This one comes from our buddy, Chuck Evans of Montezuma Brand. He gave me a bottle of his Spicy Red Everyday Pepper Sauce for review when I talked with him at the Weekend of Fire. Chuck mentioned that he wanted to create a sauce that you can use everyday like Tabasco. Nothing extravagant, just plain good. The time has come for it’s review.

Montezuma Spicy Red Everyday Pepper Sauce Ingredients: Ripened Jalapeno, Serrano, or Cayenne Red Chiles, vinegar, garlic, spices, & salt.

There is a few things that make me worried about this sauce. First off I do recognize the area of the populous that likes Tabasco (why they like it I’ll never understand) and thus making a sauce based on the “everyday use” concept of such a style is a good marketing decision. Second, “or Cayenne” is in the ingredients…..how odd. Third, I’m not a fan of really vinegary sauces and this seems to be at least 35% vinegar (if one were to judge by the separation of ingredients inside the bottle). So here goes.

WHOOOOOOOOOOWEEE! The huge flavor of vinegar completely dominates the pallet for the first taste that arrives on the taste buds and it keeps bashing you throughout the rest of the flavors. Next comes that sweet hint of the ripe Jalapenos followed by the familiar flavor of Serranos. Serranos are such an under used pepper which I don’t understand why that is. They contain such a great flavor and have a nice medium heat to boot.

Following that I don’t taste any Cayenne so I guess this is the batch that the “or Cayenne” wasn’t used for. Next comes a little bit of a salt flavor which is then dominated by the garlic. I do detect a slight hint of basil as well.

The heat on this is really non-existent and is more of a vinegar bite than pepper. It tingles slightly wherever it touches but that’s about it. Now, this isn’t necessarily a bad product, if you like the overly vinegar sauces than you’ll probably like this one, but after tasting it and using it, it’s just not my bag.

Taste: 4, Heat: 2