Lately, twitter has been a buzz, (or at least in the confirmation bias cycle my account is stuck in) with everyone talking about Claude’s BBQ Private Stock Hot Sauce. I thought I like hot sauce, and a lot of people I follow say it’s good but I don’t know. I use a lot of hot sauce, I buy a lot of hot sauce, and I have my favorites, my daily use sauces, and the special sauces I like to use every now and then. Heck, I have even made a few hot sauces with the peppers we grew over the years. But I decided I should get one to try as I like to try new sauces and support small businesses.
So let’s get to it. I responded to one of Claude’s tweets on Twitter and asked him how I get one of these magical concoctions of hot sauce that he produces. Claude sent me a DM and a link to his PayPal along with a message on how to order. After a few days, the sauce arrived well packed in a box. The color was surprising, even though I had seen it several times online, the orange color was different than most of the red-hued mass-produced sauces. The orange was more appealing in person, it is a mild orange color that looks good alongside the black and white Claudes label. This was the first sauce differential I noticed. This piqued my interest.
My first sample of Claude’s BBQ Private Reserve Hot Sauce was on my finger because I am a redneck according to my wife. I couldn’t wait to see what the flavor profile was like. It was shocking how different this sauce tastes from the typical hot sauce in the stores these days. It has flavors of carrot, ginger, and the fruity flavor of Habanero peppers. Depending on what you have it on, it will bring forward one of the different flavors in the sauce. Wait, did you say habanero? Yes, I did. But don’t worry, it is not a habanero hot sauce that tries to be the hottest sauce on the shelf, in fact, it is not as hot as a lot of habanero hot sauces I have tasted, it is well balanced for flavor. I now see why twitter is going crazy for this hot sauce. This is not your typical HOT sauce, it is a flavorful sauce that happens to be spicy.
The next morning, I tried Claude’s BBQ Private Reserve Hot Sauce on my fried eggs for breakfast. I love hot sauce on my eggs in the morning and usually, it is Tabasco sauce that gets splashed on my eggs because it is sitting on my table. But this morning, Claude’s was my choice. Claude’s is a vinegar-based sauce but not as vinegary tasting as Tabasco sauce, it also has a more complex flavor profile and I even tasted a note of butter flavor in the sauce when I put it on my eggs. And if you don’t like vinegar-based sauces, don’t judge Claude’s on this alone. My wife does not enjoy the taste of vinegar sauces, especially in hot sauces (she rarely uses hot sauce) but she has an amazing palate and I asked her to try Claude’s to give it a critique. She tried it and really enjoyed the flavor, she even commented that the sauce was not vinegar forward and that she noticed the other flavors, and that Claude’s is not mainly vinegar and heat like in other sauces she has tried.
The second use of Claude’s was when I was making a Pico de gallo for a Taco Tuesday and the jalapeno that we got from the local supermarket tasted more like green bell pepper, it was bland and had no spice. I added some Claude’s hot sauce to make the Pico come to life. And it worked wonderfully. After that, I used it to spice up my favorite hot wings from a place down the street. Since then, Claude’s BBQ Private Reserve Hot Sauce has found its way into regular rotation in my hot sauce playlist.
The price of a five-ounce bottle Of Claude’s BBQ Private Reserve hot sauce is $17 per bottle, this includes fast shipping and handling. From what I understand, Claude makes one or two batches a year when the ingredients are at their prime. If you want to try this amazing sauce, I suggest you get on twitter and let @ClaudesBBQ know you want a bottle. I grew up in Louisiana and used hot sauce from an early age. I have tried several hundred varieties and most are variations of another sauce, but when you try Claude’s BBQ Private Stock Hot Sauce, you will know you have just tasted something different that was made by a craftsman. Claude’s is a very welcome and refreshing addition to my hot sauce arsenal, I am sure there will be may re-orders in my future.
Thanks for reading and if you want to follow all the fun we have on foodie twitter, follow me @snack_and_sauce.