Spice Lords in the House of Hot Sauce

If you’ve ever had to buy a gift for a bloke, you’ve likely found yourself on a website scrolling through socks, cufflinks, cheese selections, miniature Whiskey sets, personalised leather bracelets, football prints, BBQ accessories, and the infamous hot sauce gift set.

Just what Uncle Gary wanted for his birthday. A novelty set of hot sauces called “Hotter Than Hell” with a flaming skull and a warning about keeping it away from children, pets, and anyone with a digestive system. Promising flavours like Vampire’s Anus, Satan’s Sweat, and Death Wish XXXL. The go-to for when you have no idea what Uncle Gary is actually interested in.

When did hot sauce become a test for masculinity, a collector’s hobby, a gateway to YouTube infamy (Hot Ones) and a celebrity side hustle? Ed Sheeran and Brooklyn Beckham, we’re looking at you. Who decided hot sauce was the male equivalent of journalling? A very sweaty form of catharsis.

Of course, hot sauce was embedded in cultures across the globe long before Tabasco launched in Louisiana in 1868. The American consumer boom of the nineties and noughties (when everything from food to fitness and masculinity got bigger and more branded) saw hot sauce become something else: extreme. “Extreme” in the same way men’s toiletries smell like oil-spill, gunmetal, and flamethrower.

The novelty of sauces named “Hell’s Hot Rage XXXL” started to wear off and we entered a new era: hot sauce brands that are more about flavour, culture, and context and less about proving you’re the hardest geezer.

Sauces you’d actually want on your table, that aren’t screaming for attention or threatening our digestive system.

Think you’re a hot sauce lover? Scroll to try some new hot sauces…

Coming soon to the Watch Humans Try It app

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