HEATONIST No. 1 Sichuan Ghost Pepper Sauce | Dawson's Reviews

4.3 Rating 149 Reviews

About Heatonist:

At HEATONIST, we work with the most passionate small batch hot sauce makers to develop new, never-before-seen flavors in the world of spice. As the official hot sauce partner of Hot Ones, we're trusted to curate new Hot Ones lineups and create their signature line of sauces.

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“It’s a nice sauce. But as others said this had to have been a bad batch as it can’t be a coincidence it was bottled on September 26, #041. For 18 dollars this should be way better.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hey Rob, Thanks for your feedback! We spoke to Brodie Dawson and can confirm the most recent batch is back to the original recipe. We'd love to get you a new bottle from the new batch so you can taste the full potential! Please shoot us an email so we can get you fixed up! - Krysty

Posted 6 years ago

“I have a bit of a different experiece re: the sauce. First, I do have to say that the bottle I had was excellent, definitely the best tasting of the "super hot" sauces I've had out there, though it was a little more on the oily side. That ties into the main reason I'm knocking a star, which comes back to quality control. My bottle looked nothing at all like the one here and was much closer to a brown/red color with noticeable separation of solid and oil elements. I shook it up a great deal and didn't notice any issues with smell (and as I mentioned the taste was excellent), but looking at other reviews I'd probably have a few concerns about QC on this batch going forward.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hey Mike, thanks for reviewing the sauce - we are so glad you like it! We just spoke to Brodie Dawson about the batch and while nothing is wrong, the next batch he made was closer to the photo we have here! Small batches tend to vary slightly and we realize this one varied a lot in terms of texture and color! Rest assured, Brodie and his team are cranking out new batches that are blended to perfection :) Feel free to email us if you have any other questions or concerns! - Krysty

Posted 6 years ago

“I have the same issue as Devin from 16 December. My bottle is a brown color and it seems oily and separated. It smells strongly like balsamic vinaigrette, which I suspect doesn't smell right. The bottle says it's from batch #040, packaged on September 26, 2019. I don't think this is right.”

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Posted 6 years ago

Hey Brandon, Thanks for leaving us this feedback! We saw the few concerns here and we called Brodie Dawson right away. He confirmed the most recent batch is back to the original texture and color (small batches tend to vary but we understand this one was a little off). We'd love to get you a new bottle from the new batch so you can taste the full potential! Please shoot us an email so we can get you fixed up! - Krysty

Posted 6 years ago

“The first bottle of this I received was one of the best hot sauces I've ever tasted. You can definitely taste the floral notes and it packs a perfect punch with the ghost pepper heat matched with sichuan peppers to numb the burn. Unfortunately, the second bottle I ordered had some sort of quality issues because it was much more brown than my previous bottle (previous bottle looked like the picture). The sauce seemed oily-separated. I tasted just to see if I was crazy, and yep, it was disgusting. I'd order again if I could guarantee I was going to get a bottle similar to the first one I received. At $18 a bottle, I'd expect more quality assurance to be done.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Was a gamble but maan, what a delicious sauce. Definitely going to get more bottles next time.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“Out of most people I know my father (who was raised in Mexico), spice loving friends and coworkers I eat the spiciest out of all of them. I eat everything spicy. I’ve done the hot wing challenge at BWW and this is very similar to the level of heat it packs. I bought this, the Last Dab and Los Calientes but let me tell you between and the last dab..... THIS WAS HOTTER!!! like omg. It burns immediately when it makes contact with your mouth and lips. I made the mistake of drenching it over my dinner (which I finished) but mouth was on fire 30min later even after chugging a water bottle, some iced juice AND milk. Don’t get me wrong it has a nice creamy, smokey flavor that pairs well with strong flavors like beef, chicken and fried foods but man only buy it if you eat high levels of spice because this sauce is NO JOKE, good luck!”

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Posted 6 years ago

“In all honesty here, I was terrified to try this sauce. The hottest pepper I've had before this was a scotch bonnet. Anything above that freaks me out. Well, hubby got me to try it and the heat made me turn red and panic. Thankfully my almond milk made it tolerable. Flavor wise, I can't taste it due to the burn. But it smells like an old musty basement to me. The 4-stars comes from my hubby. He's likes this stuff a lot and eats it like a champ.”

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Posted 6 years ago

“This hot sauce is a favorite of mine, and I've already been through 2 bottles. I put it in so many foods, but mostly Asian noodles and/or vegetables. No, it does not taste like a classic Sichuan dish, but that's not the point. It's a delightful and powerful recipe that I use very frequently. HOWEVER, there is apparently a big difference in the batches of this sauce... The first bottle I got (at least a year ago?) was SUPERB, but the next bottle has gone downhill. My current bottle just isn't as tasty or as spicy. What happened to the HUGE flavor? It's also not the same color. It's more red (orange) than my first bottle, which was mostly yellowish. So I'm disappointed with the second bottle, but I'm still giving it 5 stars based on the first one and am going to give it another chance and order a third bottle anyway because I drop this sauce into my cooking at least 3 times a week.”

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Posted 6 years ago