Jean Lafitte Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce

My lovely sister Dr. Aerin Welch gave me the wonderful gift of a couple of craft hot sauces on a recent visit to her abode in Indiana! She had picked them up from a hot sauce shop called Pepper Palace in New Orleans, LA. I was later to find out that said shop has over 30 retail locations as well as a strong online presence. I am slightly disappointed in myself that I hadn't stumbled upon them before.
In 1989 Pepper Palace began as a kiosk in a mall in Wisconsin. After moving to Gatlinburg, Tennessee they began expanding, first in South Carolina ans eventually onto many other US locations and even one in Canada! In 2010 they opened a commercial kitchen and began producing their own hot sauces. They now offer a wide array of products such as salsa, seasonings and rubs, and BBQ and wings sauces.
The label shows a well done illustration of the pirate Jean Lafitte. A silhouette of a pirate ship in the background is a nice touch. As well, the skull and crossbones on the lower side of the label is a cute addition too. The background colors are a muted yellow and green. I found that an interesting contrast to to contents of the bottle.
The pour is surprisingly slow as the consistency is not super thick. I must warn you that this bottle doesn't come with a drip spout so it's quite possible to accidentally over pour. Some sediment is visible upon swirling the sauce in the bottle but there is not a considerable amount of it. More of it is visible upon pour indicating, to me at least, that the ingredients were more finely blended.
The taste is bright. I tasted citrus and, upon looking at the ingredient list, found that this was due to the inclusion of lemon in the mix. My beloved garlic is very present here as well as vinegar. The vinegar is not applied too thoroughly as to distract from the overall taste however. There is a salt flavor present but it, like the vinegar, is not overpowering.
This has a very substantial bite to it. The heat is enough to make my nose immediately start running slightly and it seared the roof of my mouth. This was an interesting effect that I've not experienced much in sauce tasting. The lip burn is quite present upon multiple tastings and the serious tongue blaze was more focused in the back of my lip smacker.
This sauce is a definite keeper. The serious heat paired with the attention given to making a flavorful product meet to produce a satisfying hot sauce. At $16.95 this may seem a high price to pay but this is a small batch condiment with some obvious love and care put in it. It should be noted that, at the time of this writing, the Jean Lafitte Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce was out of stock from the site. It assures us that this status is temporary so check back and take the leap folks!