Uncle Brutha (aka Brennan Proctor) hails from the D.C. area, very close to our own former stomping grounds in Maryland. That alone makes him cool in our book. The fact that he sent us some sauces to taste makes extra, extra cool. Thanks, Uncle Brutha!

Uncle Brutha’s hot sauces are the creation of Brennan Proctor, chef and hot sauce entreprenuer. We love to be able to experience sauces that are obviously on their way up the ladder in terms of success, and these sauces have all the markings of doing just that. If you should be so lucky, stop by the Eastern Market in Washington, D.C. and say hello to Brennan in person. We’re a little far away from D.C. these days, so we had to say hi via email. Here’s what we talked about….

Tell us a little about your humble beginnings. Not everyone goes from “family folklore” to successful hot sauce entrepreneur, so how has that been for you?

First, I think I should start out with pointing out the fact that the folklore is completely fabricated and has actually been dropped from the label design. Labels are being printed now that will list all of the awards that each of the sauces have won to date. As far as how this sauce adventure of mine all got started, back in the late 80’s I used to go to happy hour with co-workers about once a week or so and we would always order the hot wings but never found any that we really thought truly hot or all that great for that matter. When planning an office potluck, it was suggested that I make some which I had never actually done before. My co-worker told me how his mom made hers (which didn’t sound all that good either) so I came up with my own version which everybody absolutely loved. I must say, though, that with that very first version I did use other already prepared hot sauces. The next time I set out to make hot wings, I decided to analyze the various sauces I had used the first time and recreate the same end result using all original ingredients from scratch. That started the roughly ten year period I spent playing around with different combinations of chilies and ingredients that eventually wound up being Fire Sauce No. 10 (get it…. 10 years…. Heat level 10…. No. 10…. anyway….) By the late 90’s I was living in L.A working in the entertainment industry. I made my now somewhat “famous” hot wings for my business partners baby shower , once again they were a huge hit which resulted in her coming up with the suggestion that I bottle some of the sauce to give to our clients for Christmas that year. That next season, our clients were going nuts, constantly calling me with jobs so that I could bring some sauce along. Next thing I knew, folks were asking if they could buy some, by the case even, because they never wanted to run out. That lead me to taking the idea of maybe trying to get it in stores a little more seriously. But it wasn’t until the industry took a major financial hit due to the digital theft of music over the Internet that I decided to take the plunge and really go for it. Almost right at that moment, I got a call from a childhood friend telling me that she had gotten back into consulting for small business start-ups. Seemed like fate to me. The idea of marketing both my green and red sauces came from working with her to establish the company and formulate a business plan.

Your sauces have received quite a bit of critical success, along with the presumed commercial success that usually goes along with it. Which aspect of that for you makes you most proud, and why?

I don’t think that I can single out any one aspect of it all that I’m most proud of. It’s all still so amazing to me. What I mean by that is I’m still amazed when people, total strangers, come up and tell me “this is the most amazing sauce I’ve ever tasted!!” I’ve always liked them myself but never really expected them to be the “huge hits” they’re turning out to be. Don’t get me wrong, getting these products “out there” is truly proving to be quite a challenge. I had no idea what to expect and even feel like I’m a little late coming into the game. After all, there are so many sauces out there already. So if I were to single out any one aspect, then I would have to say that I’m extremely pleased with the “critical acclaim” and how it’s helping to draw the necessary attention needed to stand out in the crowd.

Being in the culinary arts as you are, how much of advantage do you feel this has been in your sauce-making creativity and experimentation?

I seem to have just been born with a natural ability for flavor combining. I can pretty much imagine in my mind how something is going to taste before hand (if I’m already familiar with a particular flavor that is.) When I was experimenting with the red sauce (for example,) there were some chilies I tried out here and there that I had never tasted before. I wound up not liking the end result so I never used them again. Then there are times that I’ll taste an ingredient used to prepare some other kind of dish and I’ll think..”hmm, I don’t like this flavor with this particular dish, BUT, I know it would be good with this other kind of dish over here.” So I feel blessed in that respect, I guess.

What’s been the most enjoyable aspect of being in the hot sauce biz, and why?

Seeing the enjoyment people are getting from the sauces. I get such a kick out of the look on peoples faces as they take a taste and their eyes light up as they exclaim how good they think it is. That’s probably the most fun for me. A pretty major part of it all for me too.

Does Uncle Brutha have any new products coming out soon? Can you give us a preview?

