Man, I've been avoiding this thread because I wanted to make the Hotsauce OT and I was jelly. I've got about 35 hotsauces on rotation. Got a little journal for writing notes and whatnot. (Even added some pixel art for flavor)
The Last Dab is actually not that hot; real nice aroma and flavor, but it's nowhere near as hot as you'd think. Pepper X itself doesn't appear to be that hot according to the few that have got their hands on it.
Tabasco has hotter variants of their sauces, all with the same vinegary consistency you're a fan of. Their hottest sauce uses Trinidad Scorpions, and I find it much hotter than The Last Dab.
I got my bottle of the last dab, and I'll admit, it's not as hot as I was expecting. It's definitely hot, but my Dave's Insanity Scorpion pepper sauce brings the heat more.
The Last Dab does have undeniable staying power though, I'll give it that. It's quite thick with lots of chunks and a have dose of untouched seeds. Very mustardy (which is uncommon so that was at least interesting). On first dab the heat was immediate a quick turn up burn with a clear first and second standard waves of heat. The second wave didn't give in at 10-15 seconds though for my bottle. It stuck around for about 4-5 times longer than my other high heat sauces.
My personal favorite high heat is Dave's Insanity Scorpion Pepper. Mainly because it's a novelty heat sauce that actually tastes good. It has almost no additional ingredients like the pile of vinegar or garlic you get in some. (Though that tends to be the part that is actually good in Blair's sauces). This thing on first dab is crazy sweet. Like a nice jalapeno jelly. It's rich and silky and delicous... for about 3-4 seconds. Then you go deaf and blind and wake up naked in a forest. The heat is a steady riser which gives a sense of more than just the standard first and second waves. It is a hard throat kicker if you aren't careful as well. After a good 10-20 seconds when you're done breathing in frost and breathing out molten lava over your tranquilzed tongue the heat high kicks in and you travel to the 26th dimention of nirvana. This is truly my most enjoyable novelty sauce. Great for drops in a large soup as well.
It's not very hot, but one recent hot sauce I've enjoyed a lot is Yuzu-It:
https://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2013/02/11/use-it-yuzu-it-yuzu-pepper-sauce
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www.amazon.com/dp/B00IIYT3BM
It blends spiciness with a sour citrus flavor (Yuzu) and is really quite good and flavorful.
Yuzu hotsauces were a new thing for me that I discovered in Japan. My wife and I have a house in Yamaguchi prefecture so we go to Beppu near Oita quite often for it's crazy cheap onsens. Yuzu is the popular regional fruit of Oita (kabosu in Beppu and Oranges on our island where we have our house). While I was there I ended up getting a couple of bottles of Yuzu Hell Heat sauce. Stuff was interesting. Dark and slightly oily so I thought it would be on the rich side like gochujang but was very vinegary which accentuated the acidity of the yuzu juice. Moderate heat. Wasn't good for adding to pretty much any soup or noodle meal for that matter but was killer for yakitori. Would make a great chicken glaze.
Cholula is my go to utility hot sauce but I got some Secret Aardvark for Christmas and not sure what it would be best on. Love the taste of it.
My man. Cholula is often looked down on for it's low heat and it pisses me off. Cholula is a bright herbacious wonderland. It's like a refreshing garden in a liquid with just enough salt to make it graciously savory It has just enough heat to compliment everything else going on. Personally it is the most balanced hotsauce of all. I drown things in it. If it wasn't so expensive (comparitively) at my grocery store it would be drowned on everything I eat. Secret Aardvark was a pleasant surprise in Portland. It's also such a portland thing with it being a bit more obscure and somewhat of a secret jem. I've got a softspot for habenero sauces (mainly because of the beaut below) because they have such earthly flavors. That being the case, I've found Secret Aardvark worked best for me on certain pizzas (busy cali style topping pizzas), breakfasts (how it was introduced to me) and burgers.
When I want to add heat, this is my go to. Not too spicy, and it's the best tasting of all the El Yucateco sauces. Very peppery and it has that fresh habanero taste. Best of the commonly available store bought brands, by far.
I discovered this one in LA and it was a paradigm shift for me. I had tried the red and green El Yucateco and thought they were ok, but something happened to me when I found the black label. I legitimately began drinking it out of the bottle as the day went on. I eventually cut the top out of a starbucks cup and hid it inside so I'd stop getting stares when I'd take a swig. I've since calmed down of course. It isn't that much hotter than the other labels but it is sooooo savory and rich. It has that signature earthy habenero taste (that I fell in love with). It's so rich that people may confuse it with a pepper sauce instead of a hotsauce if it wasn't for that nice balanced heat it gives.
I love all the Louisiana-inspired ones
Valentina and Louisiana are my gotos for fried chicken. The rich crazy saltiness of valentina with that heaaavy viscousness that sticks to the breading mmm. Though I prefer more so the vinegar based sauces for chicken because it compliments chicken sooooo well making it taste so much juicier and more savory. On this front Lousiana is the best for me. Don't get me wrong, I like tabasco and petes, but louisiana beats them pretty easy when it comes to chicken. Franks and Crystal (more so franks for me) are heavy contenders to the chicken throne and sometimes I'll let franks win out, but Lousiana is where it's at.
Caveat, if it's a fried chicken sandwich, I'll dowse with that thick smokey sweet sriracha.
What do you do guys feel about refrigeration? Ive never put it in the fridge but I've always heard people swear by the chill making the flavor better for them on certain sauces.
I've got a fridge shelf dedicated to hot sauces. Haven't seen it mess with flavor in the long run, but sometimes I think it separates some of the sauces so I shake them up before use and I like to let them warm up before use because the sauces that have the natural metallic taste to them tends to have that exaggerated when they are cold.