Hot Sauce Guide Vol. 4: The Devil’s Lair

Was a u-turn from the recent products I’ve tried. Back down the route of the tangy Tabasco taste rather than the milder fresher stuff from cool chile. A little bit one dimensional but kind of represents the archetypal hot sauce, which I like.

5.5/10

This would be the standard for me over the habanero red, same basis but simply adds way more to a dish. Get what you signed up for with extra hot. Still simple, but my preference.

6/10

No shock rating here, previously I thought a strong garlic taste wasn’t all that good in this. Devils lair actually did it a bit better, which convinced me it does add something, very close to on par with the extra hot but definitely dishes you’d use this for over it.

6/10

It was quite stupid to review a medium hot sauce after doing the mild and the extra hot. Like sheepishly going back up the slope of a Rollercoaster. Nothing really to say other than the obvious. Was a much-needed upgrade on the habanero red, but you don’t necessarily need extra hot unless it suits your preference.

6/10

I honestly recommend having some kind of smoked food at least once a week, it is the elitist of the elite. Chipotle adds a depth of flavour, usually to the detriment of the heat. I actually thought ‘the devil's lair’ didn’t hit the spot I assumed it would. I realised the smoky Chipotle was slightly sickly and the lack of heat was missed. 6/10

Wow okay…

I looked up the Carolina Reaper pepper and it’s 2 million Scoville units on the scale which is the same as The Last Dab on Hot Ones. I don't know how diluted it is into the sauce, but I lathered on ‘the regular dose’ on my food and I turned into Rose in Christopher Eccleston’s last doctor who episode. The flavour was there, as was the challenge, but it was a bit high on the ol’ pain for me.

No idea why this picture is suddenly massive.

5.5/10

I’ve had this kind of sauce before and it’s a great type of hot sauce. Great to mix into a slightly bland sauce and add hefty tang. This definitely didn’t hit the standard though. You also need much more than these small bottles allow for, it’s not like a pepper sauce where you might only put on drops.

5/10

I like the innovation, and the execution wasn’t bad. It was however at this point when I realised I was just ingesting bottle after bottle of the same rough recipe, with small variations like this. There was literally mango puree in this and I was just getting a dull nostalgia of the last 7 sauces. It’s an average sauce with a fun innovation.

5.5/10

Just par to be honest. Tasted a bit like Chipotle but not smoked. Bit bored of the formula at this point, sorry for the deterioration of the review.

5/10

I dunno, maybe it tastes a bit sharper. Very fine margins at this point. These sauces are par, and the box looks cool if you're part of a hot sauce facebook group, but outside of that, I’d say aim higher.

5/10