New York City Hot Sauce Expo 1 of 5

New York City Hot Sauce Expo

April 20 – 21 

110 Kent Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

 

High River Sauces Hellacious Hot Sauce

On Saturday, April 21, Allen and I spent the day at East River State Park enjoying the New York City Hot Sauce Expo in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. The view of New York City was spectacular and it was a lovely sunny day, with mild weather and breezy at times. I should have brought sunscreen since we both ended up with sunburns on our faces. The event took place right next door to the famed Smorgasburg. Thousands of people attended this great event that featured more than 40 small-batch hot sauce companies from all parts of the U.S. There was hot sauce tasting galore from mild to extreme heat, craft beers and food as well. Allen had his share of capsaicin since he tasted about 50 hot sauces. I tried about 15 and opted for the milder, fruit base sauces. What do Bad Brains, Twisted Sister, Guns N Roses, Trans-Siberian Orchestra have in common at the expo? Musicians from these bands are brewing and selling their own hot sauce and it is quality stuff.

High River Sauces Tear Of The Sun Hot Sauce

Steve Seabury from High River Sauces organized this event and did a fine job and we want to thank him for his hospitality. We were impressed with the turn out and met and mingled with a lot of hot sauce peeps. Some chilihead vendors we knew and others Allen corresponded with online, so it was great to finally meet them in person. I enjoyed the beautiful artwork and interesting names on some of the bottles like Dirty Dick's, PuckerButt, Tom's Roid-Rippin' and Evil Seed to name a few. For spice lovers, this was the event to check out.  

High River Sauces Rogue

Doors opened at 10:00AM with events throughout the day, such as Evil Seed's Peanut Brittle Challenge, which Allen tried and it burned him up real good. There was also a Volcanic Fiery Pizza Eating Challenge, Michelada Competition and Screamin' Mi Mi Awards Show. Here are the winners.

Chris Cafferty and Staff of High River Sauces

Louisiana Style Hot Sauce

3^rd Place – Lizards on the Bayou Lizard Spit Hot Sauce

2^nd Place – Volcanic Peppers Chocolate Lightning

1^st Place – CaJohns Firehouse Hot Sauce

Chipotle Hot Sauce

3^rd Place – CaJohns Happy Beaver

2^nd Place – NW Elixirs No. 3 Hot Sauce

1^st Place – Race City Sauce Works Deadwood Hot Sauce

Fruit-Based Regular

3^rd Place – Hellfire Blueberry Hell

2^nd Place – Frankie V’s Serrano

1^st Place – Dirty Dick's Hot Sauce

Fruit-Based Hot

3^rd Place – Bigfat's 708 Hot Sauce

2^nd Place – Race City Sauce Works The Awakening

1^st Place – Hellfire Devil's Gold

Jalapeño

3^rd Place – TAT's Ghost Town

2^nd Place – Salva Solsa Boom Boom

1^st Place – NW Elixir No. 2 Hot Sauce

Habanero

3^rd Place – NW Elixir No. 1 Hot Sauce

2^nd Place – Heartbreaking Dawns 1542 Chocolate Habanero Sauce

1^st Place – Rippin' Red Forbidden Angel

Scorpion

3^rd Place – CaJohns Moruga Madness

2^nd Place – Heartbreaking Dawns 1498 Trinidad Scorpion Sauce

1^st Place – Mild to Wild Pepper & Herb Co. Ralph's Righteous Scorpion

Pepper Blend

3^rd Place – Race City Sauce Works Pure Genius

2^nd Place – Mild to Wild Pepper & Herb Co. Ghost Garlic

1^st Place – Red Canyon Spice The Rapture Hot Sauce

Novelty

3^rd Place – Puckerbutt Pepper Co. Reaper

2^nd Place – Henry Family Farms Naga Jolokia

1^st Place – Tom's Roid Rippin' Hot Cherry Pepper & Roasted Garlic

Label Artwork

3^rd Place – NW Elixirs

2^nd Place – Puckerbutt Pepper Co.

