Wings for breakfast. Who doesn’t love it? (spoilers. I’m having wings for lunch, too) And it’s a perfect opportunity to continue looking at all the various sauces that I’d picked up last month. This one is a classic. Sriracha (it’s no big deal). Now, part of the reason it took me so long to do this review was because all I’d ever seen for bottles of Sriracha were big 20+ ounce things. Most hot sauce bottles are in the 5-6oz range. And, I mean, I know what Sriracha tastes like and while I have nothing against it, it’s not my favorite. So, having a 20oz bottle that I need to chew through when I’ve literally got a dozen other sauces also in my fridge, it was a bit daunting. However, while out shopping with a good friend at a grocery store I don’t usually frequent, I found this quaint 9oz bottle. Perfect. I’ll take it. So, let’s get to it.
I’ve known about Sriracha since long before I started doing these hot sauce reviews. It’s just one of those ubiquitous names that people simply know like Tabasco, Frank’s, and Texas Pete. If you went on Family Feud and they asked, “Name a brand of hot sauce,” I’m pretty sure Sriracha would be one of the top answers. These days, you can find it in just about anything. Sriracha candy. Sriracha chocolate. Sriracha beer. While I’m a fan of adding hot sauce to things that most people wouldn’t consider (add some cayenne to your brownies. You’ll thank me later), I’ve not had any of those products. And, in fact, it wasn’t until I started doing these reviews that I even had tried Sriracha (no, the wings I just had weren’t the first time I’d ever tasted it). However, I’d shied away from it, even when I was just beginning as Sriracha has a reputation as being really hot. It’s the one that people go for if they want something “extra spicy.” Even after having sauces like Culley’s Brutality, I wasn’t entirely sure if I would be able to handle Sriracha. Sure, it was only ever the “easiest” sauce on Hot Ones, but I was still intimidated by it (which I’ve come to realize is marketing that’s counter-productive). Eventually, I gave it a shot.
Sriracha, I have to say, is easily the freshest-tasting of the off-the-shelf hot sauces. It tastes closer to one of the small-batch sauces that I now frequently get as opposed to the general pepper sauces like Frank’s or Crystal. Not to say those sauces taste old or stale, but go grab a bottle of ketchup and have some. Would you say it tastes “fresh?” Probably not. Now go make some ketchup. It’ll taste fresh. Sriracha, to me, tastes fresh. It could’ve been bottled back whenever, but it tastes like it was maybe just a week or two ago. So, that’s observation #1.
Observation #2 is that it’s rather thick. This is not the first sauce that I’ve had like this. It reminds me of the ones from Heartbeat or Humble House. Instead of the standard glass bottle, it comes in a squeeze bottle. Here’s where the comparison to ketchup comes back, since that’s about the consistency that it has. I like this, as it means you can very easily direct the sauce where you want it to go on your food. Whenever you’re just dabbing drops, it’s only -probably- going to go where you want. With the squeeze bottle, it’ll definitely go where you want. You can also control amount a lot better that way.
Observation #3 is that I do feel that it is hotter than other standard sauces. It’s got more heat and a longer-lingering heat than Frank’s or Crystal. It’s not overpowering, I don’t feel. But if you’re someone for whom Frank’s is pushing the limit as-is, Sriracha will be probably over the line.
I can’t really say that it’s a complex flavor. It’s still a fairly straight-forward pepper sauce, but just with the added wrinkle that it tastes fresh. I do enjoy the flavor and the bit more brightness that it has to it. It’s easy to see why most people, when they want to get some, only want to get a big damn bottle.
Suggested dishes: Like most pepper sauces, I feel it would go well on just about anything. However, with that added bit of brightness and freshness, I might suggest more fresh options. Add it to your salad, for example. Don’t just limit yourself to the standard eggs, wings, or pizza.
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