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It’s Hot…No, It’s Sweet…No, It’s Hot….Noooo….It’s Sweeet….Awww Hellfire, Make Up Your Mind!
Devils Gold is a Beautiful, HOT, Flavorful Hot Sauce
Well, Ladies and Gentlemen, here we are again in Lake Wob……oops, I mean Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where once again, Merle and Diana at Hellfire Hot Sauce are concocting lovely little potions designed to entice, entertain, and envelope our senses with heat….I mean sweet……no…..heat…..no……sweet……… hea……….STOP!! Stop the Madness!!! (Insert deep breath and a few yoga ommmms here) Of course I’m making light of the latest sauce they sent me to try – Devils Gold – a sauce that celebrates color, heat, fruit, and flavor! Sporting a label that is both appealing and kinda creepy at the same time, this sauce is unique in it’s ability to provide a great heat punch with the flavor of….ummm……fruit punch!
Devils Gold is a beautiful, yellow gold, medium consistency sauce sporting a label with a winged, blank-eyed she-devil babe with her hands in a cauldron of gold and pineapples! A nice visual combination of a sweet face, and piercing, menacing eyes, and well, you’ll have to see the rest and draw your own conclusion (But the sauce ain’t the only hot thing going here…just saying!) When you look at the ingredients of this yellow gold nectar, it reads like a Who’s Who of heat and sweet: Yellow Brain Strain, Fatalii, Trinidad Yellow 7-Pot, Yellow Bhut Jolokia, Yellow Scorpion, Pineapple, Pears, Oranges, Papaya, Vinegar, Sugar, Salt, and “Spices”. So in one delicious 5 ounce package, you get a killer combination of the hottest of the hot peppers all clad in yellow (my favorite color and pepper “flavor”, by the way), and yellow or gold fruits. Once again, Merle and Diana have rocked it out the box with this wonderfully flavored hot sauce!
We’ll discuss flavor in a minute, but first I want to talk about what this all-star combo of peppers create – HEAT! Lots of Heat! The heat profile in Devils Gold layers masterfully, beginning with a quick sting that hit the middle of my tongue and quickly rolled it’s way back to my throat, where it built and strengthened, filling my mouth and throat, and then decided to just hang around a while! I’m talking lingering to the extent that I had to actually grab the whipped cream can when I was doing an initial taste test and downed several spoonfuls pretty quickly! You can easily discern the distinct flavor of the scorpions and the fatalii, which always make the back of my tongue and throat burn for a while….But lest you think that Devils Gold is nothing but heat, let’s discuss the sweetness that made me fall in love!
Devils Gold Looks as Good and Rich as it Tastes
The sweet fruits used in Devils Gold are perfect matches for the peppers….the nice acidic tang of sweet pineapple and orange combined with the smooth pear and papaya. The result is a fresh, almost tropical blend that balanced the heat without diminishing any of the kick! The splash of vinegar added to the tang, and the “spices” are so well blended, that I couldn’t really discern individual flavors (that’s a good thing, by the way!) A natural as a salad dressing with a little olive oil, cracked black pepper, and red Hawaiian sea salt, it also complimented most everything I used it with – tilapia (pictured), pork, chicken, black beans (awesomeness when I threw in a little of my favorite Bajan style mustardy sauce for balance), and perhaps the best- pizza!!!! It wasn’t the best for steak, turkey, and some veggies, so it may not be as versatile as some sauces given its flavor profile, but that’s not a detractor or a negative at all. Most gourmet quality, artisan sauces aren’t made for general purpose!
So what’s the overall impression, folks? I think this is an excellent, 4 Fiery Worlds rated sauce!! Hot, sweet, playful, and fresh, and a great addition to any Chilehead sauce cabinet!!! I want to thank Merle and Diana for sending me these wonderful sauces to check out and review, and I appreciated their openness to wanting constructive feedback, and not just asking for an empty endorsement, which I don’t give, by the way. The only problem was that there was little, or any “constructive” feedback to share, except for them to keep making these sauces year round! And why should they make all their sauces year round? Because, Ladies and Gentlemen……It’s a Fiery World!
Summertime in the South and Hot as Hellfire…..Or Is It?!
Hellfire Hot Sauce Chilimaster’s Reserve on veggies and fish
The first sauce we are reviewing is Hellfire’s Chilimaster’s Reserve, which must have been born from Merle and Diana’s chili competition recipe book, because I bet it would make a dynamite chili flavor base. From the color to the flavor profile to the heat, it’s all there. Smacks of chili! Hot chili! Really, realllly good, hot chili. Cause this is a realllly, realllllly good hotsauce!! And it’s not just for chili! You can tell it’s a well thought out, complex sauce that packs some serious heat, but blended with a sweet mix of ingredients.
