Gift Guide 2018: Serious Heat

Okay, I know you’re over hot sauce.  These days everybody seems to be making it, and there are entire stores exclusively devoted to the stuff.

But I just discovered a line of hot sauces that have real character.  Hot Fire Hot Sauces are made by Nate Courtland, a chef who was raised in Nogales, Arizona (where they definitely know their peppers), these are more than merely hot.  They have balance and soul.

Made with organic ingredients sourced from local farmers, they're fermented in charred oak whisky barrels, which gives them real character.. 

They’re all delicious, bu the one that moves me the most is Ghost Pepper Cran-Apple, the hottest of the lot.   The heat of those Carolina Reapers is tempered with roasted garlic, diced apple cider and the sneaky tang of fresh cranberries.  It’s kind of addictive.  

And hey - at $7 a bottle it makes a truly lasting impression. A little of this goes a very long way.