Elijah's Xtreme Gourmet Sauces was born from a father and son's love of hot peppers and the mutual desire to make more flavorful, thicker, hotter sauces. Elijah began, at six years old, quite curious about pushing the hot pepper envelope by wanting to eat them. After eating a banana pepper given to him by his father, Elijah's tenacious curiosity sprang to life and evolved into exploring new and innovative ways to bring out flavors in their own custom hot sauces. Years later, in 2014, they started their own sauce company and continue to this day to offer the world their own twist on the hot sauce experience.
The label is nothing particularly noteworthy, though not faulty in any particular way either. It's just not something I'd call my mom to tell her about. A large red X is central, appearing to have a cut or ripped effect. This is presumably by the scythe that the grim reaper bears who appears to the right of the X. This image of death holds a portrayal of a Carolina Reaper in it's bony claws. On the back of the bottle is where it's announced that the condiment is all natural, vegan, and gluten free. Good news to fans with dietary restrictions!
The color is a quite dark and rich red. Sediment is apparent in the bottle after a pour but not so much in the deployed liquid. One of the reasons for this could be the thickness of the sauce. The pour is quite slow and controlled, though not the slowest in my collection. Quite a nice thickness here suggesting, perhaps, a sauce that'll stick to your bones (bones... reaper... see what I did there?).
The flavor begins very sweet, almost deceptively so. I taste the fruits, cranberries and black cherries, they put in this concoction. The fruits themselves make sense as I was to find out, then tasting savory bourbon, as the fruits listed are more savory fruits than some of their counterparts. The taste experience ends with the savory and sweet swirling together quite well and making me tip my hat to the father and son creators of our new friend here.
The heat of this is almost immaculately timed. Make no mistake: the heat is intense and burns the tongue nicely, though not too intensely. However, it doesn't really kick in until one gets to enjoy the above-mentioned flavor experience without too much interference. It doesn't kick in for a few seconds. When it does, it seems to focus on the roof of the mouth and the sides and center of the tongue, though not forgetting to leave a lip burn in the process. I did reach for some water but not with great urgency.
This is a sauce that I discovered quite by accident and I'm glad that I did. This is a great tasting sauce without a kick that is too overt as might be suggested by the containing Carolina Reaper pepper. A mix of sweet, savory, and heat that I think will go well with many foods, as predicted on the site. And at $8.95 you can't really go wrong with at least giving this one a shot. Until next time fire breathers!
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