Technical Difficulties

Apologies in advance, all. I wrote a review this week but it's appearing incorrectly when I publish it. I'll try to tinker with it to resolve the issues and will post on social media when they are.

Fresco Sauce Chipotle & Habanero Hot Sauce

Hello again chiliheads! I hope that everyone is well and making it through the doldrums of winter. I myself am counting the minutes until some respite from the cold and dreariness. Perhaps we can all warm ourselves in the interim with some delicious hot sauce. To ring in that hope, lets look at another addition to our ever-growing archives, shall we?
I want to examine the Chipotle & Habanero Hot Sauce by the kind folks at Fresco Sauce today. Fresco Sauce evidently started out by making a sauce to be served alongside dishes at the restaurant Rosemary Grill in 2012. This was with their seminal hot sauce but the company started bottling that sauce and some new ones (including the Chipotle & Habanero Hot Sauce) in 2018 due to customer demand.
The label is simple but one I find appealing. I like the cursive-like quality of the company name as well as the color scheme. I also really enjoy the cubist portrayal of a hot sauce bottle with a drop escaping from the mouth. The sauce color is interesting in that it isn't quite yellow and isn't quite orange but some offspring of the two. It's also dotted with black pepper flakes (presumably). I approve of the initial visual impression given to me.
The pour surprised me somewhat: a relatively slow and controlled pour. This is due to its fairly thick consistency. I thought that it might be a thinner sauce due to it's color (a developed assumption that is obviously unwarranted). It was a pleasant revelation.
The taste is not terribly complex, though by no means unpleasant. The generous amount of garlic comes through as well as a nice pepper flavor, but not a lot past this. It's nice and the addition of carrots to the mix does add a certain undefinable something, but nothing to rent a billboard about. I think it might benefit for the addition of a little more salt.
The heat crept up on me. At first I was disappointed in the apparent lack of burn but, upon further tasting, I discovered that a decent heat is actually present. It hits the tip of the tongue first and provides a pleasant sear there and as it travels to the back of the tongue/entrance to the throat it creates a hot tingling. Also, upon said repeated tastings, expect a lip burn to catch up with you.
Though not a particularly intricate taste, it's still pleasant with a good amount of heat packed within. The $5.99 price tag reveals not a bad deal at all. Plus I like supporting our independent hot sauce-making friends out there and showing a little solidarity. Happy tastings all and I'll see you next week!

Tabanero Extra Hot Hot Sauce

Happy Valentine's Day all! I hope that you're keeping warm today, whether it be via special someone or a special spicy condiment that I know you share my passion for. I know that this day isn't up everyone's alley but even if it is not, I hope that you're enjoying today.
I want to run Tabanero Extra Hot Hot Sauce through its paces (known simply as Tabanero from here on). Made by Tabanero company,  it's a nice sauce to have on standby for many uses. They state on their site in the Vision section that they seek to provide a sauce that's a more pleasurable and sensational option rather than one that's just hot for the sake of hotness. On another note, this evidently is the official hot sauce of AMC's The Walking Dead.
The label is nothing to mark a red letter day in one's calendar about. Simple rather than particularly memorable, it is to the point. I like the unobtrusive royalty hat logo but I could leave the font reading "Flavor & Fire" at the door. The color of the sauce is a little too pale for my tastes. It almost resembles a dark yellow or light orange, leaving an almost sickly impression.
 The consistency is fairly runny but, coupled with the dripper insert included on the bottle, the pour is quite controllable if one uses a shake pour or a bottom tap pour. Also it contains sediment from the ingredients forming the makeup of the contents. Bits of (presumably) seed and pepper flakes can be discerned within.
The flavor of the sauce is quite well done. The garlic is plentiful and enough to add depth without evoking a tiresome amount of richness, leading to a fresher taste. There are subtle fruit notes present with an emphasis on citrus. I also detected a bit of salt; it's not too much but rather acts as an enhancer.
The heat took me by surprise a bit. They may not have intended to make it hot for heat's sake but it does pack somewhat of a punch. It may not seem so upon first entering the palette but as it travels across the tongue, it begins to act. It has more of a back and sides of the tongue burn, the back burn jolting me a bit. This fire will grow considerably upon repeated tastings and for me led to a fairly substantial lip tingle. This isn't a "burn the house down" heat but it's not something to underestimate either.
This sauce will go well as an enhancer to existing heat while adding a well rounded flavor to a dish or snack. I plan on adding just a taste to some vindaloo I made for dinner. For the affordability factor, this works well. At the time of this writing, a 5 ounce bottle is running at $5.99 (on sale from $6.99). This sauce will be a decent yet not 100% necessary, addition to anyone's collection.