Get a load of what’s in this sauce: Chocolate Habanero, Scorpion, Jolokia, Naga, & 7-Pot peppers; Black Raspberries, Black Plums, Cherry Juice, Blueberries, Premium Chocolate, maple Syrup, Honey, Vanilla Bean, Cinnamon, Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey, Black Death Vodka, Salt, Vinegar, and “Spices”!!!!
Holy cow!!!!! Merle and Diana are either mad scientists, geniuses, or both! This sweet heat combo of flavors blends masterfully, belying whatever evil imagery Hellfire’s marketing is trying to concoct. There is nothing evil here, folks…well, except for the big heat punch that crawls up and scares the beejeebers out of you!! If it wasn’t so beautifully hot, I’d have to call this sauce Heavenfire….okay, that sounds weird, but you get the point! The peppers hit every sensor point….front end heat, middle of the palate, back of the throat, slow crawl, quick draw, you name it, it’s there type of heat! Probably a 4 Fiery World level heat! But while it lingers a bit, it isn’t so hot that you can’t repeat the experience bite after bite (as long as you aren’t drinking the stuff, but hey, that would be tempting!) And while you have a touch of vinegar tang, it’s tempered by the smooth bourbon note that compliments the chocolate, vanilla, honey and syrup so nicely; The raspberry, plums, and blueberries marry with vodka and the salt, and the cherry and cinnamon tag along for the gloriously hot and wonderful ride! While Dan Norton may carve some stunningly intricate, amazing collector bottle art for Hellfire, The dynamic duo of Merle and Diana match that artistry note for glorious note with this sauce!
Artist Dan Norton Creates Unique Collector Bottles for Hellfire Hot Sauce
Overall Impression: I LOVE THIS SAUCE! It gets a whopping 4 ½ Fiery Worlds – a huge score for this reviewer. I have rarely given any hot and spicy product over 4 Fiery Worlds! This sauce is that good, folks! I would be tempted to give it a full-on 5 Fiery World rating, but it’s a limited release sauce, which pulled it down a tad! This sauce has gone on so many things I can’t list them all. I’ve had the sauce a couple of months, so it’s been in stir fry, fish, veggies, baked potato, pork, chicken, steak (makes a pretty fine steak sauce!), on bread just plain, ice cream (not my fav use, but it worked), eggs, etc etc etc! Surprisingly, no chili! It’s too dang hot in South Louisiana for chili these days. But just wait….it’ll happen, and it’ll be a sweet, spicy party when it happens!
So head on over to Hellfire’s website, www.hellfirehotsauce.com and get this sauce and any of the other fine creations hailing from unsuspecting Lake Geneva, Wisconsin! And when you do, just remember, Ladies and Gentlemen, tell them Chilehead Ken sent you and yes……It’s a Fiery World!
High River Sauces Goes Rogue and Gets Blood out of a Turnip……errr, I mean Orange
High River Sauces Rogue ,has a beautful color and texture to match it’s incredible flavor!
Steve and Lisa Seabury’s High River Sauces has scored a major victory with their Rogue Moruga Blood Orange Scorpion Pepper Sauce. As the label states, this is a sauce with attitude! A blend of Moruga Scorpion, Jolokia (Ghost), and Red Serrano peppers, Rogue marries the peppers with Blood Orange, apple and pear, creating a unique blend of heat, sweet, and flavor! I have to think that Steve’s mixologist wife and High River partner Lisa had a little something to do with the flavor profiling on this one!I’ve never had a sauce made with blood orange before, and I’m not really a fan of the flavor. But I have to tell you, from top to bottom, this sauce is first rate!
As is the norm for my reviews, let’s look at the label. Clean, bright, with a nice bold graphic of “Rogue” that sports a neat scorpion tail incorporated in the “G”, Rogue would be eye catching on a grocery store shelf, and isn’t that the point? The label coloring matches the sauce color, as I’ve found to be the case with all of High River’s sauces, Hellacious, Tears of the Sun, and Grapes of Wrath, and it makes a very eye appealing package. And unless customers have a chance to try a product at a show, or demo, etc., the only thing that sells it is packaging and accompanying marketing. I need to say that I think Steve Seabury has one of the brightest sales and marketing minds in the hot sauce biz! From great labels to catchy product names, to the way he markets and capitalizes on his heavy metal roots, is just genius! And not to mention, the man (and his lovely mixologist bride, who I’m sure adds to the creative gene pool here) has some serious flavor and heat profiling chops!
