Hey!
Over the past couple of weeks, you have probably seen a lot of decade-in-review articles. I tried to avoid being repetitive, but upon reflection, it was a huge decade for craft hot sauce, and I’m too grateful for your involvement to not say something.
Some of you were among our first dozen followers back in 2014. It was that small group of passionate people that kick-started my interest in hot sauce like a starter brine kicks off a new ferment.
The passion, culture, and thought behind every hot sauce story we’ve shared (over 100 stories from 30 different countries) has inspired me and so many others who have gone on to create hot sauces packed with flavor or even companies that have taken off far beyond their greatest expectations!
This morning I’m sharing one piece of content from each year that has piqued most people’s interest or passion. We’re also looking ahead to new stories and hot sauces, and I’m super excited to share two craft hot sauce profiles with you this morning.
The first is from Scotty Peppers who gave me some epic food, music, and cocktail recommendations when I visited his hometown of New Orleans a couple of months ago. Nearly 20 years ago, he moved from NOLA to NYC, hence his hot sauce brand name of Bayou Gotham.In their Craft Hot Sauce profile, I learned about Scotty’s hot sauce heritage and his interaction with the late great New Orleans music legend Dr. John that has me amped for their Kickstarter launching in a few days.
The second story is written by Joel from Habgoblin Hot Sauce in Oregon. I met Joel in Portland this summer at the PDX Hot Sauce Expo, but after reading his story, I had a much greater sense of the Portland community which I had only had a taste of in my last visit.This story is also packed with lots of insight and advice that I could relate to with my own hot sauce brand, Craic Sauce.
Hope you enjoy the stories, and look forward to another big year in craft hot sauce!
Cheers,
Brian
P.S. Do you have any hot sauce and chili growing pictures that you'd like to have shared out in the newsletter next month? Send em over. We'll feature a few and will give you a shout-out.
2014
How to turn hot sauce haters into Chiliheads
Some reflections and realizations while slowly converting my hot sauce hating girlfriend into a power user!
2015
This was our first podcast which was recorded in a hostel in Berlin. Jonathan was a great guest that helped me think about some of my first recipes.
2016
Aztecs are known to be the first group to use chili peppers as long as 9000 years ago. They used the peppers not just for flavor, but for medicinal purposes and warfare.
2017
Scott from Lucky Dog Hot Sauce has been an inspiration for so many in the hot sauce industry. This profile shares more about the community he's helped build.
2018
Podcast: When hot sauce companies go to trademark their brand name
This podcast explores the stories of four hot sauce companies and their approaches and lessons learned with trademark law.
2019
The journey of getting my hot sauce into stores
I share the journey and steps I found I needed to take to obtain my wholesale license and get my hot sauce into stores.
Born in the Bayou, Aged in Gotham
Check out thisgreat story written by Scotty Peppers and you can contribute to theirKickstarter starting Jan 6th.
Craft Hot Sauce Profile Written by Joel
"Portland has an eccentric charm that normalizes sights that are definitely odd."
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