Growing up in the 1970’s, in the Washington DC area, I do not remember seeing hot sauce in our family pantry or in the DC suburban restaurants or grocery stores that we frequented. This doesn’t mean it was not out there.

I am a certifiable fiery foods fanatic, but hot sauce and fresh homegrown produce has been a part of my life since the day I was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. My grandfather, Roger Baumer, was plant manager and brother to Baumer Foods founder Alvin Baumer.

It all really started when I’d become interested in gardening...Portland has an eccentric charm that normalizes sights that are definitely odd. Free roaming chickens in tight downtown neighborhoods, casually walking in the rain without an umbrella, and shared sprawling backyard urban gardens to name a few.

I remember all the Louisiana-style hot sauces at seafood restaurants in Galveston, Texas back in the early 90s. The high vinegar content made them great for eating raw oysters jambalaya, etouffee, and gumbo.

Our hot sauce journey was long in the making. The Geverd family had been playing with hot sauce recipes for a few years with the idea of someday producing commercially. The stars aligned when the family bought an old German farmhouse that came with a sizable acreage that had been used for conventional ag. Around the same time Cheyne Geverd made a decision to pivot his career from doing geological work for oil companies overseas to being a farmer. He took seasonal jobs with local produce farms to learn the skills, and at one of these farms met Fiona Palumbo, his eventual partner, whose background also included cooking and (very small scale) hot sauce making.

I had a beer one day on the beach with an American buddy and we got to talking about why Thailand doesn’t have a signature hot sauce as spicy food goes hand in hand with the country. He is long-time friends with Trinidad Charlie and familiar with the challenges and successes he has had with his hot sauces.

It all started on Halloween in 2015 when we bought a lot of jalapeños for a recipe to make bacon-wrapped stuffed poppers. Instead of letting the jalapeños go to waste, we created our Jalapeño Lime hot sauce, which is the same recipe we use today.

My influences come from growing up in Southern California being surrounded by so much great Mexican food, I developed a love and appreciation for Mexican cuisine. One of my first memories with hot sauce was noticing all the different hot sauces there are to try.

Mago Hot Sauce began as an underground hot sauce movement in Southern California and continues to emphasize craft and high quality. MAGO creates small-batch sauces with the perfect balance of heat and flavor so you can make every meal better.

I’m originally from the Midwest and growing up, all we really focused on growing was tomatoes. Once I got to grad school and a real house, I started a bigger backyard garden, expanding beyond tomatoes, to cucumbers, squash, corn, herbs, and peppers.

Early on, as someone that loved spicy food, I fell in love with sauces that had more heat than your typical big brand hot sauces. I really dug El Yucateco and thought it was cool how many flavors they had.