We’re back with the fan favorite – taking a company’s hot sauce and putting them to the test! It’s a good way to bring friends together, cook up some grub, and try out some hot sauces. On this particular day, it was pretty damn cold – so some hot sauce was more than welcoming. This week – we’re giving the fine folks over at Grand Traverse Sauce Company the spotlight. Let’s go.
My father gifted me this box and it was a perfect feature for a 4N6BBQ Presents post. This particular box came with a jalapeno/cherry drink mixer that did not get splashed on a chicken wing, but we’re giving all seven our usual chicken wing test. As I do, I take the sauces back and give them a second shot, knowing full well not every hot sauce is meant for just a chicken wing.
But the wings is where we start, and it’ll likely be always where we start because our group loves a chicken wing.
We’re doing a literal naked chicken wing over a propane grill for this one. We grabbed the wings on the way to our buddy’s place and just cut ’em and fired ’em up. After it was said and done, the contenders entered the ring.
Text in purple is wording directly from GTSauceCo. I’ll then sum up my opinions and give you the notes as I/we were eating them.
Kickstand: Red Fresno Pepper Hot Sauce – Made with fresh roasted fresno peppers this sauce is smoky and hot with a little bit of sweet. Perfect for any time of the day but Kickstand shines on eggs, chips, and tacos. Kickstand is salt free, no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. gluten free, vegan
We all really enjoyed this one a lot. The consistency was spot on for a good sauce, and the flavor was present and didn’t overdo it all. I personally like a more fiery sauce, but would have no objection using this on anything.
Group test opinion (Wing): Good flavor, mild, not overpowering
The Nugget: Light, easy going sauce.
DD214: Serrano/Habanero Dill Hot Sauce – This sauce tastes like freedom. DD214 is a Serrano/habanero and dill sauce. Think of this as a spicy pickle only AMAZING! DD214 is the form when you get when you separate from the military. This sauce is our nod to the veteran community and the taste of freedom. DD214 is great on burgers, turkey clubs, tuna salad, fries, hot dogs, mixed into a potato salad.
I do love a peculiar entry in the field. This one was something. The dill far outweighed the hot/spicy, and I think if the roles were reversed, it would’ve been a more welcome addition. We gave this about a “good/fair” rating.. largely because the other sauces flexed hard.
Group test opinion (Wing): Strong dill, mild on heat.. okay. Weird
Nug: Heavy on dill, light on heat and other flavors
Taco: Definitely not a favorite.
Red Hot Griff: Cayenne/Jalapeno Hot Sauce – The cayenne based hot sauce has roasted jalapeños, onions and garlic to provide a great even flavor and heat to any meal, without over powering the flavor of your food. We love Red Hot Griff on potatoes, eggs, chicken wings, nachos, macaroni and cheese and everything in between. This sauce pairs nicely with a sweeter wine like a Riesling or a light beer like a Corona.Â
No reason not to have this sauce on hand at all times. Everything popped with this one. I can’t recommend this sauce enough and don’t think I’d change a thing. I like my hot sauces hotter, but I wouldn’t tinker with this recipe one bit for as good as this flavor/heat combination worked. Excellent sauce!!
Group opinion (Wing): Awesome, basic everyday, good, thick
The Nugget: Great cayenne sauce. Not too hot, packed with flavor
Girl Boss: Habanero/Pineapple Hot Sauce – This pineapple habanero sauce is sweet but packs the heat. This sauce starts off with a sweet citrus taste and finishes with a habanero kick. This sauce has been a fan favorite on grilled chicken, fish, rice and tacos. We have also enjoyed this as a dip with pretzels. With its citrus flavor this would be a great sauce to spice up asparagus or other roasted vegetables. The sauce was inspired by a lot of great women in our lives. When we were developing our sauces we had several women interested in sampling them. We realized that most hot sauces, especially the hottest sauces are marketed to men. Yet, there are lots of women that like hot sauce. Like a true girl boss, this sauce can handle it all. The sauce pairs well with margaritas.
