Review: Liquid Salsa - Tabañero Hot sauce

Creator: Tabasco Mexico
Name: Tabañero Hot Sauce Picante
Price: $6.50 per bottle
Link: Tabañero

I'm always on the look out for a flavorful hot sauce that brings a little something different to the flavors. I've found some that claim to have great flavor but are too spicy to taste the flavors and others that taste like a sauce with no heat. I started to see tweets about Tabañero and it got me interested. I decided to give it a try.

First Look
This sauce a beautiful fiery orange. You can see some of the spices suspend in it. The orange color comes from the base of the sauce which is carrots. It is not a runny hot sauce and it is not thick like ketchup either. It has a nice smooth consistency that allows it to mix well with liquids and spread into salsa or onto meats.

The sauce on a plate.

Taste
Think of a really good salsa and that is the flavor of Tabañero sauce. It tastes like liquid salsa. The initial flavors are sweet vegetables followed by a hint of citrus then the heat from the onions, garlic and peppers. The citrus flavor comes from the key limes and grapefruit seed extract they put into the sauce. It is really well balanced and has a great mouth feel. The heat isn't overpowering but has a nice kick to it balanced by the agave nectar.

I've tried the sauce in and on a variety of foods. I put some into potato soup. It added a great kick and some nice flavor to the soup. I also tried it on hamburgers, chicken tenders and buffalo wings. In each case it played well with the flavors of the meat bringing some sweet and heat.

Use
This is a hot sauce you can use in a variety of ways. It makes great hot-wings. It can be added to chili to bring flavor and heat. Put some in salsa or BBQ sauce to enhance it or on eggs to liven them up. Used as a condiment or a spice it brings flavor and heat.

A box of the good stuff.

Final Analysis
I really like this sauce. It has flavor and heat. Some sauces are all heat others are just a flavorful mish-mash, Tabañero balances the flavors and the heat for a great taste. On the Gibbs Ribs scale* I give Tabañero Hot Sauce a full rack of ribs. I recommend getting a bottle and giving it a try. It's liquid gold and salsa in a bottle.

*When I do reviews, books or otherwise, I rate the items with ribs (they are my favorite BBQ dish). A full rack is great and a single rib is poor. I will tend to stick to a full rack, half rack or one rib