When it comes to hot sauce it seems there’s two major trains of thought. You have the folks that view hot sauce as a challenge to be won, a steadily steepening mountain to overcome with another, higher peak always in the distance, or a way to showcase their mastery over extreme discomfort for cred or likes. Then there are those who see it as a way to add oomph to an otherwise average meal, leaning more towards the flavor profiles distinct sauces offer and the little rush from some sweat on the upper lip.

Both are fine… to a point.

You see, if you love heading to your favorite wing joint with some friends to see who can eat the most of the hottest thing they offer, great! Have a blast! If you jump at the chance to do every spicy challenge and eating contest the internet can throw at you, awesome! Have at it! The problems tend to lie in the people who need to take others down for not eating the hottest thing every time or for enjoying a sauce that’s any less than 96% Carolina Reaper concentrated extract powder oil (or whatever). That’s enough out of you, sir. Realize that at lot less people than you think could give 2 rats about your ability to mace your innards with some new, horribly hot concoction you payed way too much for. Stop being a jerk and saying “That’s not hot, I eat (insert stupid sauce named after defecation or a burning rectal part here) all day, every day”. You’re not making any friends or impressing anyone. You’re just being annoying and, honestly, pretty embarrassing.

On the flipside, certain connoisseurs out there get a little too into themselves and think everything they like is the end-all be-all. You are absolutely entitled to love and talk about your favorite sauces, what they pair best with, and your tastiest recipes but, again, the issue is you getting too high and mighty about it. Are you convinced that your mac and cheese made with Sauce A is the pinnacle? Cool, maybe I’ll give it a shot. Should dude who makes his mac and cheese with Sauce B be thrown from the nearest high rise because “That sauce is awful and therefore so is he!”? No, you psycho, who would even suggest something like that? I’ve seen way too much of this lately. It’s dumb and, even worse, makes YOU look dumb.

I suppose the lesson here is; extremism can make you a pariah. Don’t get me wrong, keep melting yourself if you love to do so and keep talking up your favorite brands and sauces if that’s your thing. However, don’t use it as a way to make other people upset or annoyed. Flavor or heat? It doesn’t really matter all that much. Just don’t be a d-bag about it.

-Andy

Andy Goforth

Andy – the Marketing & Sales Manager | Sauce Wizard, full-time foodie, and lover of all things hot sauce. He’s got a serious thing for flavor and spice, which is why he’s been on his own personal mission to crown the best hot sauce EVER (though his indecisiveness really keeps getting in his way). Some of his current favorite Torchbearer Sauces include Son of Zombie, Garlic Reaper, and Mushroom Mayhem, but ask him next week and the answer might change. He also hopes to be on First We Feast’s Hot Ones one day, if Sean would finally just answer his emails…