Generally when famous people put their name and face to a product the result is little more than humorous. The George Forman grill for example, or Bob Dole hocking Viagra. So when I received a bottle of Joe Perry’s Rock Your World Boneyard Brew Hot Sauce I was prepared for worst–and in for a severe shock. Perry’s sauce is one of the best tasting hot sauces I’ve sampled in recent memory.

The sauce comes in miniature flask with a picture of Perry firing off an epic riff on the guitar. The bottle boasts no grandiose claims of sever pain within, no warnings to use with care. Its actually refreshing that a sauce that average taste buds would find fiery isn’t playing up the fear factor. Continue Reading

When you open a bottle of Dave’s Total Insanity Hot Sauce, the heat immediately hits your nose and lights a fire, and then you know that this sauce is not for the weak—it’s for chile heads. The heat is not the only thing that your nose will notice. Dave’s Total Insanity Sauce is made of red chiles, vinegar and a hint of garlic.

Dave’s Total Insanity Hot Sauce tastes of red chiles, lime juice, garlic, onions, tomato sauce and vinegar. But the real star is the heat, an intense, sweating heat that stays around for a long time. The heat is provided by red chiles and hot pepper extract. Continue Reading

The disturbing image of a ghostly alien face on the black label of Fear Hot Sauce could be a freeze-frame from a horror flick. Blood drips slowly from the top of the forehead down to the cleft of the chin. But the terror doesn’t end there. Even the typeface on the bottle would look at home on the cover of a horror rental.

In case you’ve never experienced fear, the label includes a tidy definition of the feeling describing it as “a response to a specific stimulus such as pain, or the threat of pain.” Then for good measure they taunt you: “don’t be scared!!!”  In case you think these guys are all shock and no awe, the first ingredient of Fear Hot Sauce is the one and only Naga Jolokia pepper. Continue Reading

Head’s Red BBQ Sauce was awarded a 1st place Award Of Excellence in the mild sauce category at this past weeks National BBQ Association conference in Memphis. So you know this sauce is good.

Ketchup, chili sauce, onions, garlic, brown sugar, molasses, Worcestershire sauce and chili pepper extract come together in this Head’s Red BBQ Sauce to create a smooth, rich barbecue experience that will keep your party guests satisfied. Despite the chili sauce and chili extract, this barbecue sauce doesn’t have any heat. What it does have is a sweet flavor with a smoky note that sits well with beef, pork, or chicken. Continue Reading

I could write a book about Louisiana Lickers Sauce. The ingredients alone would fill a book, so I won’t be listing all of them; I’ll simply talk about the ingredients I feel play a primary role in this sauce’s success.

First off, Quaker Steak’s Louisiana Lickers Sauce is billed as a wing sauce, and make no mistake about it, this is one of the finest sauces you could ever top your chicken wings with. I did it and ate a baker’s dozen in one sitting. It was a beautiful experience. The thing is, I think I could drink this sauce straight from the bottle and be perfectly happy. Continue Reading

Mountain Man Garlic Pepper Sauce is a traditional vinegar-based sauce with aged red peppers. The added benefit is the taste of garlic. This one is infused with it. Any garlic lover will be thrilled.

The sauce is aromatic, thin enough to pour easily (and with its fresh, garlic-infused flavor, you’ll want to be liberal), and full of pepper seeds and garlic pieces.

I tried it with hot wings first. It’s an obvious choice, and this sauce was a natural fit. There’s no need to add anything to the sauce except for a generous hunk of butter. Drop your wings into the sauce and let them lavish in it for ten or fifteen minutes. The wings tasted great with an ice-cold Irish Red beer. Continue Reading

This is one of the best barbecue sauces I’ve ever tasted. I opened the bottle and stuck my finger straight in. Fortunately, my wife doesn’t mind this behavior, and I did wash my hands first.

I tasted the Wild-Mild BBQ Sauce by itself and was impressed right away by delicate balance of sweet, smoky elements of the sauce, as well as the light application of cayenne peppers included to give it added flavor. I say “added flavor” because that’s exactly what the peppers do. There’s no real heat to this, which is the point of  the sauce, but there is flavor out of this world. Continue Reading

I should have exercised more caution. Anything that comes in a brown bottle and looks like medicine may be something to be careful about.   The ingredients fooled me, though: soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, raisins, garlic, and cinnamon. It almost sounds like A-1 Steak Sauce, minus the cinnamon.

