Spicin Foods – 142.2 dB Arrowhead Loudest Stadium in the World Hot Sauce

Having possibly the longest name of any hot sauce I’ve seen yet, and likely designed originally to be sold at the gift shops and concession stands at Arrowhead Stadium, I picked this up for about 80 cents during a Spicin Foods fire sale for some sauces with ‘best by’ dates coming up quickly.

Not that I’m opposed to the Kansas City Chiefs, Mahomes is always fun to watch, and I have a soft spot for Andy Reid after watching him coach my Eagles for many years, but I probably wouldn’t have sought this particular sauce out if not for the big sale. I assume this sells at a greatly inflated stadium price at Arrowhead.

Spicin Foods are the company responsible for the grocery-store staple “Pain is Good” series of sauces as well as (in)famously the ‘Da Bomb’ sauces which seem to sell predominantly due to drunken challenges and people who have to try something when someone else says “taste this, it’s awful!”.

Their main-line Pain is Good does seem to garner plenty of good reviews however, and being free of the bitter extract that defines the flavor ‘Da Bomb’ that’s not surprising. I compared the ingredients list on this sauce to some images I could find of various Pain is Good sauces but couldn’t find an exact match, so this may well be a custom blend. It’s also a rather interesting tasting sauce which seems to combine two or three major types of sauces into one.

The main pepper content comes from cayenne pepper mash and habanero pepper mash. If this were more cayenne-forward it would taste like a typical Louisiana style sauce, if it were more habanero-forward it would taste like many of the habanero sauces on the market, but in this case they’re almost equally balanced in terms of flavor impact, yet remain distinct. The result is something unique where my mind flip-flops between sensations and expectations as I taste it, my tongue wants it to conform and pick a side, but this sauce doesn’t do that. To make it even more complex there’s a noticeable flavor of garlic and mustard in the sauce, which take it to a completely different direction, and add that pungency and sour taste in the background. Overall this is a sauce that has a bunch of bold straightforward tastes that when combined make it surprisingly complex.

As far as pairing this sauce goes, it was solid on pizza, excellent on sauteed chicken breasts, and really came into its own on a bratwurst where those mustard notes made it feel more at home. It’s also a good sauce for micheladas, just enough heat and the savory mustard flavor plays well against clamato and beer.

If you’re a major Chiefs fan this may be an obvious pick-up, but if not and you just like rolling the dice on great deals on sauces then keep an eye on the Spicin Foods website and see if they have other fire sales popping up in the future.

Ingredients: Water, Cayenne Mash (cayenne peppers, salt), Carrots, Habanero Mash (habanero peppers, salt), Garlic, Distilled Vinegar, Mustard (water, vinegar, mustard seed, salt, turmeric, spices), Orange Juice Concentrate, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Xanthan Gum, Spices

Heat Level: 3/10. There’s some heat here, but it’s primarily a front-loaded burn that fades quickly.