We are constantly striving to refine the process by which we do product reviews, both for the benefit of the manufacturers who submit products and for the sake of our writers who agree to do them. We have created an official policy which will be in place as our guidelines that any manufacturer can review prior to submitting a product, or products, for review. By having this in place, we hope to minimize any misconceptions, misunderstandings, or hard feelings created by our ever-evolving review process.
The link to this post is found on our far right sidebar in the “Services Offered” section. We encourage anyone who has submitted products to us for review, or is considering doing so, to read and familiarize yourself with those prior to us beginning any reviews.
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This is an excellent idea guys, and very fair. Y’all have been doin’ a fantastic job of fair and balanced reviewing. Keep it up!
Cap’n
Comment fired by Cap'n Bones — August 14, 2008- 8:38 am
Just read it over, nice work….bright rectangle though….did not improve my hangover….hehe
Comment fired by Jonathan Passcow — August 14, 2008- 9:49 am
You been in that jar again Jon? Or PBR?
Comment fired by DK — August 14, 2008- 8:15 pm
So when does a sauce maker figure it’s “too long”? Not for this site but I have bottles of my sauce at another place for going on 3 months with no word. Starting to thing I got conned.
Comment fired by bentalphanerd — August 15, 2008- 3:29 am
Bent,
Much as we’ve spelled it out, there probably is only “too long” in the eyes of the person or manufacturer that submitted it. That’s why we put the disclaimer there, so anyone can ask at anytime what’s up with the review process. I can tell you that we ourselves have at least 30+ things on our shelf at home that are slated for review at any given time, which makes it quite a juggling act to keep everybody happy on timing along if nothing else. What puts us more easily behind is when we get tons o’ stuff from one manufacturer, as we don’t want to be reviewing one set of products for an extended period of time.
At any rate, you should be able to ask what’s up at the other site and get a halfway decent answer about it. 3 months is a fairly good clip of time, but we’ve had some stuff here longer than that so we’re not the ones to throw stones.
Comment fired by Joe & Linda — August 15, 2008- 5:18 am
cool, yeah i understand that you get busy & things back-up. And yeah, you even have a life too
More than happy with the feedback from here. Keep up the good work
Comment fired by bentalphanerd — August 15, 2008- 5:35 am
Hey Bent, I know some times it is a matter of products being sent in for review and then they are sent out to reviewers. We have had a few reviews done, and for the most part it is about a 6 month process. Beleive me, I know how long that can seem to be.
Comment fired by Sam — August 15, 2008- 12:35 pm
Sam - I know what you’re saying & others here & let me point out again that I’m in no way directing my comments at this site.
My sauce was sent directly to each reviewer (I offered a cheaper alternative to send it all to one place for distribution, but they talked me out of it).
The annoying part is that they wanted it right then, there was no waiting because they had a backlog…they pretty much begged me to send it immediately . As a home-sauce maker of very small batches it was a large chunk.
I’ve done 3 more batches & an advanced recipe since then & still no word. I check their site daily - I mean I’d like to add another review to the scrapbook that I take to kitchens as I hope to go pro (like everyone says I should do).
On their site I see what they do on w/ends, sauces made by their friends ….
…I can’t help but wonder if I got gipped outta 3 bottles of very popular product.
Yet, I am not completely impotent, they will get no more products from this country’s sauce makers until something is written.
I dare say it won’t be favorable now {they will read this}. So be it. There’s enough good press & happy customers.
I hope they enjoyed it.
Comment fired by bentalphanerd — August 29, 2008- 9:10 am
Bent,
If you’re directing your comments at my site, Taste The Fear, then shoot me an email with your concerns. I’m not sure who you are referring to when you say “they”, and I have no idea what you have been promised. I do have a multi-review for your product in the process of being edited, by me. Reviewers have done their part, and the review is in my hands. It will be published in the order that I have planned. I’m not sure what you’ve been told, as you and I have never had a discussion on this matter. If you are not directing your comments towards my site, then consider yourself updated on the progress of the review, and any further comments, concerns, questions, please feel free to contact ME, and we can get this handled professionally the way it should be.
TC
admin “at” tastethefear.com
Comment fired by Cap'n Bones — August 29, 2008- 12:08 pm
Bent, sometime in the near future we should talk. I would like to try some of your sauce. What would it cost to get a sample? I could review it for another blog. The thing is as a manufacturer I like people to know up front that I am in the business. I feel my reviews are fair and unbiased, however I will let you decide. My screen name is the same on all sites so they are easy to look up. I have been curious about your sauce ever since reading the ingredient list and would love to prepare a meal with it. Any chance you will be able to make it to any shows in the U.S. ?
To quote Jim Campbell, “It is easy to make a small fortune in the hot sauce biz, all you have to do is start with a large fortune”.
It sounds like you have a great product in development. Stick with it, have fun, and don’t get discouraged. It takes time and money to make and promote a brand. We have been at it for more than a few years and I still don’t think we break even, however I love it and work hard at my day job to make it happen.
