Review - Buddha Bill's Hot Sauces
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Bill and Jake Lawrence are a couple of brothers based out of Cincinnati, Ohio who are taking a stab at the fiery foods biz with some of their own pepper-based sauces (they've also talked about creating salsas and marinades as well). They've sent me five unique-sounding sauces they've produced - Ginger Apricot Fire Sauce, Tequila Lime Hot Sauce, Pumpkin Harvest Hot Sauce, Hickory Roasted Pepper Sauce, and Peach Habanero Hot Sauce - to get my humble opinion on them.
Ginger Apricot Fire Sauce
Ingredients:
Orange habanero peppers, apricots, apple cider vinegar, water, ginger, onion, salt
I thought it had a great texture and look. Ginger Apricot Fire Sauce boasts a medium-thin consistency with a slightly seedy and pulpy feel and look. Both the scent and the initial taste carried a high-end tartness, although the aroma possessed a tinge of exotic sweetness (thanks to the ginger) while the flavor on the tongue did not. A decent-sized lick of this revealed a nice apricot presence that soon give away to virtually all vinegar and chocolate habaneros, and the aftertaste was far too bitter. While the heat is terrific, the overall flavor isn't cohesive and balanced enough to recommend...yet. I'll give you a final verdict after using it with food below.
Heat: 3/5
Initial Taste: 2/5
Tequila Lime Hot Sauce
Ingredients:
Jalapeno peppers, vinegar, water, coconut, sugar, limes, tequila, cilantro, black pepper, salt
This product smelled about what you would expect - jalapeno-like, grassy, with an edge of tartness. If you dig the look of green sauces, Tequila Lime won't fail to disappoint with an exciting medium texture laced with oodles of specks of chiles and flakes of black pepper. The taste is mighty fine too, with a jumpin' blend of fresh lime, the right amount of black pepper, a smidgen of cilantro and tart jalapenos. The heat was low for me as an experienced chilehead, so this might register at a 1.5/5 for the novice hot sauce freaks out there.
Buddha Bill's has created is a sweet and peppery sauce that screams to be placed on Mexican, seafood and chicken. I can't wait to put this one through its paces.
Heat: 1.5/5
Initial Taste: 4/5
Pumpkin Harvest Hot Sauce
This seasonal sauce (it's only sold by Buddha Bill's in the Fall) is one of those interesting little concoctions that it perhaps worth a try once but doesn't offer anything substantial to get any real mileage out of it. The aroma is a classic pumpkin spice amalgamation of deft cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger that suggested a fruity, sweet condiment. I wasn't a huge fan of the watery consistency. A spoonful of this in my mouth displayed a tingly sweetness and the expected pumpkin spice push following afterwards. A mild habanero rush came next on my tongue with a medium-high burn on the tail end. All in all nice, but never rises above pedestrian.
Heat: 2/5
Initial Taste: 2.5/5
Hickory Roasted Pepper Sauce
Ingredients:
Cayenne and jalapeno peppers, vinegar, water, onion, garlic, spices
Wow! One whiff of the Hickory Roasted Pepper Sauce and you thought you were in a factory that produced nothing but tons of smoked sausage. The hickory was so strong that you could almost sense some "meatiness" in it. Good appearance and thick pourability with this liquid's bright orange visage and chunky viscosity. Unfortunately, a naked taste matched the aroma - too much smoky flavor, with a light, sweet, red pepper back-end.
Heat: 1/5
Initial Taste: 2/5
Peach Habanero Hot Sauce
Ingredients:
Peaches, orange habanero peppers, apple cider vinegar, water, garlic, orange juice, brown sugar, salt
This one was the least surprising of the bunch, because you get exactly what the name of the sauce promises. The off-orange color is okay but I loved the largely smooth, medium-thick consistency. Both the aroma and the flavor are what you'd expect - peachy, fruity, a big hint of habs, with a minor, twangy punch via the vinegar. Heat fans who are in the mood for a table sauce-level burn will find this one very doable.
Heat: 3/5
Initial Taste: 3/5
On Food
Left to right: Ginger Apricot Fire Sauce, Tequila Lime Hot Sauce, Pumpkin Harvest Hot Sauce, Peach Habanero Hot Sauce and Hickory Roasted Pepper Sauce
Here's where I got to see if any of my first impressions were wrong. The first litmus test was a uniform one, and that was with grilled chicken pieces. None of the bird was marinaded in any of the hot sauces; they were used only as finishing sauces.
I thought the Ginger Apricot Fire Sauce provided a marginally flavorful edge. While it had some pizzazz and brought out high end notes, I thought it really needed some sweetness and savoriness to round out the taste.
Next up was the Tequila Lime Hot Sauce. Mmmmm...fantastic! Buddha Bill's really has struck upon a good recipe, folks. I subsequently tried this as a marinade for other chicken, plus used it on beef soft tacos and on shrimp. With each application, it burst with flavor, sweetness, and robustness.
The dark horse in these taste tests, Pumpkin Harvest Hot Sauce, failed to thrill me. I felt it was too flat and uninspiring to recommend as a sauce that you would use with any regularity.
I was a bit worried about the Hickory Roasted Pepper Sauce. Earlier I felt that it was way too smoky by itself, but thankfully it was far better on chicken. The heavy hickory taste melted in with the flavor of the meat, and more tomes from chile peppers and garlic were brought towards the forefront. I could imagine this being very compatible with a variety of meats, including carne asada, pork, and even (yes) smoked sausage.
Finally we come to the Peach Habanero Hot Sauce. Very, very admirable stuff here. I would reckon that this would work better as an all-purpose sauce than any of the other four Buddha Bill's products I'm reviewing. It certainly wouldn't go well with everything you can muster up in your kitchen, but the list of applications Peach Habanero Hot Sauce would be quite lengthy. In summary, I really liked it!
Labeling: All bottles have a simple round label sticker on the front, and a slender rectangular one with the nutrition facts nd ingredients on the back. While the front labels are simplistic, I found it a bit on the boring side. If I were to see this on a supermarket or specialty store shelf, I don't know if I would pick up a bottle based on the packaging alone. I would give all of these a 2.5 out of 5 on labeling.
Final Verdicts:
Ginger Apricot Fire Sauce - 
Tequila Lime Hot Sauce - 
Pumpkin Harvest Hot Sauce - 
Hickory Roasted Pepper Sauce - 
Peach Habanero Hot Sauce -
You can find these sauces at the official Buddha Bill's website, available for $6.00 each plus shipping.
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