Bea Spicy Jalapeno Hot Sauce

I apologize again for the absence of a review last week. I had to attend a funeral and the whole week was a little rough on me. But the good news is that I'm back to finish off the Golden Girls hot sauce reviews. You might be thinking to yourself "Why would he be finishing with with only the second hot sauce? I thought there were four!". You'd be right to ask and I can only defend the decision with the following: there are two jalapeno hot sauces and two habanero hot sauces in the set. Upon examining their respective ingredient lists I discovered that both jalapeno sauces had identical lists and the same was true with both habanero sauces. I then deduced that both respective sauces were identical to their counterparts and thus there were only two unique sauces in the set. If I'm wrong, dear reader, I'd be more than happy to print a retraction. Just let me know!
I want to dive into the Bea Spicy Jalapeno Hot Sauce today. Like the sauce I reviewed last, this is made and distributed by Southwest Specialty Foods. I glossed over the company last time but wanted to add that, in addition to sauces, they manufacture and sell snacks, bread and chili mixes, and even beverages and drink receptacles! It might behoove you to check out their product line. With that said, like last time, I couldn't find the set or individual sauces on the site. But you can get Bea Spicy hot sauce here, or the set here.
The label, much like Sicilian Fire Habanero hot sauce is bright and beautifully illustrated and designed. It features a very nice depiction of the character Dorothy Zbornak (played by Bea Arthur), or rather her head, surrounded by flames. The font is a nice nod to 80's visual pop art and the colors are striking while eliciting a fond 80's/90's reminiscence. On a side note, the way that Dorothy's face is displayed, specifically her eyebrows, makes her look like she's judging me amusedly.
The color is very similar to that of the aforementioned Sicilian Fire Habanero hot sauce in that it's a nice and fairly deep red. There is also a similar sediment note as the other sauce discussed but this time I think it is more pronounce upon swirling the liquid in the bottle. This definitely gives this a more appealing presentation to me.
The pour is thicker than the Sicilian Fire. While is does have the same drip spout, it is almost a hindrance in this case. It leads to a nice settling down of the condiment onto whatever surface it is poured. In fact, I find the pour superior in most ways to the other sauce.
The flavor is richer and more complex that the Sicilian Fire. There is definite garlic present here that wasn't in the other one. The ingredients list shows that it contains "spices" but, as that term is fairly ambiguous, I find myself wanting to know specifically what "spices". My tongue doesn't detect much salt and I'll chalk that up as a win.
The heat for our friend here is definitely not as hot as its predecessor but it has its unique aspects. This gave me a hint of back-of-throat stab that I wasn't expecting. Upon repeated sampling the middle of the tongue begins to burn and the lips have a surprisingly pronounced flare. Not the hottest thing in the world but it is not entry level by any means.
This is the superior sauce in the set. While is may not be as blistering as the Sicilian Fire, the flavor is vastly superior and the consistency is aces. Also, why WOULDN'T you want a hot sauce that depicted the wonderful face of Bea Arthur? Why?!

No Review This Week

I must apologetically announce that there will be no review this week due to some extenuating circumstances in my life. Come back next week for the follow-up on the Golden Girls hot sauce exploration!

