Pain is Good Batch 114 Jamaican Style: wacky story, solid sauce

If you were to follow the self-aggrandizing mythology on the "about us" page of their website, you'd go down the rabbit hole of a long winded, oft whimsical story of a handful of crazies with dreams of making the perfect sauce (etc.) from all walks of life (etc.) who showed up mysteriously one day (etc, etc, etc.). If anything is to be extracted from the story, it's that Original Juan's specialty foods (undoubtedly the cash cow behind the decent distribution, cool bottle shape, and neato bottle art, complete with wincing, screaming faces) wants to let you know they are dedicated to making good sauce. And for a company from Kansas City, MO, they sure want you to know a lot about their background in the fine arts of hot sauce. If you've driven the highways of America, and seen your share of license plates, you know Missouri is the show-me state. Does this sauce put up and shut up?


Let's look at the facts: Kansas City isn't famous for their hot sauces, but they are famous for BBQ here in the US of A. Sure enough, solid BBQ elements work their way into this sauce. For a website dedicated to so many gourmet foods, recipe ideas, and drink mixes, when the dust settles there is a product that's really worth eating and enjoying in a slightly less conventional way than insanely hot sauces out there.

Good Hurts: This sauce does something I've rarely seen with any hot sauce: it actually downplays how hot it is! Sure, there's a screaming guy on the front. But their spice level is right smack in the middle (as shown by a thermostat drawing on the bottle art). There's a smokey heat, but not like a Chipotle smokiness; this smokiness reminds me of something in a smokey tomato sauce or BBQ sauce. And the sauce is hot! It's one (again, unconventionally) that is overtaken by the flavor...that is, after the heat subsides.

Flavor: This robust, thick brown sauce at first seems somewhat fruity smelling, but more like savory fruits (figs come to mind). You can definitely smell that roasted onion and garlic, too. And there's a twinge of sweetness too. What is that dominating flavor? Just look at those ingredients: "Habanero peppers, tomato paste, pineapple juice concentrate, water, garlic puree, lime juice concentrate, spices, lemon juice concentrate, onion powder, salt, jerk seasoning. No added preservatives" That's the one...last, not least. That jerk seasoning really stands out beyond the other ingredients. It adds a sweet, habanero BBQ element to the sauce and a savory flavor. However, the consistency and rich sweet-spice make it more like a hot sauce than a BBQ sauce, too. The flavor of habaneros is really accentuated, too. If you're a fan of solid barbecue, this is a must-have sauce.

Availability: It seems like Original Juan's foods go beyond gourmet stores and into more upscale grocery stores and bodegas. Their strange, random selection of grocery stores is a bit odd; I found a bottle in a hoity-toity gourmet grocery in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, but also at a run-of-the-mill Dominick's Supermarket in Northbrook, IL. If you don't bump into it (something you can't really plan anyway), the website has got your back.

Good for: Unlike many of the other hot sauces that will break down the fortress of the food they are paired with and assault your taste buds, this sauce would work really well on a sandwich, particularly a pulled pork sandwich. If you can smother it in BBQ sauce, you can smother it in Batch #114, as long you're ready to handle a hot sauce that keeps burnin' while you keep eatin'.


Review:
 Flavor: ****

Heat: ***3/4
My Review: 8.2/10