sauce, and allows for some future expansion. Over the next several weeks we will be preparing the new warehouse for our official move. We will add photos as our new warehouse starts to come together.

Producer: Hatari Bros.

Price: 5oz: $4.95

Ingredients: Habanero, piquin, ring of fire, peri-peri, tepin and jalapeno peppers, garlic, ginger, spices, salt, lemon, lime and orange juices and vinegar

Appearance: Red sauce with medium to thin consistency

Aroma: Peppery, with a hint of garlic and only a slight background of vinegar

Taste: The pepper in this sauce hit right away, so you need to be prepared. The heat jumps almost instantly, but remains at a very livable level, allowing you to enjoy the intense flavor of the sauce. Unlike many sauces, vinegar is very much in the background on this sauce, which focuses heavily on the mixture of peppers. It would go well on virtually anything, from eggs to chicken or pork, and because of the low vinegar contribution it would be especially well suited to cooking.

Heat: Hot (8).

Conclusion/General Comments: Acid Rain Hot Sauce has a great flavor and solid heat, but remains well within reason to make it an excellent everyday sauce.

Overall Rating
Heat: 8 Flavor: 8

Producer: Southwest Specialty Foods

Price: 5oz: $4.29

Ingredients: Water, Habanero Peppers, Jalapeno Peppers, Tomato Paste, Vinegar, Salt, Fresh Garlic, Black Pepper, White Pepper, Onion Powder, Xanthan Gum, and Spices

Appearance: Reddish brown, medium consistency sauce

Aroma: Tomato with Habanero peppers

Taste: The tomato jumps out right away, but is quickly followed by the habanero peppers. The garlic stays in the background, but does add some extra character to the sauce. Given the weight of the tomato / habanero character in this sauce I do not feel that it really qualifies as a Cajun style, although it does have a good flavor. The heat is a bit over the top for a Cajun style, as well.

Heat: Hot (8).

Conclusion/General Comments: Ass Kickin Cajun Hot Sauce has a good flavor, but is not really a Cajun style, and the heat level of this sauce, although not overpowering, is a bit high for a Cajun style sauce.

Overall Rating
Heat: 8 Flavor: 6

Producer: Irazu

Price: 5oz: ~$3.95

Ingredients: Water, Roasted Habanero, Ground Habanero Pepper, Roasted Garlic, Salt, Apple Vinegar, Passion Fruit Juice, Lemon Juice, Xanthan Gum, Acetic Acid

Appearance: Thick, brown, pulpy sauce

Aroma: Complex character with roasted, slightly smoky garlic

Taste: At the front is roasted peppers, with a nice backup of roasted garlic. This is a very pulpy sauce, with little noticeable vinegar character. The heat start out very mild but builds quickly to a nice, smooth level that will not overpower your food. The full roasting makes this sauce too bold for lighter fare, but would be excellent paired with red meets or other hearty foods.

Heat: Hot (6).

Conclusion/General Comments: Irazu Fire Roasted Pepper Sauce is an excellent, complex sauce with tons of character, but is limited in its use due to its depth and bold flavor.

Overall Rating
Heat: 6 Flavor: 8

Producer: Sucklebusters

Price: 5oz: ~$4.50

Ingredients: Peppers, water, vinegar, salt, sugar, onion, garlic, thyme, bay leaf, white pepper, oregano, spices, and xanthan gum

Appearance: Brown with ground pepper evident

Aroma: Herbal smell with vinegar following

Taste: The herbs are very much at the forefront of this sauce, followed by the white pepper. The vinegar is kept much more in the background than expected, but the power of the herbs and pepper makes the spices almost unnoticeable. While this sauce is quite pleasant and full-flavored, we have to deduct points for the fact that it is not really a cajun character.

Heat: Hot (7).

Conclusion/General Comments: Sucklebusters Cajun Hot Sauce does not really fit into the cajun category, but is abundant in flavor and packs a more than reasonable heat level for the type of sauce. It would go well with a wide variety of foods.

Overall Rating
Heat: 7 Flavor: 7

Producer: Southwest Specialty Foods

Price: 5oz: ~$7.95

Ingredients: Cayenne Pepper, Salt and Vinegar
Appearance: Thick, deep orange-red color

Aroma: Strong cayenne pepper smell with slight hint of vinegar in the back

Taste: Despite the ingredient list and aroma, the vinegar and salt are the first to jump out, followed by a very nice punch of cayenne. Obviously, being strictly a cayenne sauce the heat is quite tame, but for a change from habanero sauces, this would be an excellent choice. It would go extremely well on eggs or fish! Pure Cayenne hot sauce would also go very well in a cooking application where a mild bump in heat is desired, as the flavor should flow through quite nicely.

