From the hinterlands of the Gem State of Idaho comes Scotty B’s Gourmet Hot Sauces and Specialty Foods. Although Scotty B’s products are mainly distributed throughout Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, we anticipate that Scotty B’s products will be more widely available in the near future. Scotty has a full and diverse line of hot sauces, plus a grilling sauce/marinade that’s positively scrumptious. Besides that, Scotty B is a pretty decent fellow who’s been willing to help us out by gifting us a few bottles of his stuff to try in our own kitchen. We asked Scotty to fill us in a little on his company, his products, and his burgeoning success….

Idaho isn’t exactly known as a mecca for hot sauces or chile peppers. Have you fought the stereotype of products from your state all being about potatoes?

What? You haven’t heard of Idaho’s Famous Hot Potato Peppers!! HA!! Yea, I know we are geographically challenged for a hot sauce company. But hey then again sauces are manufactured in places like Ohio, Indiana, New York and even up in Canada. Although I grew up in San Diego area and often visited family in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada. Also I’ve had alot of hispanic influences from my brother-in-law and his family, not to mention growing up loving mexican cuisine. For the past 15 yrs. I’ve been up in the Pacific Northwest where my children’s mothers from. In the northwest I have picked up some different culinary influences, hence the sweet sauces were developed from.

When I came up to the northwest I started missing the spiceness of the foods I grew up with, so I started cooking & creating my own from my experiences from down south. Alot of friends enjoyed what I created and keep pushing me to make more. So I did and spent like 2 1/2 years trying to jump through the hoops of manufacturing requirements to market the sauces. Let me tell you that can be a challenge if you don’t have the knowledge and terminology.

You have some unique label graphics. What can you tell us about the inspiration and design that you ultimately used?

I designed the labels on the computer, and went through quite alot of diffrent label designs before ending up with what I have now. They are alright for local sales but I personally thought the labels were pretty generic looking for national sales. I’m in the process of having new labels designed (well 2 so far) by BLP Labels, for the Sweet Jalapeno Heat & Berries In Heat. And will be doing the rest of the sauce labels as funds allow, still being a small developing company and all.

Which of your sauces do you use most yourself, and why?

Actually I use 4 of the sauces quite abit, the Devil’s Drool & Just Damn Good I use on my eggs, hashbrowns and country gravy, pizza, mexican food (2 times a week), taco bell, taco soup, to heat up beef & pork ribs and also to heat up and flavor salsa. The sweet sauces I use to flavor chicken, pork and to flavor chinese foods: stir-fry, pork fried rice and to dip or flavor eggrolls & potstickers. Because they are delicious and because I developed them to my liking.

What do you do with your products to try and make them unique in the hot sauce marketplace?

Obviously it’s not in the packaging, it’s all intended for the consumer. I just try to make sauces that taste good to me, and it seems that others are enjoying them also. Its about the flavor, and the heat!

What fuels your creativity as you are making your sauce recipes?

Just great taste to flavor foods and a passion to please others with great tasting sauces.

Anything new coming soon that we can look forward to seeing on the market soon?

Yeah! we’ll be coming out with a Sweet Habanero Heat Sauce later this year, something alittle hotter for the sweet sauce lovers. Hopefully before we attend ZestFest in Sept. I am constantly trying out new flavors & combinations of sauce ingredients.

Awards and Recognition

Scotty B’s products were featured in the article Great Bottles of Fire starting on pg. 54 of the April Hot Sauce Issue of Chile Pepper Magazine. Their product awards: Sweet Jalapeno Heat-1st-jalapeno at FFC and 3rd-medium at Scovie Awards, Chipotle Pepper-2nd-Chipotle at FFC, Pepper Fusion-3rd-Chipotle at FFC, Just Damn Good-3rd-XXX Hot! at FFC. Four products, 5 awards in 2005. (FFC=Fiery Foods Challenge)

Our Reviews and an Ingredient List!

Berries in Heat!: blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, red raspberries, serrano pepper mash, vegetable juice, water, sugar, vinegar, lemon juice, salt, garlic, onion powder, spices, corn starch

Joe’s take

When I saw the first four ingredients, all berries, I thought I might have gotten a bottle of marmalade rather than a hot sauce. Make no mistake, this IS a hot sauce. However, I dare say it’s more than just a hot sauce. Used as dipping sauce, it provides a slightly spicy kick that is both satisfying and is not too fruity. I like it as an alternative to ketchup to pour on my french fries. I couldn’t quite place the pepper’s taste within the sauce, until I looked at the ingredients to realize it’s made with serrano pepper mash. The berries cut the sharp bite of the serrano to give a tasty sensation whose mix is better than just the sum of its parts. We used it as a marinade for chicken on the grill, and found that the grilling caused the flavor to mellow a bit, making it a first choice for everyone sitting at the table. The heat level is best described as ‘medium,’ which means that you can tone it up or down as you see fit. The best thing about this sauce? You get a big twelve ounces instead of a mere five for any of the other bottles. It’s a good thing, too, because you may find that you use this up all too quickly.

Linda’s take

There are some sauces that are better to use while grilling and others that are better to use when dipping. This is definitely a dipping sauce. That’s not to say that it doesn’t go well with barbeque. Using this as a dipping sauce for grilled chicken was absolutely amazing. Just by looking at the ingredients, I thought this was going to be a lot more sweet. Instead it’s nicely balanced between sweet and spicy. The spice is just a little kick, so you can have this out for adventurous people without needing bravery.