The Pepper Plant

I picked up a hot sauce last week called The Pepper Plant Hot Pepper Sauce by Blossom Valley Foods. For full transparency, I got my tax refund back and spent a kind of obscene amount of money on sauces. The good news for you, friend of this review site, is that I should be fairly dependable on my posting of reviews for the next month or so.
The label has a drawing that I can call "quaint". It's a fairly simple drawing of a presumably Latinx couple near a cauldron. The cauldron is steaming and one of the two people is adding ingredients or stirring, I can't really tell which. The color immediately grabbed my attention in a positive way. It is a bold maroon hinting at tomato or just a red pepper mix.
The consistency is really nice. A good and thick pour without being hard to get out of the bottle's spout. A dripper insert isn't really needed, but be careful not to pour too recklessly. It's a nice rich red that is dotted with bits of ingredients. As I've mentioned before, I have a soft spot for sauces with bit of their makeup visible.
The taste may be one of my favorites in my sauce exploration thus far! It's rich and hearty. It also has a good bit of garlic added to it. I can tell that onion was placed into the mix liberally but without the effect of overpowering the concoction. Jalapenos are obvious to me as the main pepper in this but upon looking at the ingredient list I saw no tomato, leading me to assume that other peppers of the red variety are included.
While this sauce may taste amazingly, the heat may disappoint. In fact, I had to sample it a few times to even really find the heat. With that said, it does build up upon repeated samplings, leaving a tingle on the side of the tongue, but no real lip burn.
I plan on using this sauce pretty extensively in my cooking for its flavor. I predict that it will go well with eggs (I like mine scrambled) and as a condiment on burgers. I'm a little hesitant to put it on tacos as I like to turn up the heat with tacos. At just over $8 on Amazon I think that this was a good purchase for taste experimentation alone. Also, I tried it on tortilla chips and that was a very pleasurable snack!

Melinda's Original Habanero Pepper Sauce

Let's look at yet another fun sauce sure to stimulate the senses and hopefully whet the appetites of my dear readers! Today we're going to give a go to Melinda's Original Habanero Pepper Sauce from Melinda's Hot Pepper Sauce and Ketchup. That last little bit of the company name may surprise you, as it did me. This company makes artisan, homemade ketchup! I wasn't expecting that one but I may have to try some at one point.
The label doesn't "wow" me at all, although it does hint at a rustic Latin feeling. The color is a bit of a pale orange for my taste, explained by the inclusion of carrots in the ingredient list. One thing I've discovered on our hot sauce journey together is that carrots are a much more common ingredient in the sauces than I expected.
The consistency might fool you, as it did me, at first. Swishing it in the bottle, it appeared to move like a very thin sauce, much to my chagrin. However, upon pour (dripper insert included this time to help control flow), I noticed that the sauce was much more hefty than I predicted. I'd say slightly gelatinous but that word may have a negative connotation to some minds. Also, there are visible chunks of ingredients in the sauce; not big ones, but the presence is noted upon pour.
In examining flavor, I was surprised to not detect any carrot, save for a bit of fresh sweetness. I definitely taste citrus as well as my beloved garlic leading to a tangier taste, rather than a particularly savory one. This is not a tremendously layered or complex tasting sauce but it leaves a nice and happy imprint on one's tongue.
The sauce is hotter than I expected up initial taste, though once one becomes accustomed to it, it's quite mild. It has an immediate, front of the tongue burn that lingers for a minute or so. Not painful in a negative way but you'll unmistakably know it's there. It also leaves a lip burn that also lingers. Again, not in a negative way but more of a positive stimulation of the tongue and lip.
The best part of this sauce may be its price tag at $3.99 for a 5 ounce bottle. This sauce is good for spicing up most food amenable to condiments, including burgers, nachos, pizza (which is particularly good with Melinda's Original Habanero Pepper Sauce), and my ever-present tacos. I would call this sauce more of a positive accent to a meal than a central taste experience. Definitely something I'd recommend exploring.

