Blending Whiskey and Hot Sauce With Bourbon Expert Fred Minnick
Get the three-pack of The Fred Minnick Show Kentuxican hot sauce now.
Photo above courtesy of Kentuxican; photos below by Kevin Gibson
I’m a bourbon fan, for sure, but there are few things I like more than hot sauce. My old pal Fred Minnick is putting the two together to release a limited-edition three-pack of deliciousness.
The Fred Minnick Show Single Barrel Holiday Pack, produced in a partnership with Kentuxican, a Louisville-based hot sauce brand, is available online now. While Kentuxican is already infused with bourbon, Fred hand-picked bourbons to add to the original blend in order to create two sauces that also level up the heat, with additional pepper infusions.
Fred personally dumped the bourbon himself (I counted 18 bottles, but don’t hold me to that) to finish off both batches of the two alternative Kentuxican sauces, which are called The Fred Minnick Show Medium Blend and Fred Minnick Cartoon Hot Blend. He invited me along to help make sure he achieved the flavors and heat levels he sought for his signature sauces, and I have to admit to feeling like a kid in a candy store. The production facility smelled incredible and it’s true that I never wanted to leave. Also, for someone who grows hot peppers every season and makes hot sauce at home, watching hot sauce being produced on a large scale was fascinating.
Fred Minnick pouring out one of the many bourbons used in The Fred Minnick Show Hot Sauce.
Fred worked with the friendly Kentuxican staff, with me becoming a de facto assistant. We first tackled the Medium sauce, with Fred adding six bottles of assorted bourbons that have been featured at some point on his podcast, The Fred Minnick Show. The bourbon added an interesting sweetness to the smoky sauce, and an additional infusion of habanero and Carolina Reaper chile peppers — in addition to the standard morita chiles and chiles de arbol Yahualica — kicked the spiciness to just the right level.
When it came to the Cartoon Hot version of the sauce, Fred emptied twelve bottles of whiskey, half bourbon and half rye, the latter of which kicked in a bit of extra spice. Once the bourbon had been properly blended into the sauce, we did a tasting and Fred suggested it could be hotter. I agreed, suggesting we add another unit of Carolina Reaper. After another tasting, the decision was made, at Fred’s suggestion, to also up the Habanero ante. Pretty sure the Kentuxican folks thought we were crazy. One of the Kentuxican employees who was doing the blending, tasted a drop and said, “I can’t eat that stuff. It’s too hot.” Big words coming from a hot sauce blender, but the folks at Kentuxican set out to make the hottest sauce they’d ever released.
Meanwhile, Fred and I were eating it like pudding. Well, really spicy pudding. It’s absolutely delicious, and I can’t wait to get my hands on more of the stuff. If you have a hardcore pepperhead on your list, this three-pack is a must-buy, and they start shipping this week to get into your hands by Christmas. (Oh, and the mild and medium versions should be palatable for almost everyone. Put them on your eggs or slap some on pulled pork.)
Finally, once we were all satisfied and the hot sauces went to the bottling line, we had a celebratory toast with some Michter’s 20 Year bourbon that Fred had brought from his vast collection — and we sipped it from metal sampling cups normally used by the staff to taste product. Quite the appropriate finish, so much so that we all went in for seconds.
Here are some notes about each flavor from a news release:
Kentuxican Original Blend: The Level One hot sauce includes morita chile, habaneros, Carolina reapers and chile de arbol Yahualica, for a sweet and smoky flavor.
The Fred Minnick Show Medium Blend: Kentuxican's original recipe kicked up to Level Three with a bourbon hand-selected by Minnick. The sauce steps up the sensation with morita chile, 1.5x habaneros, 2.5x Carolina reapers and chile de arbol Yahualica. It is blended with three 100-proof bourbons and three cask strength bourbons that have previously been featured on The Fred Minnick Show.
"The back palate lights up here, tingling throughout," Minnick said of the medium expression. "The habanero quickly comes on strong with subtle hints of Carolina reapers. Then, the whiskey shows with front-of-palate sweetness. The gentle caress of the oak with the brightness of fruit and spice from the peppers is just astonishing."
Fred Minnick Cartoon Hot Blend: A truly special edition with an extra kick perfectly paired with a special pick, single barrel bourbon. The Level Six sauce includes morita chile, 3.5x habaneros, 4.5x Carolina reapers and chile de arbol Yahualica. It is the hottest sauce that Kentuxican has ever produced and features a blend of twelve different spirits -- six bourbons and six ryes.
"The sweetness from the bourbon and the spice of rye are magical when added with the right peppers," Minnick said. "You immediately taste the herbal notes and lingering sweetness from the whiskey, but with 4.5x Carolina reapers, it's going to be hot. It lights up the palate like a Christmas tree and lingers for minutes later."
Three-packs will include a bottle of each sauce; supplies are limited.