Speaking of heat and flavor, Rogue does not disappoint! I’m not a big fan of blood oranges, because I find the flavor normally heavier and bitter compared to a “normal” orange. But High River has done a masterful job capturing the full flavor of the blood orange without the bitterness by masterfully pairing apple cider vinegar with just enough apples and pears and brown sugar with the blood orange. It kinda reminds me of a good heavy metal concert – a hard, edgy look, and the promise of serious sweat-inducing head banging, but with a serious front end fake!! Rogue starts off softer than expected, like a nice acoustic ballad, and just as you wonder if it’s gonna get real, the Serrano peppers start a little lead heat rif, with a front end heat that serves to introduce the Marshall stack rattling full on heat of the Moruga Scorpion and Jolokia peppers. The background percussion rhythm section is rounded out with the ginger, lime juice, and garlic. But just like a good hard rock fan likes his music, there’s a great balance and flair to the flavor of this sauce. So many people criticize hard rock and metal for not having any sophistication or finesse, but just like High River’s Rogue Blood Orange Moruga Scorpion sauce, serious rock and roll comes with complexity, often times with very sophisticated classical and folk backgrounds, but using them to create a fullness of sound, or in this case, flavor and heat!
This sauce is worthy of an easy 4 Fiery Worlds! I would’ve scored it a little higher, but I felt it could’ve had the heat linger a bit longer than it does before having to get another dose! But don’t misunderstand, this is a great hot sauce, unique and flavorful, and definitely worth a trip to High River’s website! And while you’re there, check out their other great sauces, like Hellacious (reviewed previously by this blogger for Hot Sauce Daily), Tears of the Sun, and Grapes of Wrath. Tell them Chilehead Ken sent you, and remember ladies and gentlemen: It’s a Fiery World!
Smokin’ Good! Jac’s Tailgaters Bayou Gold Chipotle Mustard Sauce is Back!
Jac’s Chipotle Mustard sauce in the 5 oz. bottle
I love mustard. There…I’ve said it! And I’m not sure why, but I’ve always loved mustard. Maybe it’s the color since, afterall, yellow is my favorite color. Maybe it’s the tang and tartness. Or maybe the low fat, low calorie nature of the beast. However, as human nature dictates, some things get routine…normal…mundane….ho hum….okay, I’ll say it – boring! And this includes my beloved mustard. And while a turkey sandwich isn’t the same without a little yellow goodness, it can get a bit ordinary after a while. Until now! Jac’s Tailgaters has revived one of their original offerings and after tasting it I saw stars! Fireworks! And I heard angelic voices! And Boston singing “Smokin'”! Wait! What? Boston? Smokin? What’s up with that!? I’ll tell you what’s up – Jac’s Tailgaters Bayou Gold Chipotle Mustard Sauce is a little touch of smoked mustardy sunshine in an otherwise mundane, boring, cloudy mustardy day! Okay, so I’m mixing up my song metaphors, but you get the point!
When I was dieting last year, I was bummed out because I couldn’t enjoy Tracy and Kristi Carter’s Bayou Gold Mustard Sauce, because it had more than a gram of brown sugar in it and a couple of other ingredients that weren’t on my diet. And as I was chatting to Tracy about it at the Houston Hot Sauce Festival, he said he had a solution- his Chipotle Mustard Sauce which has almost no sugar at all – well within my self-imposed stringent dietary no sugar rule! So armed with a couple bottles, I proceeded to learn just how smokin’ hot (as in cool…nifty…swell…appealing…not flaming, scoville topping, scorching, etc.) this mustard sauce is on just about everything it touches.
Jac’s Chipotle Mustard Sauce is an excellent gourmet style mustard sauce
I’ve used this sauce on meat (especially pork, chicken, turkey, and ham), veggies (a little of this is crazy good on beans, cauliflower, and more), sandwiches, and still thinking of new uses. And my wife, who does not share my hot and spicy obsession (but is very supportive, I must say), has cautioned me on more than one occasion by stating “You’re not using all of that, are you? I like that one a lot!” That’s high praise, I have to tell you! And who could blame her? One bite and you discover the subtlety of flavors, the smoked pepper mellowing out most of the sharpness that is customary in mustard, but not totally taming the dynamic flavors set apart with hints of onion, garlic, a touch of lemon, and white pepper. Whether straight up on a sandwich, as a base for pork tenderloin, a sauce for veggies, or whatever your application, this mustard sauce is…simply put…..Smokin’!!!!
So what’s the verdict? This sauce, ladies and gentlemen, earns 4 1/2 Fiery Worlds from this reviewer! It’s as close to perfect as a mustard sauce can get, but alas, I marked it down 1/2 simply because it only comes in a 5 oz. bottle!!!! I can suck that down in one sitting! You can find this sauce, and many more excellent gourmet sauces, spice blends, rubs, marinades, dip mixes, chili and gumbo mixes on Jac’s Tailgaters website. I am a huge fan of their entire lineup and encourage you to indulge your palate and your imagination with a variety of his outstanding offerings. And remember, ladies and gentlemen…..It’s a Fiery World!
Just some of the many versatile sauces, rubs, marinades, dips, and seasonings offered by Tracy and Kristi Carter and Jac’s Tailgaters
It's a Fiery World 