Review: St. Gregory’s Friary Chipotle Pepper Hot Sauce

fhs1Aaron wanted to look at the jams and preserves for sale in the Ave Maria Grotto gift shop yesterday. I’m glad he did, because it was only on a second look that I spied some monk-made hot sauce. (I then also suddenly remembered that my friend Miria had alerted me to the existence of such!) A 5-oz., $7.25 bottle of St. Gregory’s Friary Chipotle Pepper Hot Sauce came home with me. Here are my thoughts.

I read the ingredients closely before I taste or even smell a sauce, because I’ve learned to guess reasonably at a taste profile from such. I’ve also learned some reliable red flags. Many sauces contain vinegar, but I don’t usually want anything to do with one that leads with it. Water in any position but last or nearly so is a no-no.

St. Gregory’s Friary Chipotle Pepper Hot Sauce contains tomatoes, mustard, organic apple cider vinegar, turmeric, sugar, chipotles, chili flakes, salt, and spices.

Hmmm. That reads a lot like a barbecue or steak sauce, frankly. With sugar higher than peppers, it’s going to be sweet, too, and probably not very hot.

Indeed, though it’s thin like a hot sauce, the gustatory vibe is very much one of a sauce intended primarily for meat. I tried it straight, and I used it as a dipping sauce for popcorn chicken. It’s fruity, with some pungency from the mustard. It tastes a lot like Heinz 57 sauce with a little kick, actually. The color is in that neighborhood, too, though this hot sauce is a bit redder. Heat is middle of the road for a mass market palate, and very mild for a chilihead. I’d guess maybe 2500-3000 Scoville heat units.

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I was interested in exploring other offerings from the same friary, but the URL on the bottle doesn’t go anywhere, and searching for “Merry Monks Foods” yields a hodgepodge of links that may or may not be related. However, the idea of supporting monks’ efforts by buying hot sauce appeals to me, and “monk hot sauce” produces a few promising-sounding hits. I’ll do some further research.

St. Gregory’s Friary Chipotle Pepper Hot Sauce is not a bad product; just an unremarkable one. I may grill some chicken or something using the rest of this as barbecue sauce, and then I’ll be off in search of more memorable monastic offerings.

5/10

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