Sweet & Spicy Alaskan Umami Sauce

by : 10/28/2015

Sweet & Spicy Alaskan Umami Sauce is a super thick and sticky sweet sauce. One of the most unusual sauces we’ve had lately, it doesn’t just pour out of the bottle – you need a knife or spoon to ladle it out.

And it’s worth the trouble.

Listen to the audio review:

Or read on for all the details…

Sweet & Spicy Alaskan Umami Sauces

Sweet & Spicy Alaskan Umami Sauces

The Sweet & Spicy Alaskan Umami Hot Sauce lineup

Sweet & Spicy Alaskan Umami Sauce is available in mild, hot and extra hot flavors.

I found out by talking to sauce creator Pamela Turner as to why there is no “Medium” level of sauce. After having launched their Mild and Hot levels, they were inundated with requests for an Extra Hot version. Not willing to re-tool the labels for the Mild and Hot… Extra Hot was launched and the middle child, Medium, was left out.

Mild:

Very sticky, very sweet, very thick. Breakfast syrup sweet. Which is perfect for waffles you can make with your own frying pan, also is useful to know that the best splatter screen keeps you clean and safe when cooking another delight with your frying pan.

A nice, middle of the road sauce for dipping.

Mild Alaskan Umami Sauce

Mild Alaskan Umami Sauce

“Mild” ingredients: brown sugar, cayenne pepper sauce (cayenne peppers, vinegar, water, salt, garlic powder), vinegar, minced garlic, pure sesame oil, unsulphered molasses, granulated garlic, granulated onion, pepper, sea salt.

Heat Level: Rated 1 out of 5 Stars – Very mild, sweet and sticky. A nice glaze or substitute for pepper jelly. Tame.

Overall Rating: Rated 2.5 out of 5 Stars – It’s pepper jelly good. Great for everyone to try.

Good for: Probably best tossed in warm/hot wings after they’re done cooking. Also a great dip for pretzel sticks or poured onto breakfast sausage.

Hot:

Again, our first test was on chicken tenders as a dipping sauce.

Wow. The best flavor/heat combo of the 3.

A pop of heat in the mouth and up in the nose. When you swallow it, it burns your throat, but quickly subsides.

Hot Alaskan Umami Sauce

Hot Alaskan Umami Sauce

“Hot” ingredients: Brown sugar, cayenne pepper sauce (cayenne peppers, vinegar, water, salt, garlic powder), vinegar, minced garlic, pure sesame oil, cayenne, unsulphered molasses, granulated garlic, granulated onion, pepper, sea salt.

Heat Level: Rated 2 out of 5 Stars – Medium heat and best flavor of the 3. Perfect.

Overall Rating: Rated 4 out of 5 Stars – Our favorite and most flavorful. Recommended.

Good for: Crackers with cream cheese, a wing glaze with some heat or a dip for jalapeño poppers.

Extra Hot:

First of all, it’s indeed extra hot. Darkest red color of the trio. Lots of pepper flakes floating about.

Too hot for my taste as a sweet dipping sauce. Think of this as a thin pepper jelly for the adventurous.

Extra Hot Alaskan Umami Sauce

Extra Hot Alaskan Umami Sauce

“Extra Hot” ingredients: Brown sugar, cayenne pepper sauce (cayenne peppers, vinegar, water, salt, garlic powder), vinegar, cayenne, minced garlic, pure sesame oil, unsulphered molasses, granulated garlic, granulated onion, pepper, sea salt.

Heat Level: Rated 3 out of 5 Stars – Hot with far less sweetness. Hot.

Overall Rating: Rated 1 out of 5 Stars – Hot for hots sake. A little overkill.

Good for: Fire cracker grilled shrimp.

chicken tenders with alaskan umami sauce

Tenders with all 3 sauces

Wings with Mild Alaskan Umami Sauce

Wings with Mild Alaskan Umami Sauce

Wings with Hot Alaskan Umami Sauce

Wings with Hot Alaskan Umami Sauce

Alaskan Umami Sauces

Alaskan Umami Sauces

Sweet & Spicy Alaskan Umami Sauces in big bottles

Sweet & Spicy Alaskan Umami Sauces in big bottles

About:

Pam Turner started Alaskan Umami Sauce as a wing sauce.

