I recently purchased a bottle of The Undertaker at the Lowell Ribs Festival last Sunday. I had the opportunity to chat with Tom Palmerino, owner of Woowee Hot Sauce of Southbridge, MA.
I love hot sauce, am serious about it, and wanted to give a review, or at least my feedback on it.
I'll do a rating of 1-5, 5 being the best. First, I want to let you know that I never give anyone a perfect score of 5.
- Review of The Undertaker -
Ingredients: Habanero peppers, tomato puree, white distilled vinegar, fresh onions, bourbon, oleoresin, capcicum, white pepper.
Appearance: 4 - I loved the dark, blood red color
Aroma: 2.5 - I think the tomato puree made it smell more like tomato soup or a V8 drink than hot sauce.
Texture: 2 - The tomato puree made it more like a hot paste than a hot sauce. I like my sauce to have some body to it, but not that thick. Maybe more white vinegar would help.
Spice Blend: 3 - Interesting choice of white pepper and bourbon.
Originality: 3.5 - I like the name, the look and the use of bourbon as an ingredient.
Flavor: 3 - I like a hot sauce that draws a fine line between heat and flavor. I think there was more heat then flavor though, but maybe that was the intention.
Heat Scale: 4 - Bumping up the heat with the added oleoresin, capcicum did the trick. I love heat. I had to hit the bathroom 2 times in the afternoon.
Overall Impression: I liked The Undertaker. I tried it on chicken, beef, and pasta and found that it had some big heat to give my meals a special kick. The color of the sauce is very appealing, but the texture of the sauce has something to be desired for--too pasty. I would recommend this sauce to anyone that is addicted to heat rather than flavor.