I’ve got a few new flavors in the works. All based on the two originals. A hotter version of both, a very very mild version of the green and some fruit variations as well. Hopefully I’ll have some of them ready for introduction by early March. I’ll keep you posted.

So what’s in all this stuff? An Ingredient List!

Fire Sauce No. 9: serrano chiles, garlic, vinegar, vegetable broth, kosher salt, ginger, cilantro, green onion, natural flavors, food starch, spices

Fire Sauce No. 10: habanero, red & green jalapeno, serrano chiles, garlic, vinegar, vegetable broth, kosher salt, ginger, cilantro, green onion, natural flavors, food starch, spices

Awards

Uncle Brutha picked up 4 Scovie Awards this year! Fire Sauce No. 9 and 10 were 1st and 2nd place (respectively) in the Hot Sauce Unique category making them the most unique hot sauces!! No. 9 was also 1st place in the Specialty Chile category and 2nd in Caribbean style. That gives us a total of 20 awards between the two in just over 13 months. Way to go, Uncle Brutha! Surely a sign of good things to come.

Joe’s $0.02

Fire Sauce No. 9: I remember reading the HSB review about this sauce and the mention of a smoky taste, and you do get a whiff of earthiness from glancing your nostrils past the top of the bottle. Looking at the consistency as it poured, I had a good feeling about it. Usually, serranos don’t taste quite as green as a tomatillo sauce would, but UB manages to cull the great taste of the serrano without the lethal heat. Don’t get me wrong, this sauce could have benefited from a little more heat, but I won’t quibble over that. I really seemed to taste the garlic & green onion, along with that dominant smokiness. Surprisingly versatile, I liked it best lathered over enchiladas and tacos. Good balance between heat & flavor, with flavor winning in the 15th round by TKO.

Fire Sauce No. 10: This is the hotter of the two sauces, but not by a lot. I guess seeing three different types of peppers (including the habanero) in the ingredients list made my tastebuds batten down the hatches, but they took suprisingly little abuse, heat-wise. The sauce reminds me of a BBQ sauce crossed with a habanero sauce, if someone like Bobby Flay made it. (Since its creator is a chef, I pretty close to dead-on about that…but I digress.) I was concerned about this sauce versatility, but it seemed to work well with a variety of different foods from veggies to meats to eggs. Where it shined most to me was on ribs. Boy howdy, this turned some ordinary baby back ribs into a meal that I left nary a drop remaining. In fact, I dare say it was one of the better sauces I’ve used on ribs in quite a while. I give this sauce a definite thumbs-up, and sigh when I see how little we have of it left to use. Solid.

Linda’s $0.02

Fire Sauce No. 9: While both sauces have that definite smoke aroma and flavor, it was a bit unique for a green sauce. I won’t stop there at the preconceptions, though. I looked at the ingredients and saw cilantro, which often gets lost in green sauce, or any sauce for that matter. That said, this sauce neither suffers from being too smoky, nor from hiding its cilantro-ness. It’s surpisingly more versatile in and on food than you think it’s going to be. It has a great medium heat level, awesome consistency and bold flavor. This is a fabulous sauce for pork, but not barbeque pork. If you have barbeque pork, move on to the No. 10 sauce.

Fire Sauce No. 10: This is the sauce that makes barbeque into super barbeque. Anything that has barbeque sauce just pulls every one of the individual flavors from this sauce and turns them into the most mouth-watering barbeque experience you’ve ever had. In fact, you don’t want barbeque without this sauce. This was particularly true of barbeque ribs. But I don’t want this to disuade you from using it on other things. Much like its green brother, the smokiness is not as limited as you think it’s going to be. The smoke dissapates quite easily and it leaves the complexity of the mixture of peppers behind with ease. Take advantage of the wonderful consistency and try this as a steak sauce as well.

Don’t just take our word for it! Here are some online reviews of these sauces:

HSB Review – Fire Sauce No. 9
HSB Review – Fire Sauce No. 10
Quick note at Peppers.com

Give these reviewers a shout and ask them to review Uncle Brutha’s products as well.

Carl’s Big List of Reviews
Alien Zombie
Virtual Hot Sauce Museum
The Hot Sauce Guide
Saucerater

Want to review Uncle Brutha’s products for yourself? Go here and leave your own opinion:

www.rateitall.com
www.thehotpepper.com/viewforum.php?f=3

Recipes

A great one here at DCist.

Uncle Brutha has a few delectable ones located on their website and can be found HERE.