Continuing my series on Scotty B’s Hot Sauces is one of his XXX Hot sauces, Just Damn Good Habanero Hot Sauce. Hmmm, “Just Damn Good” you say…we’ll see about that.

Ingredients: Tomatoes, Red Habanero peppers, yellow onion, water, lemon juice, distilled vinegar, garlic, sea salt, corn starch, spices.

Like the last review, right off the bat I have to comment on the great label that is attached to the bottle. The red gradient in the background compliments the color of the sauce and the little smilie face giving me the thumbs up is just too damn cute. Simple, to the point, and eye catching.

This sauce is primarily dominated by the tomatoes. Not to the point of his Loco Gringo sauce (what I termed as a “spaghetti sauce”), but enough that it slightly overpowers the fruity habanero taste. Another flavor that really sticks out is the yellow onion. The sweetness of the onion combines with the tomatoes and Habaneros which really make a winning trio of flavors. This causes it to be perfect for just about anything you use it on.

One thing I did notice (especially if you consume this sauce warm) is that the lemon juice tends to accent the vinegar a little too much. Both flavors kind of jump out at you and grab the sides of your mouth. It’s not unpleasant, but just enough to make you sit up a little straighter in your seat. Coming in last on the palate is the garlic, which always has the nice tendency of lingering in the background, and then there’s the sea salt. I’m not much of a salt fan, but Scotty B used just the right amount to bring out the rest of the flavors without the salt jumping out at you.

While the bottle says “XXX Hot”, I would have to disagree. It’s probably along the lines of “X Hot”. Don’t get me wrong, it is hot (for god’s sake, how can it not be hot? It’s got Habaneros as the second ingredient), but after consuming a lot I still didn’t reach for something to cool me down. The sauce did have me sweating a little and doing the air suck so I don’t recommend it for light weights.

All in all, this really is “Just Damn Good”. I still haven’t found anything that this sauces does not pair well with, and I’m almost out of the 12 ounce bottle that Scotty sent me. The best use I found for it is on white pizzas. Since white pizzas don’t have tomato sauce (it’s not American pizza if it doesn’t have tomato sauce) this sauce adds that nice tomato flavor and the bonus of heat to balance things out.

Taste: 7, Heat: 7

RSS feed for comments on this post.