DON’T JUDGE A BOOK (BOTTLE) BY ITS COVER. Okay, I have to admit, I have seen these bottles around, but the simplicity of design never ‘attracted’ me to them. Where is the play on words and innuendos, where are the crazy graphics with crazy names, fire, horns, etc. etc. etc. Right??? But then I think, maybe they don’t have to trick you with gimmicky marketing because their sauce is LEGIT. How many times has the sauce with the crazy label been a complete dud? May times for me.
My palette: I like heat, a lot, I am always looking for heat. But, I LOVE FLAVOR. First taste: shook the bottle and poured it into a shot glass to sip, unobstructed from food and I was blown away. I don’t mean, ‘it was good’ or ‘this is a nice one’, I mean completely blown away. As in, I have never had anything like this. This might be the first sauce that if I were going to make sauces, this flavor would be the exact way I would make one without changing a thing. So much so, that I had to immediately rip into their Verde. These two are definitely killer and ones that will be in my recipes going forward, forever.
Habanero: Wow is this bright, awesome, punchy with flavor. It is a punch in the mouth, almost literally. My first impression: this is a lot of flavor!!!! So much flavor, I couldn’t even tell what it was, just flat out flavor. My tastebuds saw all flavor first and then it took them a little bit to decipher, where I realized there was some mustard for sure, vinegar forward, lemon (zesty), onion, and then the heat of the habanero, very distinctly. The main think I say about all of the flavor is, it is bright and lively, wakes you up, gets your spirits moving and looking for more.
I give this a 4 out 5 for two reasons: it is a little too thin of a sauce, almost watery, and the prominence of mustard limits what I will be able to enjoy it with. Mustard would be good for a sandwich, hotdog or brat, but the sauce is too think for that and I don't think I can put mustard on my burrito.