It really came about because of my own picky taste buds, said Turner. “I never could find a barbecue or other dipping sauce for meats that I liked very much, so I made my own.” I started making this sauce for chicken wings about 20 years ago, although it has been changed quite drastically over the years to what it is now.

You can find Alaskan Umami Sauce here:

Facebook: Sweet & Spicy Alaskan Umami on Facebook.
Twitter: Follow @Sweet_Spicy_BBQ on Twitter.

Where to buy:

To purchase, visit http://www.ultimateumami.com/order-online.html

Disclaimer: We received this product courtesy of the manufacturer for review.

Filed Under: Hot Sauce, Reviews Tagged With: , ,

Chef Fartenburn’s Gourmet Hot Sauce

by : 10/14/2015

From an award-winning chef comes this second silly-named hot sauce. But sometimes the cover belies the contents. This is another winner of delicious hot sauce flavor from Chef Wayne Howey.

chef-fartenburn-lead

Chef Fartenburn’s Gourmet Hot Sauce – from Tropical Island Gourmet

Tomatoes, peppers, onion and garlic flavors all say “taco sauce” to me. Despite the cartoon label (and the implied joke), this sauce won’t burn your butt.

It’s a blend of 3 classic peppers along with the right amount of vinegar, onion and garlic. Some mango juice is thrown in to make everything all nice and happy.

Heat Rating: Rated 3.5 out of 5 Stars – Thanks to the habaneros, the sting really lingers… but the cayenne and jalapeños along with the mango round things out nicely. Big heat for taco meat.

Overall Rating: Rated 3 out of 5 Stars – Thick and pulpy, this is a hot tomato based sauce that is perfect on tacos or burritos and the like. Bold and spicy taco-like sauce.

Ingredients: cayenne peppers, jalapeño peppers, habanero peppers, onions, vinegar, mango juice, mangos, tomatoes, roasted garlic, and salt.

Texture & Appearance: Deep red in color, slightly thick with lots of pulp and bits to chew on. Satisfying.

chef-fartenburn-sample

Taste / Heat: Tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic – the sweetness from the mangos is muted and acts only as a supporting player. This is not an overly sweet sauce. Hot and savory.

Buy One Get One Free offer:

[themify_box style=”highlight, rounded” ]Until the end of October 2015, if you mention HotSauceDaily, you can get a BOGO free on Chef Fartenburn’s Gourmet Hot Sauce as well as Ugly Baby Sweet Hot sauce.[/themify_box]

About Tropical Island Gourmet:

Tropical Island Gourmet is the brainchild of Chef Wayne Howey – of Fire Ant Juice fame. Everything he makes has his golden touch. Despite the weird names and labels, it’s all good!

Chef Howey has won multiple awards this year alone – Scovies, Screamin’ MiMi’s, and World Hot Sauce awards all adorn his kitchen.

Check out our review of his other new sauce, “Ugly Baby Sweet Hot Sauce” – also available at Bass Pro Shops.

Social Media:

Tropical Island Gourmet Co on Facebook: Tropical Island Gourmet Co on Facebook

Where to buy: You can find all of Chef Howey’s sauces at his Amazon store under the name of “Hot Sauce Gourmet”.

Find Chef Fartenburn’s Gourmet Hot Sauce here: Chef Fartenburn’s Gourmet Hot Sauce

Find Ugly Baby Sweet Hot Sauce here: Ugly Baby Sweet Hot Sauce

Other Hot Sauce Gourmet products here: Tropical Island Gourmet Co

Disclaimer: We received this product courtesy of the manufacturer for review. Some links may be affiliate links.

