Ever the popular one to have test batches sent to, I have received two from our friend Ol’ Benito. The first one is his attempt at a Louisiana style hot sauce which is named Old Coy Dog. The second is a delicious sounding maple dry rub which is aptly named Vermont Maple Chipotle Rib Rub. Crack up the tongue because here come the samples!

Old Coy Dog Ingredients: Organic Bhut Jolokia, vinegar, organic limeade, organic Habaneros, garlic, Red Bell peppers, organic lime juice.

Had to look up what the heck “limeade” was when I saw it in the ingredients. If you were wondering as well, it’s basically lemonade with limes instead of lemons. The sauce is bright red with the occasional ingredient floating by and very viscous. This is actually one of the only sauces that I left the restrictor cap on. Keeping in mind that I’m not a fan of really vinegary sauces, let’s continue with the flavor run down.

Right off the bat is a huge vinegar bite that then combines with the lime juice and limeade to make a face scrunching tart/sour combo. Up next is the sweetness of the Bell Peppers followed by the fruity flavor of the Habanero. After that there’s a little garlic flavor and the Jolokia comes up on the after taste.

I really hate to say it but there are some major flaws in this one. Its way too sour and that distracts you from the other flavors in the sauce. For a Jolokia and Habanero sauce, it really has a very small heat level. The heat hits in the center of the tongue and doesn’t go past a medium. The sauce is also lacking the key ingredient that tells you this is a sauce by Ol’ Benito; Extra Virgin Olive Oil aka “EVOO” (curse you Rachael Ray!).

Every sauce that Ol’ Benito makes has a theme of perfect use of EVOO and that’s one of the things that makes them stand out. I know it would probably make the sauce a little too thick for the style but I think he could make it work. Overall, I find this sauce needs to go back to the drawing board.

Old Coy Dog; Taste: 3, Heat: 4.1

Maple Chipotle Dry Rub Ingredients: Pure Vermont maple sugar, organic cinnamon, organic ground Chipotle peppers, and organic Chipotle flakes.

Up next is the Vermont Maple Chipotle Rib Rub to which Benito says, “I’m awaiting feedback to go ahead with the ingredient list.” It comes in a nice, flip top jar and sure looks like a dry rub to me!

First up is the taste of Maple then a hint of cinnamon (tastes like Krointje Cinnamon) that builds as time passes. Then is the smokey flavor of Chipotles followed by a small bit of peppercorn. Out of the jar, it is quite tasty although the pepper seeds are way hard. The heat hits the front of the tongue and sits around for a little bit but never exceeds a high end mild heat.

As a dry rub though, it needs some tweaking. I cooked this in and on many a food items in a desperate effort to find a good pairing. It went on venison steaks, Mediterranean casserole (from Hoppin’ Frog brewmaster Fred Karm’s wife), Crawdad and Sausage Gumbo (from Fat Heads Brewery, Famous Passow Pizza, burgers, breakfast burritos. The only thing I found to work was the Mediterranean casserole, the gumbo, and breakfast burritos and only when I threw in 1/4 of the bottle.

The flavors are just not bold enough. Whatever you throw it on covers up the dry rub almost completely. My suggestions are to bump up the maple and the Chipotle, maybe even through some garlic into it. Benito’s on the right track with this one though.

Maple Chipotle; Taste: 6, Heat: 3.748