Dave's Cool Cayenne Pepper Hot Sauce Review

Company - Dave's Gourmet Inc.

Online Order - No

Ingredients -
Water, red chiles, Salt, Cane Vinegar, Xanthan Gum, onions, garlic

Packaging / Labeling
The label is fairly attractive, and in the "Dave's Family" of product labels, alongside their Insanity Sauces, etc. Graphically it's quite laid back and won't offend those of a sensitive nature, hence perfectly acceptable for mainstreet grocery stores etc.

Aroma -
I really don't care much for the aroma of this sauce. There's the obvious odor of the cane vinegar bit it brings with it an underlying musty smell that's hard to pinpoint. Certainly the pepper and garlic aromas are identifiable but there's some other lingering component that isn't pleasant on the nose.

Consistency -
The Dave's Cool Cayenne Pepper Hot Sauce has a very loose and thin consistency. It's really just a few notches up from water in its consistency and has very little pulp or solid particle matter in the sauce. It really doesn't have sufficient body to utilize it as a dressing on smaller finger foods for example. If you enjoy adding hot sauce to your cheese and crackers, as I do, then it's going to be a fairly messy affair with this offering from Dave's.

Color -
The aesthetics of this hot sauce are quite awful in my opinion. The color is a washed-out murky brown color, not at all suggesting of fresh red chiles, as described on the label ingredients. In fact the color had me searching the bottle for the expiration date, which oddly enough was not present. But I bought this a couple days ago from a high turnover grocery store so I'm pretty certain it's well within it's use-by period.

Taste and Heat
The taste of this hot sauce is a little off the beaten track, to say the least. It has a fairly sour flavor and an acidic bite which isn't really pleasant when consumed neat from the bottle. The acidity causes some mouth pucker but also bites and burns a little in the back of the throat, causing you to want to clear your throat, not from the heat but from the acrid spice sensation.

The pepper flavor is really played down, and is almost completely consumed by the prominence of the vinegar. I would swear there are carrots in this mix, such is the taste (and aroma) profile.

The heat is on the warm side, as the product label suggests. It really doesn't develop beyond the initial 10 seconds or so, after which it subsides quickly and is almost entirely gone after around 2 minutes. So if you're looking to bask in the glory of a hot mouth and lips for a while, then don't bother with this sauce.

Is it bad tasting? no not exactly, it's just very much an acquired taste. The label suggests usage on pizza, chicken or pasta, but personally I would use this as a salad dressing ahead of anything else. Perhaps whisk it up with a little honey and olive oil and use it on a tomato, onion and cucumber salad. I wouldn't want to use it on meats or chicken unless I was cooking for myself or others familiar with the sauce. I used it on grilled pork steaks yesterday and on pizza, and sure enough the finished meat retains that acidic and vinegar flavor, without anything really positive being added in the flavor department. On the pizza, well it just doesn't add much for my tastes.


Conclusion -
I'll use this bottle perhaps as I've outlined above on salads etc, but I won't be replacing it when the bottle is gone. But remember, taste is a very personal and subjective thing, one man's poison is another man's.....or whatever.
The fact that this has been around for a while suggests that there are plenty of people who enjoy its rather unique take on hot sauce flavor, which is just fine with me.

Ratings -
Packaging 2.5 from 5
Aroma 1 from 5
Consistency 2 from 5
Color 1.5 from 5
Taste 1.5 from 5
Heat Balance  3 from 5*
[Heat Intensity Scale  0.5 from 5*]

Overall score - 11.5 from 30