Filed Under: Hot Sauce, Reviews Tagged With: , ,

Ugly Baby Sweet Hot Sauce

by : 09/10/2015

1 Ugly Baby + 1 Ugly Label = 1 Delicious sweet hot sauce.

Ugly Baby Sweet Hot Sauce

Ugly Baby Sweet Hot Sauce – from Tropical Island Gourmet

Now here’s one for the books. Ugly Baby’s label is, well, ugly! I had a little reservation about even trying the sauce, but knowing the creator is a chef, and knowing his previous sauces were stellar… I opened the ugly stuff er, bottle.

Two or 3 spoonfuls and 4 tacos later, I was wowed. This is a delicious sauce that just rocked our tacos.

On pizza it was a little too tame for me, but still sweet and flavorful.

Heat Rating: Rated 2 out of 5 Stars – Sharp and tangy heat comes on quick under the sweetness. Nice flavor/heat balance. Enjoyable.

Overall Rating: Rated 4 out of 5 Stars – Quality flavor, clean profile, quick sweet heat that comes in fast. Cumin (think southwestern) is heavy on the back end. Weird label but awesome sauce. Recommended.

Ingredients: aged red peppers, jalapeño peppers, cider vinegar, light brown sugar, cilantro, cumin, salt, citric acid and xanthan gum.

Texture & Appearance: Burnt orange color with flecks of herbs and peppers, this sauce is a bit thin bodied. Nice pour.

Ugly Baby Sweet Hot Sauce closeup

Taste / Heat: A sweet hot sauce with flavors of cilantro and cumin bring on a big Southwest taste. Light bodied and slightly spicy, the sweetness will win you over. Yummy.

Buy One Get One Free offer:

[themify_box style=”highlight, rounded” ]Until the end of October 2015, if you mention HotSauceDaily, you can get a BOGO free on Chef Fartenburn’s Gourmet Hot Sauce as well as Ugly Baby Sweet Hot sauce.[/themify_box]

About Tropical Island Gourmet:

Tropical Island Gourmet is the brainchild of Chef Wayne Howey – of Fire Ant Juice fame. Everything he makes has his golden touch. Despite the weird names and labels, it’s all good!

Chef Howey has won multiple awards this year alone – Scovies, Screamin’ MiMi’s, and World Hot Sauce awards all adorn his kitchen.
Check out our review of his other new sauce, “Chef Fartenburn’s” – which was just picked up by Bass Pro Shops. Yea, he’s on a roll.

Social Media:

Tropical Island Gourmet Co on Facebook: Tropical Island Gourmet Co on Facebook

Where to buy: You can find all of Chef Howey’s sauces at his Amazon store under the name of “Hot Sauce Gourmet”.

Find Ugly Baby Sweet Hot Sauce here: Ugly Baby Sweet Hot Sauce

Other Hot Sauce Gourmet products here: Tropical Island Gourmet Co

Disclaimer: We received this product courtesy of the manufacturer for review. Some links may be affiliate links.

Filed Under: Hot Sauce, Reviews Tagged With: ,

Moe Mountain Hot Sauce Review

by : 05/04/2015

Moe Mountain Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce

Moe Mountain Hot Sauce is a tomato based Ghost Pepper sauce from Martin Olsen, and his slogan is “it’s kinda hot”.

Let’s see if it really is.

It’s also one of the newest hot sauces to come to market. Made with a blend of natural ingredients like apple cider vinegar, cumin and cocoa powder, and coupled with the famous Bhut Jolokia Pepper (Ghost Pepper), Moe Mountain Hot Sauce brings its own unique flavor to the hot sauce world.

Moe Mountain Hot Sauce Bottles

The Details

Ingredients: tomato puree (water, tomato sauce), apple cider vinegar, modified food starch, salt, cocoa powder, garlic, fresh lemon pulp, ghost peppers, spices (cumin).

Flavor: Rated 4 out of 5 Stars – Dark, spicy and just slightly hot. This is a kicked up Mexican style sauce with ghost pepper heat. Surprising.

Heat: Rated 2.5 out of 5 Stars – Just about in the middle… the heat burns off quickly leaving the rest of the flavors to linger. Wild n mild.

