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Gringo Bandito Hot Sauce is out to Change the World and Burn it Up!
Gringo Bandito Hot Sauce – Original Red sports the image of creator Dexter Holland!
When you first pick up a bottle of Gringo Bandito Hot Sauce, you see a fun image of a sombrero and sunglass wearing, very white (thus the Gringo part of the name, I assume), blonde, pistol packing, bandolier draped character carefully guarding the contents. What you may not know is that is the image of Gringo Bandito founder Dexter Holland, front man for the punk rock group The Offspring! What you may also not know is that Dexter developed and founded his sauce company in 2004 because it would “be cool” to have a hot sauce, and because people who are into hot sauce are passionate! Before taking the first taste, I already like this guy! Luckily, I also liked his sauces!
There are three main sauces in the Gringo Bandito lineup- the original red sauce that features habaneros, jalapenos, and red Japanese chile peppers (more on this later), and two offspring sauces – a green sauce with habs, serranos and “more” peppers, and a Super Hot sauce with scorpion and jolokia (ghost) peppers. According to their website, there are limited release private reserve sauces that appear annually and a taco seasoning coming out in 2017. The original red sauce is a nice, smooth blend of the habs, jalapenos and the darker, earthier, “chile arbolish” Japanese chile, which is actually a native of Mexico’s Jalisco region. The Japanese Chile is a well known player in Asian dishes, especially Szechuan! How’s that for cultural diversity! With a nice front end playful heat, the red sauce makes very good use of black pepper and spices to enhance the earthiness and complexity of this signature sauce. I’d say it has a low to medium heat and does justice to eggs, pizza, tacos, fish, chicken, black beans, and I’m sure lots and lots of other things. Given the complexity of flavors, it’s almost like Dexter used the recipe for some sort of doctoral research in Molecular Biology!
Next up is the green sauce, which pairs a mid palate pop of habanero pepper with the bright, citrusy front end annum style heat of the Serrano’s, and, according to the label, adds in the mysterious “more” peppers. What peppers are those? I really couldn’t discern any specific type, so we’ll just let more be less. And while this sauce has a light green appearance that isn’t the most appealing to me, it takes off on a mojo-induced, solo green sauce flight around the world, landing right in the center of my flavor runway! I loved this sauce!!! So much I could see myself getting on a private jet, flying to the Isle of Man, skydive down, and telling the first person I see that I give Gringo Bandito’s Green Sauce my Fiery World stamp of approval!!!!!
Gringo Bandito founder and punk rock band Offspring front man, Dexter Holland
The last entry in this Rock trio of sauces is the “ridiculously rambunctious” (straight from the label) Super Hot! Made with Scorpion and Jolokia, or Ghost, peppers, each known for big hits of heat and flavor, I have to say I was genuinely surprised, as I was fully expecting some super charged, tubular, “nitro” induced blast of heat! However, the Super Hot came across my tongue in a wave of balanced flavor, heat, and spice! It was almost like I had just experienced the Housewives of Orange County- richly flavored, plenty spicy and wildly playful, but still grounded in suburbia!
All in all, of the two traditionally styled hot sauces, I have to give the valedictorian award to the original red sauce! I liked them both, but I especially liked the way Dexter used the blend of the earthy Japanese chile with the habanero, jalapeno, black pepper, and other spices. Don’t get me wrong-the Super Hot was also very good, and it had plenty of good heat that made you pay close attention to the ride. I compare it like this-You’re expecting that knock you off your surfboard big wave of heat, and instead it gives a fun, tricked out skateboard ride through the streets of Orange County! But the green sauce, pukey color aside, was a solid home run for me! I really, really liked it and I’m super picky when it comes to green, verde style sauces.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk a little about labeling, since that’s what draws people to a product on a store shelf. According to some random internet sources, Dexter’s choice of label art was a way to pay a bit of homage to a staple of the Mexican sauce world, Tapatio, which displays a similar image, albeit not the very blonde, Dutch looking white guy with punked blonde hair! Gringo Bandito sports a smart, clean, visually appealing label, each flavor with it’s own label color, making it easy to spot on a store shelf. And the witty banter they placed in the contents and nutrition info certainly brought a smile and soft chuckle to this fiery food aficionado. Now found nationwide in several thousand grocery stores, and online at www.gringobandito.com, Dexter Holland’s labor of passion and love is doing quite well for itself.
The Gringo Bandito trio of sauces adorning my egg white omelet! So so good!
So there you have it! A punk rock inspired, three piece band of sauces – each instrument with a unique sound – kind of like a Gibson and an Ibanez, but when connected with a Marshall stack, they come together as a finely tuned symphony of flavor, spice, and heat. El Sabor Gringo Bandito is highly recommended by this blogger and reviewer , and I’m sure it will bring a smile to any hot sauce loving family of Offspring! And never, ever forget, ladies and gentlemen – It’s a Fiery World!
Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas Season Deals
The big sale is back, and we will update it as we get new additions to our listings. It usually grows as we get closer to the holiday, so if you are shopping or curious of what will be offered, then keep coming back. If you are a company that would like to add your sale to our listing, then please either email me your whole sale as you wish it to be listed, and I will link to your website or sales page OR you can post below in the comments. We will also we sharing this listing with some other chile blogs and numerous Facebook groups.
It is very important to note that we only want to include companies that have met all the legal requirements to sell products online and ship across the US. I can not speak of international law, so companies wishing to ship outside the US are free to do so at their own discretion. We encourage our Chilehead friends to support these small market companies and the small market companies to support the Chilehead Community.
A huge thanks to Al “Buddah” Goldenberg of I Love It Spicy for getting this sale together.
Howling Dog Hot Sauce
FREE SHIPPING (Priority Mail 2-3 day shipping includes $50 insurance) and 10% off on a set of 5 bottles for $36.00. Regular price is $7.99/bottle.
Mix and Match flavors – Cayenne, Jalapeno, Chipotle, Ghostly Chipotle and Tomatillo.
Link: http://www.crookedcreekranch1.com/sauce.html
TorchBearer Sauces
Black Friday Sale will be buy 3 get 1 free sale, and then will be doing 40% off the entire store front on Cyber Monday.
Link: http://www.torchbearersauces.com
Heat Hot Sauce Shop
We will be offering FREE SHIPPING on all orders over $45 with coupon code “ILOVEITSPICY” through Christmas day – our selection has doubled since we did this promotion last year, so you can now get free shipping and low prices on over 400 incredible artisan hot sauces and other fiery foods. Plus, check out our freebies section to add your choice of superhot pods, spicy candy, or hot sauce sample packets, completely free.
We’re also offering 10% off any subscription to our Hot Sauce of the Month Club with the code “CHILEHEAD”. Our monthly club makes a perfect gift, and it includes unlimited free add-on shipping from our online shop. January’s featured sauce will be a brand new release exclusive to us, so members are in for a treat!
On top of all of this, we have some great deals on specific sauces (like Reapercussions for 30% off!), and awesome gift sets too. For a full list of sales visit: www.HeatHotSauce.com/BlackFriday.
Link: http://www.heathotsauce.com
Patter Fam Sauces
Discount code BlackFriday2016 for 20% off and Free Shipping on orders over $70
Then we will do Cyber Monday as well, Discount Code CyberMonday2016 for 20% off and Free Shipping on order over $70
Link: http://www.patterfamsauces.com
Hellfire Hot Sauce
We will be doing our Annual 50% off sale on all of our sauces
Link: http://www.hellfirehotsauce.com
Volcanic Peppers
Free shipping on orders over $50 through Dec 31st.
Link: http://www.volcanocpeppers.com
Pepper Explosion
We will be offering FREE SHIPPING on all orders over $45 with coupon code “ILOVEITSPICY”. We are approaching 1,000 hot sauces, BBQ necessities (rubs, sauces, marinades), spices, seasonings, gifts and other gourmet foods. Free shipping applies to the US only. This offer can not be combined with any other discounts and is only available from November 25th (Black Friday) to midnight EST November 28th (Cyber Monday).
Link: http://www.PepperExplosion.com
CaJohn’s Fiery Foods
40% Off on Cyber Monday on all items using CODE: CYBER2016
Link: https://www.cajohns.com
Bigfat’s Hot Sauce
We are offering 30% off all sauces and gift packs Black Friday through Cyber Monday!! Stay home, shop and avoid the insanity! Use coupon code NOPUSHING at checkout.
Link: http://www.bigfatshotsauce.com
Hot Sauce Depot
Free shipping on all orders over $60 on Black Friday 11/25/16. LOW prices and no coupon code needed!v
Link: http://www.hotsaucedepot.com
Kearley Seeds & Pepper Co.
We are offering our first ever Black Friday, Small Business Saturday & Cyber Monday sales! See the sales below. Don’t forget you can grab an e-gift card for the Chileheads in your life while you’re there! Shop online or, if you’re local, you can order online and arrange to pick up your items. This will be first ordered first served!
Link: http://www.kearleyseedsandpepperco.com
Black Friday
- Carolina Reaper seeds: 50+ seeds for $9.99! 50 packs available.
- Our already discounted Big Seed Collections will be 25% off! That’s a huge deal!
- Spend $35 or more on products and you’ll get a Basic Seed Starting Kit free! (Not applicable to purchasing gift cards)
- BOGO (Buy One Get One) on the following rare and other seed varieties:
Chocolate Lava Scorpion, Bhut Jolokia, Peach, Moruga Scorpion Red, Brainstrain Red, 7 Pot Primo, Kale, Cucumber, Bean Varieties & Lettuce Varieties (including Collards).