1^st Place – Frankie V's Spooky White

Torchbearer Sauces

When we arrived, we picked up our VIP bag and wristbands inside the lovely BiBa space. There were vendors inside serving food samples and drinks. There was ample space to sit down when we needed a rest and a break from the sun. I took so many pictures and ended up with 5 posts to provide ample coverage. We tried to showcase all the hot sauce companies and provide links at the end of each post.

Heartbreaking Dawns 

Heartbreaking Dawns

It was great to see friends Steve Seabury and Chris Cafferty of High River Sauces. They had samples of their sauces like Hellacious, Tears of the Sun, and the fairly new sauce Rogue made with blood orange, apples and pears and moruga scorpion peppers. (Note: Scorpion peppers are now the hottest peppers in the world.) Tears of the Sun is one of our new faves from High River's great line of sauces. 

Bad Brains Fire Burn Babylon Hot Sauce

Bad Brains F.V.K. 7 Pod Extreme Hot Sauce

Allen stopped by the Torchbearer Sauces booth to talk to Vid, one of the Torchbearer founders. They talked about some of Allen's faves like Zombie Apocalypse and Oh, My Garlic sauces. It was great to see Torchbearer doing so well. Their booth was packed with people sampling and buying their sauces.

DEFCON Sauces

DEFCON Sacues

It was great meeting up with the Heartbreaking Dawns crew and seeing their sauces and rub samples for peeps to try, and purchase. Heartbreaking Dawns also packaged the new Bad Brains F.V.K. 7 Pod Extreme Hot Sauce and Bad Brains Fire Burn Babylon Hot Sauce. Cool that this highly anticipated sauce was available for the public to buy at the expo. We saw owner Johnny McLaughlin for just a few moments as he was back and forth between this event and Smorgasburg next door selling his Pit Beef.

Allen and John Dilley of DEFCON Sauces

It was awesome meeting John Dilley, President and Mad Scientist behind DEFCON Sauces from New Jersey. DEFCON had their wing sauce products out to sample and sell. DEFCON also carry a great selection of horseradish concoctions. John was a cool guy, and had his awards on display. DEFCON is one of our newer favorite wing sauces. John was more than happy to take a picture with Allen for the blog.

Evil Seed Sauce Co

Evil Seed Sauce Co

Allen heard of Evil Seed Sauce Co from Freakville, FL on the web before, and it was cool meeting fellow chilihead Patrick McGill, the master of mayhem. Patrick is the sauce brew master that makes their heated evil creations in the kitchen. Patrick had Allen taste his sauces and gave him a few pieces of his awesome and hot peanut brittle. Awaiting a response, Allen told him it was one of the best spicy candies made with pepper extract. Patrick's personality was quite interesting and he interacted great with attendees. Evil Seed offer a varied selection of products and I see them growing in the future. Live good, eat evil.

Evil Seed Sauce Co

Allen and Patrick (left) of Evil Seed Sauce Co

Allen found Born to Hula Hot Sauce online and on Facebook, so it was great to speak with their staff as they offer a nice selection of hot sauces. Based in New Jersey, Hula makes real flavorful sauces. I bought Smokin' Pineapple after trying a sample and loving the fruit based mild heat. Allen enjoyed the great flavor of Devon Allman's Chipotle Blues, which was smokey and smooth. This medium heat sauce had chipotle peppers and cayenne peppers with roasted veggies. Allen also sampled the Habanero sauces and really enjoyed the heat level.

Born to Hula Hot Sauce

Born to Hula Hot Sauce

For further information, please go to:

New York City Hot Sauce Expo: http://www.nychotsauceexpo.com

High River Sauces: http://highriversauces.com/

Torchbearer Sauces:  http://www.torchbearersauces.com/

Heartbreaking Dawns: http://www.heartbreakingdawns.com/

Bad Brains Hot Sauce: http://badbrains.com/

DEFCON Sauces:  http://www.defconsauces.com/

Evil Seed Sauce Company: http://www.evilseedsauces.com/

Born to Hula Hot Sauce: http://borntohula.com/

-Allen and Sophia/Two Frys