The Taste Bud: Peppers-R-Paradise Bourbon Barrel Aged Extreme Hot Sauce Brings the Flavor with Fire

Photos by Kevin Gibson

While at Tailspin Ale Fest recently, I wandered from tent to tent looking for any sort of new beer that might interest me. And as I scanned, I noticed a lone man in a booth selling hot sauce. Because I’m me, I made a beeline.

This friendly man briefly told me he makes the sauces himself from peppers and other ingredients he grows in his personal garden. His wares included intriguing options like Green Ghost and Friends, The Wife Made Me Do It and Smokin’ Peach Paradise. The business, called Peppers-R-Paradise, also sells pickles.

The owner, a Louisville native whose name is David Pennington Smith, wrote on his website, “In high school I was known to always use an inordinate amount of black pepper on everything. I loved the taste. As I grew up, my passion for pepper increased.”

Smith wrote that his love of extreme heat only grew, which led him to grow hot peppers and ultimately to make his sauces, adding, “We use our home grown exceptionally hot peppers with a unique blend of tropical fruits to make a most flavorful sauce. Flavor is truly the most important ingredient we incorporate in our products and we never use extracts.”

While I chatted with him – and my fiancee Cynthia waited ever-so-patiently – I tried a few of the sauces, such as Smokin’ Jerk Paradise (one of the better Jerk marinades I can recall trying), Scarlet Sting (fiery and delicious, if pretty straightforward) and Ghostly Black Garlic BBQ (a wonderfully rich and savory/spicy barbecue sauce). But I managed to somehow save the best for last: Bourbon Barrel Aged Extreme.

Like Scarlet Sting, the sauce is made with Ghost, Scorpion and Carolina Reaper peppers, although in the Bourbon Barrel version, obviously, bourbon touches the peppers first. Other ingredients include vinegar, onions, carrots, garlic, salt and sugar.

Probably a good idea to use Peppers-R-Paradise Bourbon Barrel Aged Extreme in small doses.

Rather than dilute it with food, I decided to just taste it directly from the spoon and then brace myself. Even pouring it into the spoon makes one aware of its presence. The aroma travels quickly, and even as I was reading the label, with the spoonful of Bourbon Barrel Aged Extreme three feet from my face, I could sense its presence.

The closer I drew the spoon to my face, the more intense the floral and amazingly intense aromas were – this sauce advertises that it’s a pyromaniac that has every intention to set fire to your very soul. So I took heed, said a little prayer and took my medicine.

Up front, the sauce is incredibly fruity, almost juicy but with a texture that speaks to pepper seeds, herbs and a few chunks of pepper hull. The bright, floral flavors gave me notes of peach, pineapple, mango and citrus, with an oh-so-subtle sweetness that could owe to the carrots, sugar, bourbon or all three (although the bourbon doesn’t assert itself).

The odd, semi-chunky mouthfeel quickly can be easily dismissed to the flavor. And it took about 30 seconds for the intense heat to start building on the middle and back of my tongue, giving me plenty of time to savor the intense flavors. I might describe Bourbon Barrel Aged Extreme Hot Sauce as beautiful and angry (which only serves to remind me of one of my exes).

I could envision dialing back the salt in the sauce just a tiny bit, but that’s being picky – overall, it’s darn near perfect, at least for my palate. I envision myself pairing this with chicken and fish dishes, and doing so in relatively small doses, because this is a sauce that could quickly overpower many foods. Use it in drops, not in tablespoons, as I did. But I have to say that, even if maybe I took a bit too big of a dose during this experiment, it was so delicious that I went back in for another pass.

Yes, it torched my palate, but for the second round of flavor that spread from the front of my tongue to the back, it was well worth it. Your mileage may vary.