- FREE SHIPPING!!!
Small Business Saturday
- BOGO (Buy One Get One) on the following rare seed and other varieties: Moruga Scorpion Red, Brainstrain, Carolina Reaper, 7 Pot Primo, Kale, Cucumber, Bean Varieties & Lettuce Varieties (including Collards).
- Spend $35 or more on products and you’ll get a Basic Seed Starting Kit free! (Not applicable to purchasing gift cards)
- Our already discounted Big Seed Collections will be 10% off!
FREE SHIPPING!!!
Cyber Monday
BOGO (Buy One Get One) on the following rare and other seed varieties:
- Brainstrain Red, Carolina Reaper, 7 Pot Primo, Yellow 7 Pot Scorpion, Bhut Jolokia Peach, Peruvian White Habanero, Kale, Cucumber, Bean Varieties & Lettuce Varieties (including Collards).
- Our already discounted Big Seed Collections will be 15% off!
- Spend $75 or more on products and you’ll get a Green Thumb Seed Starting Kit free! (Not applicable to purchasing gift cards.)
FREE SHIPPING!!
Crazy Good Specialty Foods
20% off all products and free shipping for orders over $50.
Link: http://crazygoodsauce.com/
Voodoo Chili Sauces
rotating sales, may change daily, ANY/ALL flash sales (link above) through Dec 15th all include FREE SHIPPING
www.VoodooChileSauces.com/flash-sale
Wild Bill’s Sauces
Black Friday through the end of November, get 40% off all purchases. Use code: grabone at checkout.
Link: http://www.Wildbillssauce.com
PexPeppers
We’re doing a Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale! Take 35% off all products by using the code BLKFRIDAY
Link: https://www.pexpeppers.com/
Madison Chocolatiers West
30% off sale on order for Black Friday.
http://www.madisonchocolatier.com/
Apinya Thai Food Co. – (http://apinya.co/) Huge Black Friday and Small Business Saturday Sale – 50% off of everything with $2 shipping on all orders. Sales direct link: HERE
Dave’s Gourmet
Both of Dave’s Gourmet hot sauce gift packs are on sale for the entire Black Friday weekend for $19.99. It makes a great gift for spicy food lovers! You can choose from the Super Hot 2oz 4-Pk Wood Crate or the Spicy Six Pack.
Link: http://store.davesgourmet.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=76
Sucklebusters
25% off coupon code – black
PuckerButt Pepper Company
50% off Hot Sauce and Seeds. Use promo code BLACKFRIDAY2016
Link: www.puckerbuttpeppercompany.com
Sauce Goddess Gourmet LLC
20% off anything on our site, coupon code- iloveitspicy
now thru Dec 20th
still get free shipping for orders over $50
619-990-8684 ph
if you don’t lick your fingers, someone else will
Ricky’s Gone Plain Nuts! Or Has He?! Hahahaha!!!
From Spicy Chipotle Chile to Sweet Chai, these are not your run of the mill snack nuts!
I got an email a while back from the fine folks at Ricky’s Lucky Nuts in Durango, Colorado, telling me how great their new line of snack nuts were and would I try them and give some feedback. Well, I’ve been accused before of being just a little nuts, so of course I said yes! After all, when you offer a Chilehead snacks with cool names like Thai Red Curry and Spicy Chile Chipotle (they even spelled Chile right!!!), there’s no way you can refuse! Right?! Right! I can tell you right here and now, folks – Ricky ain’t nuts and he ain’t plain, neither!!
I received 5 individual serving bags, and not your run of the mill honey roasted, jalapeno, plain roasted, etc etc etc! I got cool flavors! Hip flavors! Flavors that would make the “new” Colorado snack world proud (I’m guessing their snack food industry is working overtime these days!) I’m talkin’ munchie worthy!! In addition to the Spicy Chile Chipotle and the Thai Red Curry, I also got Black Pepper and Sea Salt, Sweet Chai, and Real Coffee. Real Coffee?! Really?! Who does a coffee peanut?! Well, evidently, Ricky does, and he does ‘em up proud, too!!
The Real Coffee were my favorites, as they had an espresso type earthiness to them, and just enough sweet to take the bitter edge off and merge the coffee with the nut in beautiful fashion. The bag smelled good, and I didn’t get a dusty coating all over my fingers! Is there a cutesy slogan for flavor that stays where it plays – oh wait – that’s kinda catchy! Hmmmm…….. Back to the nuts – the coating seems like it’s baked on so it doesn’t come off, and that was true with all the flavors. Score one for Ricky, unless you’re the kind of person who likes that whole “let me lick my orange cheese curl stained fingers” vibe!!! And I’m sure there are several in Colorado- especially these days!!!! So how about the other flavors?