Moe Mountain Hot Sauce closeup

Texture and appearance: Thick and smooth. The dark color is flecked with bits of spices. Classic.

I would also like to point out that Moe Mountain Hot Sauce is packaged in a 5 ounce bottle (woozie) with a wide mouth. This makes it very easy to pour the sauce out.

On food

We tried Moe Mountain on tacos and pizza for this review.

It was delicious on pizza.
Moe Mountain Hot Sauce on pizza

But it excelled on tacos. This is a fiery taco sauce that is thick and rich.

Moe Mountain Hot Sauce on tacos

Final thoughts

This is a great entry-level Bhut Jolokia (Ghost Pepper) sauce.

Coupled with some spices that include cumin, it would also be great splashed onto a bowl of chili. Don’t forget the onions and cheddar cheese.

Overall Rating: Rated 4 out of 5 Stars – Big, bold and delicious! Versatile as a medium-thick sauce on all foods that can stand up to a big flavor. Winner.

You can order Moe Mountain Hot Sauce at http://www.moemountainhotsauce.com/

Tell Martin that Brian from HotSauceDaily sent you!

Disclaimer: We received this product courtesy of the manufacturer for review.

Filed Under: Hot Sauce, Reviews, Miscellaneous Tagged With: , ,

Men Paw Gourmet Hot Sauce

by : 01/22/2015

Here’s a review that has been almost a full year in the making. Men Pa’w Gourmet Hot Sauce is the brainchild of Carline Phanor. Carline is a Floridian that began promoting her sauces on my favorite social network, Google+.

Heat Level: Rated 4.5 out of 5 Stars – Very hot, but still enjoyable.

Overall flavor: Rated 4 out of 5 Stars – Almost the best of the best! We love this sauce.

Men Pa'w label

She is very prolific with posts of herself at shows, demo-ing and promoting her Men Pa’w Gourmet sauces to the masses.

There are videos of customers tasting and extolling the flavor and heat and overall goodness of Men Pa’w sauces.

I was skeptical. What the heck does “Men Pa’w” mean, and how did they come up with the name? I’ve not been able to pin Carline down about the name.

Update: 01/26/15 –

As for The name Men Pa’w… it is creole because I am from Haiti. The name means different things depending on the context in which you use it. For instance… “THIS IS YOURS”, “THIS IS THE BOMB”, “THIS IS IT”. I also chose the name as I saw it relates to my product because our sauce is very different. Many people find the name fun once they understand what it means.

How does a sauce with this goofy name get so popular? And popular it is. Very popular!

I’m going to admit 2 things right up front.

1. I don’t like the name of this sauce. Men Pa’w? Take out the apostrophe, and you have Men Paw.

2. I love this sauce! Yes… it’s astoundingly good and flavorful. So much for first impressions, huh?

Men Pa’w Gourmet Hot Sauce

Men Paw Hot Sauce closeup

Ingredients: Apple Cider Vinegar, Olive Oil Blend (Canola Oil, Olive Oil), Onions, Water, Orange Habanero Pepper, Red Habanero Peppers, Chocolate Habanero Peppers, Red Scotch Bonnet Peppers, Cayenne Peppers, Complete Seasoning, Soul Spice, Garlic, Fatali peppers, Granulated Garlic, Onion Powder.

We tried it on pizza…

Men Paw on pizza

It has flavors and aromas of jerk, caribbean, Jamaican, curry, and umami. Very complicated.

And on tacos…

Men Paw on tacos

It turns out that this sauce is amazing. Amazingly delicious that is. Yes, it’s heavy on the oil content, but that is what makes it so unique for a hot sauce.

Carline has recently released a “green” version of her sauce that we’ve not tried. But look for her and her sauces to be more popular online soon!

Visit http://www.menpawhotsauce.com/ to learn more and order a few bottles!