Comment fired by Sam — August 29, 2008- 3:29 pm
I like that quote by Jim very true…lol
Comment fired by Mick Stillmanz — August 29, 2008- 5:02 pm
Bent, Stillmanz, and Hippy Seed company are the only sauces I’ve tried out of Australia…and quite frankly, they were all interesting and tasty….. if you ever get a chance to try it, Sam, you are going to be amazed.
God, I want to visit Australia and eat peppers with those guys.
Comment fired by Jonathan Passow — August 29, 2008- 9:25 pm
Passow, DON”T EVER use the word “Interesting” in the presence of a sauce maker. It’s a nice way of saying I don’t like it! Even worse is “That’s Nice”
Comment fired by CaJohn — August 29, 2008- 11:12 pm
lol
Cajohns spot on there.
Other words that make me nervious..
tart
acidic
bitter
Unique (not always but sometimes)
unusual… especially followed by texture
strange
clingy
would go reallly well with…(some strange disgusting thing like haggis not the australian all though he can be fairly unpaletable)
god theres a few phrases.. feel free to add.
beer oclock here sorry lol
Mick
Comment fired by Mick Stillmanz — August 30, 2008- 8:44 am
Don’t forget “Tastes like ass”.
Comment fired by DK — August 30, 2008- 11:01 am
Another highly recommended Aussie sauce: Disaster Bay’s Chipotle. Cool looking bottle too
Not sure what the secret is to Australia yet- could be that it’s new enough (sauce making) that not everyone and their brother is in the biz yet.
Hot sauce on Haggis? Mostly I see alcohol on Haggis
Comment fired by Jim-StepUpforCharity.org — August 30, 2008- 11:16 am
Re: alcohol on Haggis
Oops- forgot to add: That’s of course, assuming you boys from up north view VB as proper alcohol
Comment fired by Jim-StepUpforCharity.org — August 30, 2008- 11:19 am
“Passow, DON”T EVER use the word “Interesting” in the presence of a sauce maker. It’s a nice way of saying I don’t like it! Even worse is “That’s Nice””
But…but….but they are interesting! Ok, fine, they are fantastically intreqing. There, I have both changed my previous statement and proven I can’t spell all in one step…lol
Hey, CaJohn, did you get my email about the charity idea?
Comment fired by Jonathan Passow — August 30, 2008- 2:07 pm
Hey Jon, let’s go grab a beer!
Comment fired by Cape Fear Pepper Company — August 30, 2008- 3:26 pm
“Hey, CaJohn, did you get my email about the charity idea?”
I have heard of Passing the buck, but Pass the Ow?
No, you can’t have a charity for po’ pinkie-finger lifting beer drinkers.
Comment fired by Buddah — August 30, 2008- 3:28 pm
O.K all sorted
*Group Hug*
…put your pants back on Jon lol
CaJohn…do you get any emails?..I’ve been trying to buy some of your sauce for a while.
Sam: shoot me an email: contact “at” alphanerdz “dot” com
words that make me nervous..
“I like tobasco”
Comment fired by bentalphanerd — August 30, 2008- 8:40 pm
We have a disaster going on with our email through the site. It’s been going on for some time. I’ll have my web guy try to mine some more, as I haven’t got either of yours. I’m in New Mexico and then going to ZestFest so I won’t be back until after ZF. I’m being hijacked by spammers in Russia too.
Comment fired by CaJohn — August 30, 2008- 10:18 pm
Hijacked by ruski spammers!…thats like a confirmation of geek nobility…congrats you’re getting noticed
- my nerd advice would be to contact your web-host & put it to them to update their filters. Run an adware scan over all your comps… Also remove any solid email addys from your site {using xxx’@'yyyy’.com’ is just asking for trouble}.
In the meantime grab a free hotmail account so I can send you some $ for some sauce
My bottle of ‘10′ has passed its ‘use by’ now but it traveled a few thousand east coast miles in my esky & set a benchmark of balance for heat, flavor & quality we all have respect for here.
Hell, when you gonna do a tour?
Comment fired by bentalphanerd — August 31, 2008- 1:06 am
CaJohn- Gustav is making me *seriously* reconsider plans for Zest Fest. Most models (yes, I know the accuracy of such stuff) show it parking on Dallas for that weekend. Also means I’ll be driving through a large chunk of it no matter where it goes. I’ll look again late tomorrow & start to decide.
Comment fired by Jim-StepUpforCharity.org — August 31, 2008- 7:59 am
I think Gustav is behind the CaJohn Ruskie Invasion. Be careful Jim.
Comment fired by Buddah — August 31, 2008- 8:10 am
“We have a disaster going on with our email through the site. It’s been going on for some time. I’ll have my web guy try to mine some more, as I haven’t got either of yours. I’m in New Mexico and then going to ZestFest so I won’t be back until after ZF. I’m being hijacked by spammers in Russia too.”
Oh! That would explain it. When you get back, shoot me an alternate addy. Have fun at ZestFest!
Comment fired by Jonathan Passow — August 31, 2008- 8:25 am
Jim, check out this blog. VERY good info for predicting storms.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=1053&tstamp=200808
Comment fired by Cape Fear Pepper Company — August 31, 2008- 1:47 pm
Weather looks great for the weekend. Looks like it will be blown over buy then.
Comment fired by Bret — September 1, 2008- 3:20 pm