Evil Cowboy Smokin Ghost

I want to take a look at a sauce I ran across in my online hot sauce explorations. This one is called Smokin Ghost Hot Sauce by Evil Cowboy Hot Sauce. This company is out of Richardson, TX and is a tribute to the sauces the current proprietor's grandfather used to make. They carry their own hot sauces, dipping salsas, and even some queso blanco!
The color did not much to impress me as it appears kind of a murky red-yellow. Although I wasn't entranced by the color, the skull in the cowboy hat appearing on the label made me smirk a bit. Nothing too creative but kind of gets the point across. The simulation of burning wood that borders the bottom of the label is kind of cute too.
In the matter of consistency, this sauce is thin, but I wouldn't call it runny. It seems uniform in mix so that the edge of a pour doesn't seem watery while the main liquid body is more full of tasty ingredients like some sauces I could name. A note on the pour: it leaves some sediment on the glass of the bottle after the pour. Not a negative thing at all. In fact, I like a bit of sediment as it suggests many ingredients that aren't pulverized into standardized liquid.
The taste is surprisingly complex. It has a savory quality that is cut by what tastes like a bit of ocean. Upon looking at the ingredient list, this was explained by the presence of anchovies. There is also a rich tang toward the end of tasting. Pleasant and not jarring. The garlic is palpable which, if I hadn't made clear before, I like a great deal. It also lives up to part of its name with a hint of smoke in the pepper.
If you're looking for the hottest thing in the sauce market, this isn't your guy. There is a bit of residual lip burn after tasting as well as an initial heat in the middle of the tongue. However, this isn't an exceptional hotness.
While the heat may not be as intense as some would like it to be, I think that this sauce has a complex and very flavorful taste profile. I think that this would be a great addition to hamburgers, oddly enough. At $6 + shipping for a 5 ounce bottle, this might be a good investment if you're an avid cook like myself.

Rogue: Moruga Blood Orange Scorpion Pepper Sauce

Hello again chiliheads! I'd like to apologize again for last week's lack of a substantial post. I just didn't get a sauce order that I was hoping to get. No matter! Today I'm going to talk about Rogue Moruga Blood Orange Scorpion Pepper Sauce by High River Sauces. I will admit that, at first, I was excited for this sauce because I assumed that a brewery of which I am fond was associated with this sauce. This was not to be the case. No matter! On with the examination!
I like the label but I'm not amazed by it. It looks nice and I like the rendering of the peppers in their respective formation. With that said, I think the logo it a bit amateurish, though I like the cute scorpion tail descending from the "G". It's nothing that I'll write home about but it's not something I'll flush down the toilet in disgust either.
I love the color here. It's a nice deep red with just a hint, an implication if you will, of orange, appropriately. The bit of lightness suggests a summery heat. The consistency, however, is not something I'm even partially a fan of. It's a runny and relatively thin sauce, so be careful while pouring. The bottle is not fit with a dripper insert, as most thin sauces are, and I think that is a mistake in delivery here. I may actually put one of my own on this bottle.
The flavor on this one is nice. I taste a nice note of fruit up front. I detect a freshness of apple, which is fun. I also taste a bit of another fruity sugar though I can't totally identify it. I assume it's blood orange from the name of the sauce but that doesn't jump out at me, so I will leave that as an assumption. All in all the flavor is well balanced and left me feeling positively.
This sauce is nice and hot, but not close to the upper echelon in regards to heat. It's more of a surface of the tongue burn with one interesting and unique property: it felt like the burn finished as a full body one. I even felt flushed for a couple of minutes after a good tasting. I have experienced sauces that have done this to me in the past, but they're relatively rare.
At a price of $7.99 this is not a bad deal (though the shipping cost of shipping at $3.50 is fairly high). I think that I'll try this on my tacos next week as I think that'll be a good pairing with the fruitiness of the condiment. I'll put a dripper insert on it first.