Filed Under: Hot Sauce, Reviews Tagged With: ,

Consuming Fires Smoked Jalapeño Sauce

by : 09/12/2014

Consuming Fires Sauces & Seasonings is a micro-business producing small batch, lightly smoked hot sauce. Launched in early 2014, Chef Ron and Teresa Jones have created Smoked Jalapeño, Smoked Habanero, and Smoked Andouille sauces.

consumingfires-700x350

Consuming Fires: Smoked Hot Sauces

I’m so excited to tell you about Consuming Fires and their smoked hot sauces. These sauces are flavorful and delicious, and they all have the hallmark of a chef crafted small batch sauce.

Each sauce features a smoked chile along with smoked salt for a smooth and savory flavor. This smokey profile is then coupled with apple juice, garlic, and a blend of vinegar that really makes them unique.

Making hot sauce is simple, but building balanced, complex flavor is an art. ~ Ron Jones

Click To Tweet

First up, and the “one that started it all” as they say, is their Smoked Jalapeño Sauce. As you get into the story behind Consuming Fires, it’s not an unusual one. One day, a crop of peppers from a small garden, usually jalapeños, yield so many peppers that the beckoning call is “let’s make hot sauce!” And so it was with Consuming Fires. And we all benefit from that.

Smoked Jalapeño Sauce

Heat Level: Rated 1 out of 5 Stars – Mild.
Overall rating: Rated 4 out of 5 Stars – Very good.

Once upon a time, jalapeño sauces were simply peppers, vinegar and salt. Green, slimy and boring in my opinion. But in the past 5 or 6 years, jalapeño sauces have improved immensely – with craft makers adding new ingredients and flavors to the base of jalapeño. Consuming Fires’ Smoked Jalapeño Sauce is a great example of what can be done with a few choice ingredients and some talent from a chef like Chef Ron.

Ingredients: smoked jalapeños, apple juice, onion, cider vinegar, white vinegar, garlic, smoked salt.

Smoked Jalapeño Sauce from Consuming Fires

bright green, smooth and silky

Texture and Appearance: This bright green sauce is barely thick – just slightly thick. The very smooth appearance shows almost no bits or ingredients floating about. This is a simple sauce. But it does coat the neck of the bottle and so deserves the “barely thick” description.

The aroma is very smoky and sweet followed up with onion and vinegar. Fragrant.

Taste Straight Up: First taste, straight up, is of a smoky, sweet, peppery sauce. The vinegar flavor is there, but not overwhelming. There is a strong amount of smoke that stays with you as the heat from the jalapeño subsides.

Fans of jalapeño sauces will love this one. A bright and fresh finish tells us this is hand-crafted and bottled fresh. It’s all good stuff here. Delicious.

Jalapeño Smoked Hot Sauce on fried egg

smoky green jalapeño on egg – yummy!

Taste on Food: I’m a sucker for anything smoked – especially peppers and sauces. On my simple fried egg with cheese, this sauce brings a wonderful sweet and smoky flavor to it. The fresh green jalapeño flavor really shines here. The garlic and vinegar add their own zing to the mix. Delightful.

Burritos with Jalapeño Smoked Hot Sauce from Consuming Fires

our burritos with Consuming Fires’ Smoked Jalapeño sauce

I fixed up some burritos to pour the sauce on too. (I really should post our recipe for toasted burritos someday.)

Final Thoughts

We like to comment on labels, graphics and packaging, when it’s warranted. And here, Consuming Fires keeps it simple.

cf-logo
The label sports a small banner that says “Consuming Fires Sauces & Seasonings”. I’m hoping the “seasonings” part shows up on their menu someday.

Their logo is a nice clean graphic with a little chile pepper incorporated into the “F”. Other than the title of the sauce, the labels stay the same on all 3 flavors – save a slight background color change among each.

This simple, mild, delicious Jalapeño sauce is a great choice for those that like just a little heat, and that classic Jalapeño flavor with a big touch of smoke.

Heat Level: Rated 1 out of 5 Stars – Mild.
Overall rating: Rated 4 out of 5 Stars – Very good.

