Review - Crazy Jerry's Brain Damage Hot Sauce
With its cranial-covered cap and humorous label, Crazy Jerry's Brain Damage Hot Sauce screams "novelty". But is it worth anything beyond a spot on your sauce display shelf?
Ingredients:
Mandarin Oranges, Honey, Mango Fruit, Habanero Peppers, Distilled Vinegar, Water, Garlic, Chipotle Peppers, Sugar, and Spices.
Aroma:
2.5 out of 5. Brain Damage has a redolence similar to a barbecue sauce - a smidgen of sweetness and garlic, but high in vinegar content.
Appearance and Texture:
3 out of 5. This brownish-red fluid is runny and porous but not watery. It's thin enough to splash on most food items, but thick enough to stick. In it are flecks of chile seeds, finely pureed shreds of peppers and fruit, and the smallest remnants of spices.
Taste Straight Up:
2.5 out 5. One lick off my fingertip made me surprised by two things - one, how different this tasted in contrast to how it smelled; and two, I didn't find it very sweet even though it contains expectedly sweet ingredients like oranges, mango, honey, and sugar. I found no fruit flavor to speak of. There exists a tiny, noticeable tinge of sweetness, for the most part it's dominated by a strong, tart, and almost bitter blend of vinegar and habaneros. The spicy and smoky attributes of chipotles help round out the sauce a bit.
The flavor seemed like a weird experiment in someone's kitchen, where three or four preexisting sauces were gathered and combined into one "frankensauce". It was one part BBQ sauce, two parts chipotle sauce, three parts habanero sauce, and four parts vinegar. The overall flavor was not bad, but something just didn't seem "right" with it all. The fusion of tastes basically were not harmonious.
Crazy Jerry's Brain Damage Hot Sauce does manage to creep above the level of a "novelty" sauce, but only barely.
Taste on Food:
I gave a hamburger a good dose of Brain Damage sauce. It didn't ruin the taste, but it didn't provide much in a positive sense, either. Again, that niggling tart/bitterness and hit-and-miss mish-mash of flavors prevented this from being a good complimentary sauce.
Suggested Uses:
Not many, but perhaps foods that offer a abundant variety of tastes and ingredients (for instance, salads, tacos or nachos with the works) might be decent with Brain Damage on it. Simple dishes with one dominant taste like chicken wings or eggs would do poorly with the sauce in my humble estimation.
Heat:
3 out of 5. This packed quite a punch, and if you're new to hot sauces it's quite a little heat blast that develops. Although for the experienced chilehead, it's nothing that would blow you away. It's typical of a habanero-based condiment.
Label and Bottle:
4 out of 5. While it's not as cool as a Blair's sauce with a "melted" cap or an attached skull keychain, the pink plastic brain is a fun touch. The label is typical of a novelty hot sauce with wacky fonts and a goofy picture.
Overall:
If you're ever in a mood or a condition where flavor doesn't matter much and you just want to go for some quick heat (like when you're drunk and the inebriation has killed your taste buds), then Crazy Jerry's Brain Damage can fit the bill. If you plan to never open the bottle and keep it just as a collector's item, it might be worth it, too. The prices online for a 5 oz. bottle can range from $5.95 to $7.95 plus shipping costs. Do a Google search and just about every hot sauce store on the web offers this.
Related Articles:
Spicy Food Reviews - Hot Sauce Reviews, Hot Snacks, Hot Wings, Seasonings, BBQ Sauces, Condiments, and More
Comments
2009-05-17 18:56:21
2010-01-19 09:58:23
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