Tears of the Sun

Hello again lovely lava lovers! I apologize for the delay since we last enjoyed each others' company. Between holidays and a shipping problem, it has been too long since I was able to subject you to my insight into various hot sauces. Of course, over the next two weeks I will also not be posting due to X-mas and New Year Day respectively. Butwit the new year have sprouted and we can spend the cold months warming up to the various hot concoctions the world has to offer us!
Today I bring you Tears of the Sun brought to us by High River Sauces. High River Sauces brought us Rogue (a favorite of mine) and the previously reviewed Foo Foo Mama Choo. As previously reported, the company was founded to stoke Steve Seabury's, the founder passion for spice and music. I have since discovered that the first sauce was made for the 2011 Metal Alliance Tour, something of interest to me as I am a huge metal head as well as a chili head! They also mention beers on both their website and their Facebook page and beers are a guilty pleasure of mine. I like this company more and more!
The bottle itself is of the standard hot sauce glass type. The label is a bit eye-catching in that it has a stylized sun/smiling face as a main focus. The face has a flame on each cheek and is spitting flames out of its hair/sunbeams. The font of the word "tears" is interesting while the font of the word "sun" is considerably less so. The consistency is of medium thickness but has kind of a lightly gelatinous manner about it. Not so much as to make me shy away from it but is worth make note of.
The color is a light brown/dull yellow one which is not particularly attractive but, as we've seen before, I try to look past first impressions that threaten to taint my opinion of a sauce based on color.
The flavor starts off fairly sweet with the presence of citrus and mango rushing to the front of the line. It's not to overbearing but the fruits definitely made themselves known. The pepper flavor trails behind the sweetness, leaving my palate with the impression of sweet vegetables or spicy fruit. Garlic is there but I think that it might be obfuscated somewhat by the sweetness.
The heat was both surprising and not simultaneously. It was surprising in the fact that it immediately hit my lips and tongue tip and was quite direct. It doesn't float about the mouth in a continuous attack strategy but it does leave a noticeable lip burn that, thankfully, dissipates relatively quickly. The tongue heat doesn't last long either so, while it may be an acute type of hot, it's not relentless in its aggression.
While the sweet aspects of the flavor theoretically make it a less versatile sauce than some others, I could see this sauce playing well with grilled chicken, burgers, and eggs. Ooh, grits too! At $5.99 one has to opt on the side of adding this fun sauce to a collection.
Until next year dear friends! Happy Holidays!!

Tattoo Scotch Bonnet Curry

Apologies again for my long absence. I had a mishap last week with hot sauce orders and they didn't arrive on time. Frowny face for me but I'm back in the saddle to share with you my find for this week. I received Tattoo Sauce's Scotch Bonnet Curry and have been so excited to try it. Of course we all know of my (and your) love of the spicy goo that makes everything better. But I also love curry so very much. I make a mean yellow chicken and potato curry over rice let me tell you! So without further ado:
Tattoo Hot Sauce company is dedicated to creating globally inspired and passionately crafted hot sauces. They claim "creating flavor is an art an we express our passion to the craft with Tattoo". Each of their hot sauce is inspired by different global cultures, heritage, and peppers. If the flavor comes out as much as the hype suggests, we'll have a nice time unraveling this concoction.
The bottle is wonderful as it's a squeeze bottle. I LOVE squeeze bottles for hot sauces. They eliminate the need to coax out the thicker condiments and allows great pour (or in this case squeeze) control for application. If I've never said it before in this medium MAKE HOT SAUCE IN SQUEEZE BOTTLES A THING! The label is fairly straightforward with some nice line designs punctuated with full color shapes. The consistency is on the thin side with a dull-ish yellow color and just a hint of sediment.
The taste is nicely layered. It begins with a hint of fruity sweetness without being too up front about it. A savoriness follows very shortly after bring my much awaited curry. Also the tang of the peppers is quite noticeable at this stage. It ends with a slight return of the sweetness but this time tempered by the curry and spice. Quite a nice ride if you ask me.
The heat is firmly present without being too extreme. It seemed to gravitate to the middle of my tongue without much tip of the tongue burn until my fourth or fifth sampling. The lips burn was quite present after this many tastings as well and, without being to pushy, remained idling for quite some time.
In summation, this sauce obviously focuses on flavor using the heat to assist in the taste experience. This is a well done sauce and I think that I'll be using it for some fun cooking explorations in the near future. If you can, pick up a bottle from Amazon as Tattoo doesn't have their products for sale on their site. Until next time scorch searchers!

No Review Again This Week

Sorry again friends. My hot sauce order didn't come in as expected but I'll see you again next week!