Sweet Jalapeno Heat: water, tomatoes, sugar, jalapeno peppers, sweet onion, garlic, salt, distilled vinegar, lemon juice, ground black pepper, corn starch, spices

Joe’s take

Jalapeno sauce with sugar in it…well, it ain’t exactly peanut butter & chocolate, but it just seems to work. This sauce’s flavor profile gives it a bit of narrower spectrum, but what it does…it does really damn well. This is one of the sauces I took to work with me to be experienced by the masses. Of all the sauces I’ve brought in recent memory, this one was the runaway winner as far crowd-pleasers go. Used over fish and with eggrolls, there are few sauces that seem to compliment those as well. Consistency-wise, it’s a little bit thin. However, it’ll just give you an excuse to find something to mop the sauce off your plate with after you devour your meal.

Linda’s take

I tried this with a couple of meats and felt that it was missing something. Then, I decided to try it in a rice & pasta dish that I made. Perfect! With saltier foods, this sauce adds the tang and cuts the salt all at the same time leaving you with the perfect flavor you wouldn’t have had without it. I would actually use this to spice up mild salsas, too. Adding sweetness to jalepeno is an ideal combination that would undoubtedly make the most boring salsa into one that everyone would love.

Chipotle Pepper: tomatoes, yellow onion, water, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, lemon juice, distilled vinegar, garlic, sea salt, corn starch, spices

Joe’s take

Any time I see the word BBQ on a hot sauce bottle, my knee-jerk reaction is to worry that it’s like some of those sugar-and-ketchup laced concoctions that are omnipresent in grocery stores. Thankfully, this sauce doen’t even come close to resembling those. Mildly thick and full of chipotles, this sauce is a chipotle-lovers dream. Ever-so-slightly sweet, this sauce is just made for meat of any ilk. Be it chicken, steak, ribs, llama, buffalo, or goat, this sauce could be used as a marinade, but it’s just better slathered right on top. Chipotle is not my fave pepper, but this sauce would be one of the first I’d reach for if I was searching it out.

Linda’s take

I think the use of BBQ on this bottle is a bit misleading. When I see BBQ on something, I expect a much sweeter taste than this sauce delivers. In my book, that’s a good thing. This sauce is fabulous. I’m always on this personal quest for the perfect chipotle sauce because I adore chipotle. I had a favorite, but this really kicked it up a notch and kicked that other one out of the competition. This is definitely a sauce I don’t want our cabinet to be without. This actually means that we’ll have to buy some soon because this bottle is almost gone. Yes…it’s THAT good!

Pepper Fusion: tomatoes, yellow onion, water, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, red habanero peppers, lemon juice, distilled vinegar, garlic, sea salt, spices, corn starch

Joe’s take

The aroma which wafted from the bottle as I opened it was strong tomato and chipotle, and those flavors are the dominant ones as well. Many sauces that fuse more than one pepper tend to favor one over the other, and this one is no exception. I felt the chipotle far outweighed the habanero, but there’s just enough kick to remind you it’s there. It’s about as thick as catsup, but with tasty bits of onion floating in the tomatoey goodness. This one seemed best on Mexican food and on ribs. My enchiladas and tacos were only made better with this sauce.

Linda’s take

Habanero/Chipotle combination sauces are always interesting to try, for us because Joe’s favorite sauces include habanero and mine include chipotle. The usually give us the best of both worlds to different degrees. This one favors my taste over Joe’s since there is that distinct smoke flavor and smell right from opening the bottle. Shortly after that first taste, the hit of hab hits and you realize that it is indeed there. I agree with Joe that this is a Mexican food dream sauce.

Just Damn Good: tomatoes, red habanero peppers, yellow onion, water, lemon juice, distilled vinegar, garlic, sea salt, spices, corn starch

Joe’s take

The name for this sauce is pretty appropriate. In fact, it’s so damn good that I liked it better than any of the rest. While it does give the habanero heat that it worthy of your gastronomic respect, it’s toned down just enough so that you could put this sauce on damn near everything. This sauce balances the tomato and onion very nicely with the habanero, and the consistency gives the “cling to your food” quality that is nothing but a plus in my book. If you include the fact that your face doesn’t pucker due to the vinegar, it’s tough for me to find anything wrong with this sauce. Why would I? I’ve been too busy eating it!!!

Linda’s take

Simple ingredients often make better sauces and this is no exception. This sauce has a great habanero taste and heat without being too overbearing. The consistency is just right in that it’s not too runny and not too thick. Fantastic in chili.

Devil’s Drool: vinegar, red habanero peppers, lemon juice, water, sea salt, garlic, corn starch, spices

Joe’s take

The top of the heat scale for Scotty’s hot sauces, this one is indeed a scorcher. It’s one of the hotter non-extract sauces I’ve tasted recently, and taste is the key word here. This is one uber-hot sauce that tastes really damn good…before your tastebuds go up in smoke. I took this bottle to work with me to try there, and every person who tried it felt the wrath of the habanero. In fact, no one trusted a bottle of hot sauce I brough to work for like a week afterwards…but I digress. Like all Scotty’s sauces, it has a nice consistency and a little goes a long way. I liked it best to spicy up chili and soups, but it can be used on anything you like to put spicy hab sauce on…just do so with care.

Linda’s take

Good God almighty! I think Satan made this himself. This should have one of those, “Do not try this at home, folks” warnings on it. Have I made it perfectly clear how hot this is, now? Right before this realization you have another important realization…this is a damn tasty sauce. Used sparingly, this sauce is very versatile and easily used with all different kinds of food.

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

www.thehotpepper.com

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

Reviews done of seven of Scotty B’s sauces
Just Damn Good review
Berries in Heat review

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

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