Heat: Medium (6).

Conclusion/General Comments: Pure Cayenne Hot Sauce is a great entry into hot sauces, as it is mild compared to most habanero based sauces, and has a wide range of applications due to being unadulterated. This should be a staple in every cupboard.

Overall Rating
Heat: 6 Flavor: 8

Producer: Bacon Hot Sauce

Price: 5oz: ~$5.99

Ingredients: Water, Distilled Vinegar, Cayenne Pepper, New Mexico Chili, Salt, Natural Flavor, Maltodextrin, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Sugar, Xanthan Gum

Appearance: Thin conistency, reddish brown color

Aroma: The aroma is reminiscent of artificial bacon bits comibined with liquid smoke

Taste: The flavor was not at all what I expected on this one. There is a distinct vinegar character, and some liquid smoke, but not a real bacon flavor. Even the cayenne pepper is hidden behind the smoke. I was left trying to figure out what the ‘natural flavor’ is, but was pretty certain that it had nothing to do with bacon. There is a bit of heat that creeps in, but ultimately it is very mild. I would consider this to be a twist on a basic cayenne hot sauce that did not quite hit the mark.

Heat: Mild (4).

Conclusion/General Comments: Bacon Hot Sauce is a confusing sauce that turned out to be nothing like I had expected. The smoke level in the sauce is a bit too high in relation to the other flavors, leaving this sauce poorly balanced. This sauce may go reasonably well with a red meat, where the flavor of the meat is strong enough to tone down the sauce.

Overall Rating
Heat: 4 Flavor: 4

We are back from ZestFest, where we had a fantastic time sampling out our hot sauces and wing sauces, as well as sampling those of a few other producers at the show.  Some of those products that we sampled you will see added to our lineup in the coming months, while others we felt were just not stand outs.  One new product has been added already, as we brought their remaining stock from the show back to our warehouse.  Bacon Hot Sauce is now available, and being such a unique product we have even put it in as our latest Sauce of the Month (for those in our Sauce of the Month Club).  A review of this sauce will follow shortly.  We have also added Danny Cash’s Bloody Mary Mixes (also a result of bringing back Danny’s remaining stock), who we were located next to all weekend.

For those not familiar with ZestFest, it is a retail and wholesale trade show of all things spicy, previously located in Fort Worth, TX, but moved for 2011 (and beyond) to Irving, TX.  Sponsored by Chile Pepper magazine, ZestFest boasts the Fiery Food Challange- the longest running, and considered by many to be the most prestigious of the spicy food competitions.  Hot Sauce Depot is excited to have won a Golden Chile for The Flaming Chicken Spicy Bayou Cajun wing sauce, and took home second place for The Flaming Chicken Creamy Garlic Parmesan wing sauce (coming soon).  This matches our 2010 wins of a Golden Chile for The Flaming Chicken Heart of the Caribbean Jerk wing sauce and second place for The Flaming Chicken Asian Twist Teriyaki wing sauce.

I was fearing this sauce. Having worked on the development in Costa Rica back in June the memories are still a little bit too fresh.. but not fresh enough for a good review. So, here we go…

Producer: Irazu Volcanic Pepper Sauce

Price: 5oz: ~$8.95

Ingredients: Naga Jolokia Peppers, Water, Salt, Vegetable Oil, Garlic Pulp, Acetic Acid
Appearance: Thick and pulpy, deep red
Aroma: A pleasant but strong pepper aroma with a hint of garlic
Taste: This is fire in a bottle. It has a very strong pepper flavor with only a background of garlic and vinegar, but the flavor is quickly overtaken by extreme heat. The sauce has a very thick, pulpy consistency. The heat ramps up and stays with you for a while.

Heat: Hot (10+).

Conclusion/General Comments: Irazu Volcanic Ghost Pepper Extreme 70 is the first flavorful sauce that we have ever had with anywhere near this level of heat, and by far the hottest non-extract sauce we have ever tasted (and hotter than several extract sauces). If you eat enough you will have a warming feeling, although you may have to start fearing the following day.

The 70% Naga Jolokia is quite obvious, and while the sauce is most definitely edible, it is only for devout and seasoned chiliheads. Given the level of pepper in this sauce, the simple ingredients, and the good flavor of the Jolokia pepper, this probably is the real epitome of hot sauce.

Overall Rating
Heat: 10+ Flavor: 9