It’s time once again to head back to my review series on garlic hot sauces. This will be the 3rd in the series, having done Garlic Death Grip and Cholula’s Chili Garlic sauces already. This time around, I revisit Torchbearer Sauces. This will be my fourth sauce from them that I’ve tried, having already done their Garlic Reaper, Habanero Evil, and Headless Horseradish varieties. For a quick recap, my thoughts on the trio are: Good, but too hit for me; tasty, it’s like a hot salsa; and tastes like horseradish… I don’t like the taste of horseradish. So, while I applaud the people at Torchbearer for coming up with interesting flavors, they’ve not always been what I’ve really wanted. Will this continue to be the case?
Well, for starters, this is a bigger bottle than many regular hot sauce bottles. Most hot sauces come in 5-6oz bottles. This one’s 8oz. I was surprised by that when I opened up my box from Heat Hot Sauce, where I made my purchase from. Sure, it says 8oz right there on the page, but obviously I missed it.
Cracking open the seal and removing the lid, I certainly get the smell of garlic. That makes sense since it’s the first ingredient. For many hot sauces, some form of vinegar is one of the first 3. For Oh My Garlic, you have to wait until ingredient 4, behind the garlic, canola oil, and lime juice. It has an interesting consistency. It’s almost like salad dressing in that it pours, but it doesn’t always really want to. It’s mostly smooth, but garlic is a pretty hard, little nub, and so there’s almost a “gritty”-ness to the sauce.
Putting it on the wings, the smell of garlic starts to fill the kitchen. Is this finally what I’ve been looking for?
… Eeeeeeh…
I have to say, this was one that I was looking forward to trying the most. I was thinking about saving it for last, but I was like, “Nah. I want it now.” The flavor is good… -ish. Like, I didn’t have to force myself to eat all 10 wings. That was fine. And I wasn’t trying to brush off the sauce or anything. It just… wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. There’s certainly the big hit of garlic, and then kind of a mix of other flavors. The sharpness of the lime really makes a statement and cuts through the heaviness of the canola oil. The vinegar along with the mustard (which also has vinegar in it) do give it a vinegar edge to it as well.
So, it’s not like it’s bad, I just feel like maybe it’s… incomplete. I remember eating the wings and thinking, “this feels like it is an ingredient more than it’s a sauce itself.” I could see using it as a marinade for pork or chicken and then cooking with it. That could really bring a lot of flavor to the party.
Though it won’t bring a lot of heat, if any at all. There aren’t even any type of peppers specifically listed in the ingredients. I’m guessing there might be some in the “other natural flavors,” but not much. So, if you’re looking for a “hot sauce,” this really doesn’t qualify.
So, was it what I was looking and hoping for? Unfortunately, no. Though, thinking about it now, I might in the future try mixing the Garlic Reaper and On My Garlic together to see if I can cut down on the heat of the Garlic Reaper while upping the flavor, basically the same as I did with Texas Pete.
Suggested Dishes: Use as a marinade for chicken or pork. This could even be a salad dressing. I don’t know if I’d use it as a finishing sauce much.
If you’re interested in your own bottle, you can find it here: https://heathotsauce.com/collections/mild/products/oh-my-garlic
Polar Bear's Kitchen 