Well, my fellow Americans, I hope you all had a happy and reasonably safe Independence Day (and for our international readers, I hope it was a good Thursday). One of the great traditions for America’s most national of holidays is barbecue, and that naturally means barbecue sauce. While I made a totally awesome barbecue dish of my own last night, what I’m reviewing tonight looks to be a huge leap above what I cooked up. You may recall my previous recent foray into Pappy’s barbecue sauce, concocted by the Kentucky BourbonQ folks. That stuff was ridiculously hot, and I’ve got a sister sauce tonight that looks like it could be just as dangerous. Join me, then, as we take the Hottest Ride in Town for a spin.
Ingredients:
Tomato Sauce (water, tomato paste, salt), Sugar, Vinegar, Fresh Garlic, Fresh Onion, Chile Pepper, Paprika, Modified Food Starch, Natural Hickor [sic] Flavor, Oil of Capsicum, Kentucky Bourbon (
Yeah, that’s a huge list, and it doesn’t really look too different from the other sauce’s. Actually, near as I can tell, it looks like it is the same list. Man, I wish I’d checked that before taking five minutes to transcribe that whole thing. I’m hoping, then, that this isn’t simply the same sauce rebranded, but that it packs a different concentration of the ingredients to create a different experience.
Appearance:
What can I say? It looks like a barbecue sauce, with the typical reddish-brown hue. Like its sister sauce, it isn’t a terribly thick, molasses-style barbecue sauce, but still looks to be quite the sticky stuff.
Smell and Taste:
Damn, this sauce smells amazing. Hottest Ride in Town immediately brings to mind brisket and ribs, which is an excellent compliment in my book. The initial taste is surprisingly sweet, almost like a honey barbecue sauce, but that sweetness is instantly overrun by searing heat.
Ratings:
FIRE
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FLAVOR
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 |
 |
Although I was a little bit more prepared for this sauce after tackling Pappy’s other outing, that did nothing to forestall or lessen the extreme burn of this sauce. It seems to be a bit sweeter than Moonshine Madness, but no less deserving of that Madness rating. I’m going to give it a Nice for flavor as well. As with the other sauce, this one tastes really good, but whatever pleasant flavor exists takes a backseat to a terrifying level of mouth burn. If you can get past that, then this is one delicious barbecue sauce.
Suggested Uses:
Just be careful with it. Otherwise, enjoy pouring it on all your meats and whatnot.
Final Word:
A lot of sauce labels contain mock-threatening warnings, but this one seriously lives up to its claims. “It pains me to make a BBQ Sauce so stupidly hot that even I can’t eat and that you shouldn’t,” says the creator. That’s incredible. Oh, and please, please, BourbonQ folks, send me more of your products. I still have some tastebuds left!
