I remembered reading another review of this hot sauce online a couple of months ago and wished that I had had some of my own to try and then…WHAMMO! Todd Ross of Bisummo sends us a request to taste their hot sauce for ourselves. It was as though he was reading our minds. Thanks for using your Jedi mind powers for the forces of good, Todd. Soon thereafter, a couple of bottles of their Ass Murdering Hot Sauce showed up on our doorstep and I wasted very little time in cracking open the bottle and pouring over and in just about everything except breakfast cereal.

There’s a lot of “ass” hot sauces out there these days. You’ve probably seen them. Ass in the Tub. Baboon Ass. Neal’s Hairy Ass. Ass Kickin. Big Daddy’s Ass Burn. Ass Blaster. Flaming Coon Ass. Ass Reaper. Smack My Ass and Call Me Sally. The list goes on and on.

Face it, folks…that’s a lot of ass. Despite the fact that this sauce also highlights the “ass” (it’s a donkey…get it?), this sauce is one of a kind. I am also glad to I can say that that is a good thing. This sauce doesn’t reinvent the wheel with its ingredients, but it has an impressive list of good stuff.

Ingredients: lime juice (lime juice from concentrate, sodium benzoate, lime oil, sodium metabisulfite), jalapeno peppers, serrano peppers, dijon mustard (water, vinegar, mustard seed, salt, white wine, fruit pectin, citric acid, tartaric acid, sugar, spice), garlic, habanero peppers, vinegar, molasses, olive oil, turmeric

Nearly flawless in regards to being all-natural. I love sauces that have a mustard base, so this sauce had that going for it before I ever opened the bottle. Habaneros, serranos, and jalapenos are a great mix of peppers to use in a sauce. Thumbs up!

The Dijon Mustard base of this sauce evokes a unique and extremely delicious experience for the brave individuals that dare to venture past the slow, gradually intensifying burn of the Habanero, Serrano and Jalapeno Peppers.

First impression: Great label graphics on a flask-shaped bottle. Sometimes, sauce makers will use fancy labels to disguise a sub-standard sauce…but the sauce (at least by aroma) seems to be top-notch. I can say that the color and appearance lack a certain aesthetic appeal, but the Dijon mustard aroma and nice thick consistency makes up for that to me. This sauce is fairly thick, and took a few good shakes to dislodge some tasty globs of sauce from within.

Taste: This sauce is a little gritty in a way, perhaps a little chunky with pepper seeds. My first thought in tasting out of the jar was the lime and garlic overtones were pretty strong, and the initial pepper taste seems very jalapeno-ish to me. The taste is a delightfully evolving experience, both from the perspective of heat and taste. This sauce tasted a little different to me each time I tried it, but I really dug the melange of peppers in this sauce. Jalapeno-bold, serrano-touched, and habanero-heat really is an apt summation of the pepper taste. The heat, though, is something else. After a few bites of this, I was thinking this sauce wasn’t all that hot. Perhaps not ass murdering…perhaps ass maiming was more like it.

Then my palate reached critical mass.

Given enough of this hot sauce, the heat will (and does) catch up with you. At more than one meal, I found myself sucking a little wind in between bites. The initial heat I would call modest, perhaps 6/10 or so. However, it takes relatively little extra consumption to really torque that heat up on your taste buds. I thought the heat reached a good, solid 8.5/10 or so with my meals, and I tried this on a lot of foods. This sauce performed admirably either poured over food, like a marinade or condiment, or mixed into foods like with soups/stews. You wouldn’t think a mustard-based sauce would be good in chili, but this one sure is. I particularly liked this sauce with chicken, and used it smeared thickly over broiled chicken that was baked into the meat. Delectable.

Overall recommendation: I seldom froth compliments over sauces like I am for this sauce, but this sauce has quickly reached the level of a new fave for me. I think the sauce could have used a little less turmeric in it, since the yellow-ness of the sauce clung to my fingers more than expected, but that’s the extent of the constructive criticism I could offer. If you like mustard-based hot sauces, you will adore this sauce. Thick, tasty, and pretty darn hot, it has enough utility to go with a variety of foods. Quite simply, I would buy this sauce if I ever saw it sold locally. Give it a try and see for yourself. Enjoy!