by Bottom Line: This gourmet food establishment is a Mecca for hot sauce lovers and you can sample almost every food item they have for sale.
You can find quite a number of hot sauces and salsas in the grocery stores, but even in Texas the variety–and heat level–is often limited. Fortunately, there are some establishments out there with a much wider selection, if you know where they are. One of those is Rustlin’ Rob’s in Fredericksburg, Texas, and it is a go-to location for lovers of foods that bring the heat. Not only does it have a vast number of hot sauces, salsas, and other spicy items to choose from, you can sample almost anything they have in the store!
Home to over 350 gourmet foods, this store has been a fixture in Fredericksburg since 2000. Many of the salsas, hot sauces, seasonings, and more they make themselves, but they also have a large variety to choose from beyond their own products. In addition to their spicy items, they also have honey butters, jams, dressings, dips, and also their killer fudge. And throughout the store, almost every one of these is available to sample (with the proper precautions, of course) at “The Tasting Place”.
Those who frequent this site will of course be most interested in the spicy items that Rustlin’ Rob’s offers, and there is plenty to choose from there. The salsas are mostly their own, but they have quite a variety from standard, mild tomato salsa to spicier concoctions containing habaneros, ghost chilis, and more. They also have several of their own hot sauces, but the vast majority of their selection in that category comes from other companies. They have your standards like Cholula and Tabasco, but you are not coming here to buy sauces you can find on the grocery store shelves. You will certainly want to check out the many, many varieties they have available that you can’t find just arond the corner (see pictures below).
I have a very specific strategy for how I tackle Rustlin’ Rob’s. First off, I usually hit the store about noon. That’s after having had a good breakfast and a few hours before getting some of the tasty German food that town is known for. Rustlin’s Rob’s is my appetizer and I start off at the back of the store first. That’s where you find the hot sauces including the extremely hot ones that promise to deliver one million Scoville units and more. I do my sampling of those starting with the milder ones and working up to the hotter selections (a drop or two of each should allow any good chilihead to get a good sampling). And by the time that my mouth is ablaze, I head over to the section with the sour cream dips to sample those and douse the flames.
The hot sauce section even has a locked case for the sauces that go beyond the inferno and that cost as much as $250 a bottle (see picture below). You’re not going to be getting any samples of those, but what they do have available should be plenty even for the mightiest of chiliheads. And no matter how much I like spicy sauces, I just can’t see paying the prices for the ones in the locked case.
Note that you will be paying a premium for their hot sauces and salsas, often over $10 a bottle. But the cost of the sampling is worked into the price and there are few places you will find with such an extensive selection along with the option to try before you buy. You probably aren’t going pay the extra price they charge for Tabasco, but you will find yourself more than willing to fork over the higher price for sauces like Flame of Thrones Hot Sauce, Day of the Dead Hot Sauce (with skeleton key chain), Mad Dog 357 Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce, as well as some of Rustlin’ Rob’s own like the Jolokia Hot Sauce (see my review of that one here) and the Very-Very Hot Sauce (watch for an upcoming review).
You can also order from their website, but the selection online is very limited (you may be better off calling to place an order so that you can ask what they have available). And if you happen to be around Fredericksburg, you will definitely want to make a pilgrimage to this Mecca for hot sauce. Plan your trip accordingly because they are closed on Sundays and only stay open until 5:30 the other days of the week. But definitely stop in because they have plenty to offer to those of us that love the spice! You will find Rustlin’ Rob’s in the heart of Fredericksburg at 121 East Main Street.
