We are in the thick of the gift-giving season, and there are plenty of those generic hot sauce sets on the shelves this time of year. But pass those on by (as I discuss in more detail here) and look for craft hot sauces or sets from known brands. Following are several that I have seen of late that should certainly make good gifts for lovers of spicy foods.
Hot Ones Party Pack
This is from the guys behind the Hot Ones YouTube channel and has a nice sampling of the sauces they are famous for. The five included are their Classic Garlic Fresno sauce, Los Calientes Verde, Los Calientes Rojo, The Last Dab: Apollo, and Buffalo Hot Sauce. Of these, I have only tried The Last Dab, but it is one of the best superhot sauces out there. The set is currently available at Sam’s priced at $49.95 for five 5 oz bottles, which may seem a bit high, but these are craft hot sauces. And these sauces usually go for fifteen bucks a bottle and more (The Last Dab is fetching around $30 per bottle on Amazon), so ten bucks a bottle is not bad. I have definitely added this one to my Christmas list.
Yellowbird Classic Hot Sauce Variety Set
Yellowbird sauces are made just up the road in Austin, Texas and these are always reliable. This set collects five of their most popular sauces: Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce, Blue Agave Sriracha, Habanero Hot Sauce, Jalapeno Hot Sauce, and Serrano Hot Sauce. It is currently available for $34.99 on Amazon for five of the 9.8 oz bottles which is a decent price for this collection. Yellowbird is a favorite of mine (hey, it’s a Texas original) and you can read my review of their Ghost Pepper Sauce here.
Cholula Hot Sauce Lover Gift Set
Cholula is a well-known maker of hot sauce and a pretty reliable one as well. You can find their original sauce pretty much everywhere these days (and you can read my review of it here) and they have several variations on that as well. This set includes the Original, Chipotle, Chili Garlic, Green Pepper, Chili Lime and Sweet Habanero and it is a nice selection of the flavors they offer. These are the 5 oz bottles and the set sells for $23.62 on Amazon, so that is a decent price for all six of these together. These are milder sauces (the Sweet Habanero is the hottest and only gets to about Medium on my scale), but they are all still quite good and should give a kick to the holiday season!
Tabasco Chrome Caddy Gift Set
For some reason, the Tabasco gift sets fetch a pretty high price so I won’t recommend them because you can make up your own collection by buying the varieties available on the shelf at your local store. But this fun little set includes a chrome caddy along with eight of the 5 oz bottles (plus four of the mini Tabascos), so it should make for a nice gift and a good sampler of the sauces offered by the McIlhenny Company. The sauces included are Original, Green Jalapeno, Chipotle, Habanero, Buffalo, Sriracha, Sweet & Spicy, and Garlic Pepper. It sells for $59.99 on Amazon, and hot sauce lovers should certainly enjoy it.
Spicy Gnome Sampler Set
While I am listing off hot sauce gift sets, I have to give a shoutout to at least one of the craft sauce makers, and Spicy Gnome is a favorite of mine. They put out several sauces and rubs and other spicy products and they have two samplers available. Their Trio Sample Pack includes the Fine Sauce (Fresno Red based), Enchanted Flame (Serrano based), and Dragon’s Tears (Habanero based) and you can read my review of that set here. Their Spicy Trio Sample Pack includes the Dragon’s Tears, Viking’s Revenge (Ghost Pepper Based W/a hint of Orange), and Odin’s Wrath (No “Base” just HEAT – Habanero, Ghost, Reaper, and Scorpion). Anybody who likes spicy foods will certainly enjoy the sauces from this company.