"Meanie Sauce: A Taste to Fear": Far from the Main Event

Alright, alright...I know I said I wouldn't review more Louisiana style hot sauce, filled to capacity with vinegar and tabasco peppers, but this hot sauce couldn't escape my radar. As a die-hard professional wrestling fan, I couldn't resist something featuring ECW original Blue Meanie. And as a lover of all things hot, I had to see if this habanero-based sauce could push the paradigm of generic Louisiana sauce into a new arena. Does it soar to the Main Event? Or will it remain a novelty curtain jerker in a world of hardcore hot sauce?

Let's Look at the Facts: Brian Heffron, AKA The Blue Meanie, is a comedy wrestler known for his chunky white frame, cut-off t shirts, bright blue hair and beard, and drawn-on thick glasses.

Who wouldn't trust this man to decide what they put in their bodies? He moonsaulted (top rope backflip) from the dingy, overcrowded tiny venues of Extreme Championship Wrestling to the mega-arenas of the then-WWF throughout the mid to late 90s. The 2000s were a little slower for the Meanie in the ring, as he bounded back for cameo appearances in the dying ECW and then briefly back to WWE. However, the 90s saw Meanie venture into the hot sauce world...or at least his likeness did. Released by Hot Sauce Factory, this sauce has the simplicity and novelty to make it worth trying, but the tired convention to count it out from the great match of flavor.


Good Hurts: Because this sauce uses hanaberos, you can be sure it edges out most watery red sauces in terms of heat. For hot freaks, it's too little. For the rest, it's a decent level of spiky heat that will trump a regular Louisiana sauce any day of the week.


Flavor: The habanero has an odd sweetness, but you won't taste it here. The garlic and salt are pretty much all you can taste. It's also quite watery, and they've added vegetable gum to sort of thicken it up, but without it it would be a little glass bottle o' water. Is it a taste to fear? If you have a problem with a big cup of ocean water and some slightly-off tasting garlic, then yes, it is a taste to fear. It honestly isn't awful. I wouldn't blame the Meanie for this one...I would blame the world of Louisiana novelty sauces that are easy to make and even easier to slap a picture on. Hot freaks know to maneuver around these sauces, and you should, too.

Availability: Relatively obscure. Lots of websites have it, and any novelty hot sauce store will, too. Don't be afraid to step in the ring with Hot Sauce Factory to order it right from the maker, either.

Good for: As with most sauces like this, I say dump it liberally on subs and pizza. If you like drowning your food in this type of sauce, you can kick up the spice with a hint of garlic right here. I usually dump some in a pot of chili, usually. Usually. That's the thing...the overall "usual" nature of this sauce is just a little to "eh" for someone like the ECW original, the Blue Meanie.

Review:
Heat: **3/4
Flavor: **
My Review: 3.7/10

Unless you're a member of the Blue World Order, an ECW die hard looking for all things hardcore, or a member of the Meanie's immediate family, I say avoid giving your taste buds a pinfall or submission loss to this disappointing sauce.