We’ll have reviews of Consuming Fires’ other two sauces posted soon.
Consuming Fires’ Smoked Andouille Sauce
Consuming Fires’ Smoked Habanero Sauce

Meanwhile, you can find them at the following places on the web.

Where to buy: Visit Consuming Fires website to order: http://www.consumingfires.com/

Social Media: Consuming Fires on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/consumingfires

Disclaimer: We received this product via the manufacturer’s KickStarter campaign.

Filed Under: Hot Sauce, Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

710 Dat’s My Sauce Datil Pepper Sauce Review

by : 07/08/2014

Unique to St. Augustine, Florida, the Datil pepper is both sweet and spicy and can range from medium hot to fairly hot. A quick Google search turns up less than a dozen Datil sauces, so it’s both unique and rare, as hot sauces go.

710-datil-sauce-texture

710 Dat’s My Sauce Datil Pepper Sauce

710 Dat’s My Sauce Datil Pepper Sauce is made with the famous Datil Pepper and they nail it!

A Southern family recipe that’s been passed down for generations, 710 Dat’s My Sauce is an original Datil pepper sauce made with locally grown ingredients. Packed with a unique sweet heat, it’s good on just about anything!

Ingredients: ketchup (tomato concentrate, distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, salt, spice, onion powder), onions, red wine vinegar (red wine vinegar, sulfites added), sugar, hot datil peppers, bell peppers, brown sugar, (sugar, cane syrups), fresh garlic, salt & spices

710 Datil Sauce texture closeup

Texture and Appearance

Texture & Appearance: Bright red in color, this very shiny sauce is medium thick and quite pulpy. Very nice mouth feel. Beautiful.

Taste Straight Up: Very sweet followed by a nice mild vinegar hit, onions, garlic and spices are up next with a slow finish of heat. Delicious.

710 Datil Sauce on tacos

710 Datil Sauce on tacos

Taste on Food: Perfect on tacos or burritos. Datil pepper sauces are some of my favorite hot sauces for tacos. 710 Dat’s My Sauce is a huge winner here. Perfect.

710 Datil Sauce on Cream Cheese and Crackers

710 Datil Sauce on Cream Cheese and Crackers

We tried it poured onto simple cream cheese and crackers – just a few drops for those bites made a nice appetizer.

710 Datil Pepper Sauce on pizza

710 Datil Sauce on pizza

710 Datil Sauce on Chicken Quesadillas

710 Datil Sauce on Chicken Quesadillas

710 Datil Pepper Sauce on Mexican Hot Dogs

710 Datil Pepper Sauce on Mexican Hot Dogs

Heat Level: The label says “Hot” – I would rate it a 2.5 out of 5. If I had a 2.75 graphic I’d go that far. The heat comes on slow and reaches a peak that doesn’t last too long. The burn is quick and flavorful. Unique.

Graphics/Packaging: The nice big 8 ounce bottle is a plus, as it has a generous opening.

A label doesn’t get much simpler than this. But you know exactly what’s in the bottle – especially if you are looking for a Datil sauce.

I’m ok with the 3 color label, but I was curious about the design. Not having been to Florida since I was 15, I was clueless.

Do you know what the label design is based on? Listen to the short interview with Mr 710 himself, Bruce Peterson, at the bottom of this post to find out.

Final Thoughts

710 Datil Pepper Sauce review underway

710 Datil Pepper Sauce review underway

Heat Level: Rated 2.5 out of 5 Stars – As I said, I’d go to 2.75 on the heat, but we have no graphic for that. But then again, it’s me just trying to push the heat level rating just a tad past the middle. Medium hot.

Overall Rating: Rated 5 out of 5 Stars – This fantastic sauce gets our highest rating for its flavor and great packaging. Stellar.

I’m a sucker for a good Datil pepper sauce, and this one does not disappoint. I’m placing it in my top 3 Datil sauces. One of which I’ve not formally reviewed yet. 🙂

Visit http://710datsmysauce.com/ to buy a couple of bottles (yes, get a few… it’s so good that it will go fast) and for more information about this delicious sauce and the history and people behind it.