Sicilian Fire Habanero Hot Sauce

First, an apology: I couldn't do a review yesterday due to me attending a funeral. I'm sorry to all of you that I couldn't do our Wednesday tradition together but I hope the following will ease your frustration with me.
A friend told me on social media "If you don't review these hot sauces, you have failed us all". I would never want to fail anyone, especially you, my friends out in the internet wonderland. "These" he was referring to are the Golden Girls hot sauces given to us, the public, by Always Fits. Always Fits is a gift shop with a feminist lean and an obsession with 80's and 90's themed subject matter. They have an entire page devoted just to Golden Girls gifts! I've always loved this show so it was a logical next step to share what I thought about these sauces with you! While this set of sauces is found in the aforementioned section of Always Fits, they are manufactured and distributed by Southwest Specialty Foods, Inc. They create and sell a variety of food and gift product, mostly of a spicy context. I wasn't able to find this set on the site but, if I missed it, I'd welcome any of you to send me the link and I'll edit this review to reflect it. Regardless, today I'll be specifically exploring the Sicilian Fire Habanero Hot Sauce.
The label is very cute. A definite 80's theme can be observed in the lettering and somewhat in the stylized rendition of Sophia (played by Estelle Getty on the show). It's full of bright colors and engaging art. I am a fairly big fan of this label. It just makes me smile. It also has a recipe for Sicilian Fire Cheesecake Filling which just sounds neat!
The color is darn near precisely what I look for in a spicy condiment. It's another hot sauce with a red richness, like the sauce we dove into last week. There is a note of ingredient sediment when one moves the liquid in the bottle but it's not as noticeable as I generally prefer. There is a thickness to the residual product left on the bottle after the two surfaces meet, so it might get lost to the eye in that.
The pour is surprisingly thick, though not so meaty as to make it a slow exit from the bottle. It has a drip spout, though with an unusually wide opening. One could make the assumption that this is due the the relatively think nature of the bottle's contents. Either way, don't attempt to pour too fast for risk of over-seasoning your target.
The flavor is nice but not especially well executed. A relatively simple and non-layered flavor, I detected a vegetable-like flavor upon it first touching my tongue. My lovely friend garlic is undetectable here which, as many of you know, tends to elicit a frown from me. Other than these two notable points, the taste in general is acceptable but not anything to put a proverbial bookmark in.
This is a surprisingly hot sauce. I say "surprisingly" because when I first looked into a Golden-Girls-themed product, I expected it to cater to the lowest common denominator when it came to heat tolerance. The initial tongue burn is significant, focusing mainly on the tip. It hits the back of the throat too, startling me upon tasting. Of course, the lip tingle appears with repeated tastings.
In short, this is a good sauce for the heat high, but not a must-have regarding flavor. But, and let's be honest here, who doesn't want a Golden Girls hot sauce set for their collection just on the merit of being what it is? I know it make me happy to see the images of Sophia, Rose, Blanche, and Dorothy on bottles sitting on my shelves. Go and pick it up. You know you want to. Until next week, thank you for being a friend.

Cayenne Habanero Sauce

I picked up a sauce via online shopping called simply Cayenne Habanero Sauce made by All Spice Cafe. All Spice Cafe is a company out of Downers Grove, IL that has won awards for their sauces from the Scovie Awards and the Fiery Food Challenge, among others.The company started when JD Cowles was convinced to bottle his Buffalo wing sauce that he had been, up until the decision was made to start the company, made within his home. There was one outdated claim on their site, however: they state that the ghost pepper (Bhut Jolokia) is the hottest pepper in the world. This has not been true since the Carolina Reaper gained that title in 2013. On a good vibe, they have quite a few recipes on the site with which to cook their products. I think that's nice.
I love the label as it is a version of the famous photo of Albert Einstein sticking his tongue out but with peppers in place of his facial hair. I've really liked this photo since I was very young and my dad showed it to me. The font isn't mind blowing and a little irksome, but I'll let that go for now. Also there in the word HOT in red letters within a spiky black circle. We'll explore together to verify this particular assertion.
The color is very nice. It's a rich red, though not too crimson, with obvious sediment clinging to the inside of the bottle from where the liquid had touched it. There is a bit of oil separation when I leave the bottle still for too long. You can also see specks of the condiment's ingredients resting in the liquid.
The consistency is a nice thickness. This causes a fairly slow pour but be careful! After the sauce hits the lip of the bottle's mouth, it kind of speeds up. It pours fairly evenly and would be good for coating foods like chicken wings (for which they have a recipe on their site using this sauce in particular).
 The flavor is bright, almost leaving the impression of sweet fruit, though there is none in the ingredient list. The garlic flavor is thankfully rich and there is not any real salt flavor, which it doesn't really need due to the presence of cayenne pepper. There is an earthy note in the aftertaste that I can't really identify.
This product is more of a medium/hot heat. It leaves a tongue burn that lasts a decent amount of time and makes any part of the tongue that it touches tingling. Upon successive tastings the roof of my mouth began to burn and my nose started running a bit. There isn't a noticeable presence of lip burn. The heat overall is a creeping one so use caution.
This is a nice and simple sauce. I like the color, consistency, flavor, and heat of this. At $8.50 for a 5.2 ounce bottle this won't break the bank either. I am going to have to experiment with some of the recipes on the site to further my potential appreciation of Cayenne Habanero Sauce.

Edit: After eating three hot dogs with Cayenne Habanero Sauce on it, there was noticeable lip burn.