A little known ForensicBBQ fact, unless you’re in my close circle.. I don’t usually like the sweet/heat combo of sauces. This probably began when everything was about mango habanero. Habanero is one of my favorite flavors, and I don’t like adding fruit to it.
However.
I was surprised with this one. Similar to the DD214 where the flavor was stronger than the heat, it worked better with this one than the dill. I actually found this one as a good flavor compliment versus a hot sauce and made the dish fresh. Not an every day go-to for me, but I was surprised I liked the sweet-heat. Nicely done!
Group opinion (Wing): Strong pineapple, heat. Flavor disappears fast.
The Nugget: Weaker than castaway. Still good spice, not as much as castaway. Lesser flavor
The Taco: Refreshing taste, complimentary.
Castaway: Habanero/Citrus Hot Sauce – Awesome on shrimp! Also great on chicken and seafood! Our other favorite is mixing it in quinoa or rice as a spicy side.
As I said, fruity hot isn’t my vibe. Or I should say, has never been my vibe. Both this and Girl Boss has me peeking around the corner, I’m just not ready to turn it yet. But I really enjoyed it. My complaint was I would’ve liked a thicker consistency with it, to really mouth-feel that flavor. But again, kudos GTSauceCo.. you got me swinging towards a sweet heat.
Group opinion (Wing): Strong heat, with a 7-up vibe. Decent.
Nug: Good for fruity hot. Good spice. Thin – would want thicker.
The Siren: Cayenne/Habanero Hot Sauce – The Siren is a smoky, cayenne and habanero sauce that packs a kick. It starts off smoky and balanced with a slight cayenne kick and finishes with habanero. This sauce is a favorite on fajitas, hamburgers, potatoes, eggs, pizza, roasted vegetables and rice. Because of the habanero, we recommend a sweet wine or beer with a higher alcohol content. This sauce was inspired by our travels in Europe, we took a river cruise on the Rhine and heard of the tales of Lorelei, who, depending who you ask is a siren, a nymph or a mermaid whose beauty and song would distract fishermen and captains and cause them to sink their ships in the Rhein River. This sauce is addictive, it’s hot, it’s good on everything and before you know it you are hooked. We don’t suggest sailing while eating the Siren….ya know, just in case.Â
We have our winner. We were all blown away with this one. When we were reading about them prior to testing, I was looking most forward to the DD214 Dill sauce and this one. I saw cayenne & habenero.. with the addition of smoke, and I mentally set the bar high. You better nail this one putting 3 of my loves in one sauce. And you did. Visit their site and buy one. Hell, here’s the link to the 64oz bottle and enjoy 🙂
Group opinion (Wing): Best tasting. Packed with flavor, good heat. Strong flavor.
Nugget: Medium heat, best overall. Robust Flavor.
Taco: Better on chicken, too strong a flavor for the taco.
For the Love of Bees: Chili Pepper Infused Honey – We infuse chili peppers into our honey to create a syrupy sauce that can be used on almost anything. Do we have to say….Corn Bread!! We love this sweet sticky heat on biscuits, chicken and waffles, crab rangoons, and one our secrets fried chicken. For the daring…try this in a hot toddy or any whisky drink that uses simple syrup!
We actually didn’t have enough wings to go around for an appropriate taster on this one, so what I tried wasn’t enough to give you a proper review. I still have the jar, so maybe you’ll see it pop up on a future post, but I wanted to at least tell you about it! I can agree with their write-up, I would love to try it on a corn bread or chicken and waffles, sounds delicious!
Thank you so much to the Grand Traverse Sauce Co! Visit them over at https://gtsauceco.com/ and enjoy that small batch, local small business love-in-a-jar. I can’t wait to give the OTHER sauce that didn’t make it in the sampler.. Envy. Jalapeno/Poblano sounds oh so good. I do love my verde sauces.
Do you know a small business hot sauce company that we can feature here? E-Mail us at info@forensicbbq.com and we’d love to support them and give them a try!