You might think that my last experience with the Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce made me quit, seeing as how it’s been a while since my last diary. I am happy to report that’s not the case. You see, I went to the Amazon in search of a new and elusive pepper variety and was abducted by an un-contacted tribe. At least they were un-contacted until then. At first, I was pretty sure they were going to kill me, but then things took a turn for the better when I introduced them to the hot sauces I had in my pack. We were like family before anyone could even raise a spear. In the end, I was made an honorary member and we had a feast.

So, maybe that’s not what happened, but it felt like it with getting the kids back to school. Let’s just go with it.

Now that’s all squared away, we’re going to start getting into BBQ sauces. Before we do that though, there’s one unique sauce that I want to get to. It’s really more than just one sauce, it’s two. This is the one that saved me from the tribe, or so I am saying.

It’s Dave’s Gourmet Adjustable Heat Hot Sauce. Adjustable heat, you say? Yes, adjustable heat. It’s a truly unique concept Dave has here. If you’ve been around hot sauce for any time, you already know who Dave is. He’s one of the most well known sauce crafters in the world. He has a reputation for pushing the limits of heat and originality.

The Adjustable Heat Hot Sauce comes in a spray bottle with two chambers- one hot and one mild. You turn the top on a scale of 1 to 10 in order to adjust the quantity of hot and mild that mix together and spray out. The sauce itself is a vinegar based sauce that will remind you of a Louisiana style hot sauce. The mild side is pretty mild and the hot side is pretty hot, but not scorching. To get the heat rating out of the way, I would say that when set on 1, the sauce is about a 2 for heat. When it’s cranked up to 10, it’s about a 5.5 for heat. So, certainly nothing a seasoned hot saucer can’t handle.

What I really like about this is that it’s one bottle on the table and everyone can use it to their taste. I normally don’t get into the mechanics of applying hot sauce, because its generally, “open and pour.” With this one, it’s a little different though. It seems easy enough, turn, set, and spray. The sprayer works just fine on the lower side of the scale, but when you crank it up, the little tiny bits of pepper and spices clog it up in an instant. No Bueno.

Not being one to give up, I took the thing apart to see what the deal was. The design of the bottle is really quite brilliant. I’ll let you do that for yourself, but in the end, the remedy is simple. The pump is not getting clogged, the little spray head is. So, stick a needle in the little white nozzle and pop the sucker out. It comes out easy and the problem is solved. Sure, it “sprays” a bit less and “pours” a bit more, but who sprays their food anyway. I had a second bottle on hand that I was going to give to someone, but I decided to test it too. Same deal, it’s the nozzle.

The taste of the sauce changes with the heat level too. The hotter side is more complex. I preferred the sauce cranked up all the way, every time. Although it is very similar to a Louisiana style hot sauce, it does have a much snappier taste. Not more of a bite from heat, just a crisper taste that I really liked.

You could use this hot sauce anywhere you would a Louisiana style hot sauce, but after some taste testing, I found I liked it best on 2 items: pizza and pulled pork. How does one taste test a sauce on different things all at the same time? One times it with ones wife cleaning out the leftovers from the fridge.

I am a fan of jalapeno’s on my pizza. It doesn’t matter what else is on there, just need jalapeno’s. I skipped the little green guys for a change and went with Dave’s Adjustable cranked all the way up. I’m generally not a fan of hot sauce on my pizza. I’ve tried it with a bunch of the ones I’ve written about here and a few others; it doesn’t do it for me very often. This one, however, does. I’m not sure if it’s the consistency on top of the flavor, but it just seems to match perfectly with the flavors in the pizza. I thought maybe it was the pizza sauce, but tried it in some straight pizza sauce and it was a no-go. Maybe it’s just one of those things that works because it works and no further explanation is required. The pulled pork was kind of the same. Some of the best pulled pork sandwiches I’ve had have been from the grills set up on the side of the road. Yes, I know, high class. The thing that made them great was the sauce. Not all are spicy, but they all have a flavor that is really similar to this sauce.

I should also mention that if you like it hot and someone else dials it down, spray a few times on the lower setting before they do- there is some of the hotter stuff left in the tube.

What’s in this stuff that makes it taste so good? Luckily, folks have to list ingredients on their products. Unluckily, that doesn’t always tell us much. We have some water, hot peppers, cane vinegar, salt, hot pepper essence, acetic acid, thickening gum, onion essence, and garlic essence. The first thing of note is that we don’t know what kind of peppers. Dang proprietary information. You’ll note there are no preservatives, at least artificial ones. Vinegar is a food preservative. I have been curious about why hot sauces that contain vinegar have an open shelf life of, well, a long time. So, I checked into it.

The fact is that not all vinegar based hot sauces can survive outside of refrigeration, after they are opened. It all depends on the other ingredients. Your standard peppers, spices, and vinegar sauces can because the vinegar acts as an anti-bacterial agent and significantly retards or prevents the growth of bacteria that causes spoilage. When you add ingredients with a sugar content, including straight sugar, the odds of it being stable after being opened and not refrigerated decrease rapidly. Bacteria and yeast feed on the sugar, which allows them to multiply, which causes spoilage.

The next thing that made me say “hmmmm,” is what the deal is with the “essence” of something. Like “Essence of Garlic.” I thought that it was maybe a special treatment of the stuff or a particular part of it. It seems as though I can’t answer this one fully, I know, I suck.

It appears like one of those terms that is used in so many different ways that it has lost it’s meaning. I found references for the oils of things being called the “essence,” the crushed parts being called the “essence,” and even simply scraping the peel of a citrus fruit. So, the essence is what the “essencer” wants it to be, apparently.

So all in all, the bottom line is: Heat ranges from 2 to 5.5, flavor is a solid 6, but an 8 on pizza and pulled pork. This is a fun sauce for a wide variety of people with different heat tolerances.