What I underestimated in Scorpion Xtreme Hot Sauce was the potency of an ingredient I left out — chili extract. We’re not talking about chili peppers here. Continue Reading

The label on the fire ant juice hot sauce bottle transports you into a scene from a 1950’s sci-fi  flick, portraying a hapless victim & an eight foot fire ant. It might not be a bad idea to keep your local national guard unit and/or haz-mat crew on speed dial, just in case. . .

Ever sat your posterior down on what looked like a nice soft mound of earth in say, south carolina or thereabouts?  You may have soon received a less than hospitable welcome from the local inhabitants ! ! !  An example of the above  mentioned inhabitant is glued to the neck of each bottle of fire ant juice, presumably  to make for easier identification by any first responders or your next of kin, if necessary. Continue Reading

I told a friend of mine that I was reviewing a hot sauce called Hog’s Ass, and he said, “Is that supposed to be a funny way pronouncing ‘hot sauce’?” I said I hadn’t considered that; to me it was just a funny name. Then he asked me if it tasted like hog’s ass. I’m not sure if he meant a cut of pork butt or something else, but I quickly realized that we were both missing the point. As far as I’m concerned, hot sauces are for dipping, splashing, or cooking; rarely is one very suitable for all three. 

Hog’s Ass Hot Sauce is.

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Well someone’s gotta stop the flaming ass madness. Or at least allow new blood into the club of hot sauce fools. This is where Mountain Man comes in. If it was on a long shelf of sauces it would run more to spicy BBQ sauces or rubs than the flamers. This is definitely entry-level stuff. Trainer wheels. My young niece took a shot at Mountain Man. No-one can hurt themselves with Mountain Man Corn, Garlic, & Chipotle Hot Sauce. In fact the word “hot” doesn’t even appear on the bottle. The only thing bringing heat in this mix is the rather mild chipotle pepper. Chipotle this and chipotle that seems to be everywhere these days which attests to the “pop” mildness and flavor of this pepper. Continue Reading

The Dave’s Temporary Insanity bottle features a smiling red hot pepper, basking in the blazing sun, shades on and a drink by his side. The ingredient list reveals that both “hot peppers” and “hot pepper extract” are ready to spice things up. A warning advises the use of “one drop at a time” — always good advice where anything containing the word “insanity” is concerned. Other warnings include “Keep away from eyes, pets and children” and “Not for people with heart/respiratory problems.” The slogan “Temporary Pain, Lingering Pleasure” peaks my curiosity.

I open the bottle and inhale the mouthwatering aroma of smoky, sweet tomatoes. The sauce has a medium thickness and a color like tomato sauce, but slightly darker. Ignoring the “one drop at a time” warning, I put a few drops in my New England clam chowder. Continue Reading

The maker touts this Xtreme Hot Sauce as one that is 100% all natural. This idea is reinforced by the plain brown label, reminiscent of what your local butcher might use to wrap your fresh cut meat in. The large x dominating the logo, combined with a vessel shaped liked that of a hip-pocket sized bottle of hooch completes this attention-grabbing package.

Ok; bottle open. First whiff gives an unmistakable hit of fresh garlic. Very strong and extremely pungent. My wife thought I was chopping garlic for a recipe, it filled the air that much.  We poured about a half-teaspoon onto a tostitos scoop chip. It comes out of the bottle very slowly, due to the large garlic chunks. Continue Reading

This is a number that promises a world of “flavor and pain.” I’ve got to say, they’re on point with the description. While chowing down, I didn’t really believe the pain part, but there was a post-meal afterburn that lingered for about thirty minutes.

Maybe that’s because I was a little liberal with my usage, but I just couldn’t help myself. I’m a sucker for jerk sauce; the name just makes me nuts. Rectal Rocket Fuel Hot Sauce’s incarnation is a rich dark burgundy, about the same color as your average barbecue sauce, and has a thick consistency for hot sauce. It dripped slow out of the bottle into my homemade chicken and rice–I only added about four drops. The fifth I applied express to my tongue via fingertip–it had a resonant flavor, bold and brutal.

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