Well, the Thai Red Curry I ate by itself and put in a stir fry along with my fav asian style hot sauce, and it was just rich enough in flavor to highlight the dish, accent the other flavors, and make me feel like I was hanging out in Bangkok! I also did the same with the Sweet Chai ! As you can see in the pic, my shrimp stir fry was awesome with that smooth but slightly off Chai note. It made an interesting flavor addition to my standard asian influences. Unlike the Red Curry used in another stir fry, where I kept my flavor additions to a minimum, I didn’t hold back while using the Chai, and it really stepped up and balanced the dish exquisitely! And it made for a tasty stand alone snack- subtle Chai tones surrounded by the nuttiness of an obviously high quality, lovingly roasted peanut. Well played, Ricky!
From a fun and simple label to gourmet level snacking inside, these babies have it all!
The Spicy Chile Chipotle was only slightly spicy, but then again, I have a pretty big tolerance. But I liked the subtleness as I woofed down the whole bag! And the whole bag did leave a nice spicy zing in the back of my throat! The Black Pepper and Sea Salt were a good snack, and also mixed in a fresh spinach, tomato, olive, and mozzarella salad. Gave a nice texture, complimented the flavors without interrupting my love affair with balsamic vinegar and EVOO, and made the salad more fun! Cause I’m sorry, but salads are booooring!!! I’ve never had black pepper in a snack nut before, and it is such a natural fit! And the sea salt was very very smooth.
All in all, I give Ricky’s Lucky Nuts 4 Fiery Worlds! Their label is fun and has good “viewability” in a store shelf or on an end cap rack by the register! Go to their website, order you some, sit back and enjoy!!! Whether used to highlight a dish, or to snarf for a snack during those munchie attacks, you won’t be sorry! And that’s because, Ladies and Gentlemen, It’s a Fiery World!!!
Getting Creamed by the Culinary Pyros at the NYC Hot Sauce Expo
It was a cute little jar. All pretty and unassuming. It’s gold top gleaming at me, anonymous due to the lack of any labeling – filled with the creamy spread inside that called me…..Kennnnnn…….Kennnnnn…….I’m creammm cheeeese….…..I’m smoooooth…..I’m sweeeet…..I’m……..REALLY FREAKING HOT!!!!!
International Society of Culinary Pyros Motto: Burn One, Burn All
That, Ladies and Gentlemen, was my introduction to one of the most awesomely unique and delicious products I’ve tried in a while, Zane & Zack’s International Society of Culinary Pyro’s currently unnamed and unrated Reaper Cream Cheese Spread. Unveiling it’s formal name and debuting at the NYC Hot Sauce Expo on March 29th, 2014, this is a gourmet, artisan cream cheese spread laced with the Guinness world record holder Smokin’ Ed’s Carolina Reaper, recently dethroned but still insanely hot Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, Habanero, and other “select” peppers! And I was told there are “other super hots” in the spread as noted in the “select pepper” ingredient list!!! Bwahahahaha!!!!
Sam McCanless’ masterful blend of spices and ingredients make this a gourmet quality product – cream cheese, Smokin’ Ed’s Carolina Reaper, select peppers, lime juice, fresh garlic, vinegar, minced onions, red chile flakes, and salt. And I can tell that salt is not a main ingredient, as it doesn’t overpower the sweetness and allows the natural slight saltiness of the cream cheese to shine through. He limited the ingredients so each flavor has identity so not to make any one flavor overpower the other. Even the peppers are layered nicely, hitting me at different times and in different ways and places, like a savvy prize fighter picking his punches for purpose and effect. A quick Habanero jab to the face, a hard Scorpion right cross that instantly hurts, and then the steady body blows of Carolina Reaper.
ISCP Reaper Cream Cheese is a Gourmet Spread That is Smooth, Flavorful, and HOT!
Speaking of a prize fighter, the as yet unnamed Reaper Cream Cheese Spread kinda reminds me of a boxing match. It packs a pretty stout punch, but it’s not a knockout punch. Not the “I’m gonna rip Evander Holyfield’s ear off” angry Mike Tyson punch, but more like Rocky and Apollo Creed’s post Clubber Lange victory fight punch. The punches sting…okay, downright hurt, but just for a minute, then you’re ready to take on another round. And you’re smiling! And you like it! You like it a lot! A whole lot!
The International Society of Culinary Pyros have done themselves proud with a gourmet quality cream cheese spread that earns 4 Fiery Worlds from me. I can’t wait to see it officially at the 2nd Annual New York City Hot Sauce Expo, March 29 and 30, 2014. Check out the Expo website for more details and check out Zane & Zack’s website for more fine sauces and products from Sam and Tina McCanless! You can also find their products from the fine folks at www.iburn.com. So beware the unassuming jar with the gleaming gold cap! Why, you ask? Because ladies and gentlemen, It’s a Fiery World!
It's a Fiery World 