They also have a nice recipe page that you can check out, and please tell them HotSauceDaily.com sent you!

Here’s my 8 minute interview with Bruce Peterson of 710 Dat’s My Sauce Datil Pepper Sauce. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: We received this product courtesy of the manufacturer for review.

Filed Under: Hot Sauce, Reviews, Favorites Tagged With: , , , ,

Lucky Dog’s new Dia del Perro hot sauce

by : 06/18/2014

Dia del Perro, or “Day of the Dog” is a new salsa verde style hot sauce from the award-winning Lucky Dog Hot Sauce kitchen.

This is no ordinary salsa verde (green sauce).
01-2-labels

Using serrano peppers, tomatillos, roasted garlic, and even chile tepin (bird’s eye), creator Scott Zalkind adds his own signature flavor by smoking his sea salt with alderwood and toasted onion, and infusing that with habanero peppers. The result is a complex and flavorful sauce.

Scott says this is his “tribute to the taqueria-style verde table sauces of California and Mexico”.

We think he nailed it.

Heat Level: Rated 1.5 out of 5 Stars A mild-medium heat that everyone will love.

Overall Rating: Rated 5 out of 5 Stars Superb flavor! Best of the best!

02-texture

Dia del Perro salsa verde from Lucky Dog Hot Sauce

Ingredients: apple cider vinegar, organic apple sauce, serrano peppers, onions, roasted garlic, carrot juice, water, sea salt (alderwood smoked, toasted onion and habanero infused), dried tomatillos, carrots, lime juice concentrate, chile tepin.

Texture & Appearance: Very thick, and very pulpy, this olive green sauce takes some coaxing to get out of the bottle. Once you get things started, the sauce pours a little easier. The pulpy texture makes for a great “mouth feel”. Satisfying.

03-texture

Taste Straight Up: We smell the vinegar and “green” flavors up front, but surprisingly, the vinegar taste is not overbearing. Even the lime flavor is muted – a good thing for us, as we don’t care for verde sauces that have too much tang from the lime and/or vinegars.

And I already mentioned the pulp provides a nice mouth feel, which only adds to the taste experience.

Finally, I want to point out what we perceive as the classic Lucky Dog Hot Sauce signature flavor component – and that is the smoked sea salt. Infusing his sea salt with various woods and veggies and peppers is tantamount to sheer genius. And we don’t know of any other sauce maker that takes this step to round out their recipe or sauce in such a unique way.

We feel this step alone sets Lucky Dog Hot Sauces and specifically the new Dia del Perro sauce in a class all its own. Distinctive.

Heat Level: Rated 1.5 out of 5 Stars – The slight burn is a bit “sting-y” as Marilyn puts it – probably from the contribution the chile tepin peppers add at the very end of ingredients.

I disagree with the “sting-y” description. I find the overall heat level is simply “warm” – very middle of the road. Reliable.

Label/Graphics: With a unique departure from the usual look of his labels, Scott enlisted artist Robin Case for the “sugar skull” graphic that adorns this bottle. Familiar, as it’s still his beloved black lab Lucky as the model, yet artsy-fartsy. Bonus: if you’re in California, it’s available as a tattoo. Contact Scott for details. Impressive.

Taste on food

04-tacos

Tacos: We cooked up a big batch of Tacos using our homemade taco seasoning, and just went nuts pouring Dia del Perro sauce onto them. The fresh flavor of Dia del Perro was very complimentary. It blended well with the spicy meat, crispy tacos, and sour cream. Winner.

05-tostadas

Flour Tostadas: Again, the sauce rocked on these. The Flour Tostadas almost gave us a better picture of the sauce.

We could really taste the flavors of the Dia del Perro on our Flour Tostadas, even more than on the tacos from the night before. If you want to know how to make these, just shoot us an email or use the Contact Us menu. Fresh and bold.

Where to buy

All of Lucky Dog’s Hot Sauces are available at http://luckydoghotsauce.com/

Tell Scott that HotSauceDaily sent you!

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