Our inaugural Featured Retailer post is on behalf of Cosmic Chile, a great online retailer that hails out of the great state of Montana. Eric Vinje (pictured below) is the grand poobah of Cosmic Chile, and he has been a great supporter of our blog since the very beginning. Cosmic Chile offers a wide, eclectic collection of “Hot Sauces, Salsas, BBQ Sauces & More!”

Eric was gracious enough to share some information about himself, his business, and the truth behind “sex and chiles”….

Tell us a little about your startup of this business, your company name, and why hot & spicy foods?

Well, Cosmic Chile originally came into being because I ate too many fried chicken wings. Doc said I had to start eating better so I began with my wife’s rabbit food. After about half a day of that, I started slathering hot sauce on everything until it was unrecognizable. And so a love of hot was born and because I’m not much of a cook I thought I could start selling the stuff so that I would have an excuse to keep buying it in such large quantities. Why the name? Well I was out running (another thing I was sternly told had to happen) trying to think of a name for the business. I wanted it to be out of this world, something cosmic, with chilies in it. Thus Cosmic Chile.

Which of your products do you like & use the most, and why?

I keep a bottle of Marie Sharps Fiery Hot under my desk. This stuff goes on just about every meal I eat, including breakfast. Lotties Traditional is great, and any of the Jerk sauces. There’s nothing quite like Jerk.

In a wide world of online retailers of hot & spicy food, what separates you from the competition?

Well first of all we have a pretty amazing selection, a little over three hundred different products. We have tons of recipes and articles on our site (sex and chilies is a real eye opener) and GREAT customer service. We really care about what we do and are always glad to talk to people with the same passion.

For those people who are looking for something a little different, or left-of-center, to try, what would you recommend and why?

Well the new trend is to be as hot as possible with a total disregard for flavor. Now this breeds some new and weird things, but that doesn’t mean they’re any good. If you want something different read labels. Like “Crazy Charley Cajun BBQ.” That’s got brewed coffee as the first ingredient. Or the “Mango Coconut Hot Sauce” guess what’s in that? Their labels aren’t as snazzy as some of their more high profile competitors but marketing and quality don’t necessarily go hand in hand.

Any plans to expand what you do?

Well the short answer is not really. The long answer is that we got a niche here and we really like it. I’m always looking for a few new products, but we want to keep our specialization so we keep our quality. Yessiree hot and spicy and full of flavor keeps us happy as raccoons in a garbage can!

In addition to selling a wide variety of commercially-available well-known brands, Cosmic Chile also has a few sauces of their very own making, such as:

Habanero pepper sauce that promises “To boldly go where no tastebud has gone before” .

Great-looking cayenne sauce that has been an award-winner in the past. Doesn’t everyone need a bottle of hot sauce that has a dog smokin’ a cigar on it?

You can find the fine folks at Cosmic Chile on the web at http://www.cosmicchile.com/ When you go there, don’t forget to tell Eric that Joe & Linda sent ya….

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