Alchemist – Local Banger (by Butterfly Bakery of Vermont)

Having been very impressed with the previous Butterfly Bakery of Vermont beer collaboration sauces that I’ve tried I ordered this sauce which they create for and which is sold exclusively by the Alchemist Brewery, one of their major beer sauce partners.

With a history dating back over 20 years as a brewpub and over 13 years as a brewery, Alchemist Brewery is best known for their Heady Topper IPA (which is used in three different Butterfly Bakery of Vermont hot sauces) and their Focal Banger IPA, which is the beer used in this sauce.

This is also the spiciest of their beer sauces. Heady Topper Hot Sauce uses only green jalapenos, Red Heady Topper uses red jalapenos and habaneros, and Habanero Heady Topper uses habaneros. Local Banger uses the delicious red jalapenos again but ups the ante with ghost peppers. In addition the maple wood smoked onions and garlic scapes used in some of the other Butterfly Bakery of Vermont sauces make an appearance.

The result is that this sauce a great up front heat – the ghost peppers make themselves known, with a great full-bodied flavor. The smoked onions and ghost peppers both bring some smoky notes, the red jalapenos counter with a bit of pepper sweetness, and the Focal Banger IPA beer ads that bitter and bright aspect to the taste. There’s more going on in this sauce than in the Heady Topper collaborations, and the beer doesn’t come through as strongly as it did in Red Heady Topper for me, but it still plays a great supporting role in this sauce. The overall flavor of Local Banger is robust with good forward heat and a balanced profile between smoke, sweet, bitter, bright, and savory.

I tried this first on some chicken fingers I crisped up in the air fryer and it was an OK choice for that, but felt that with the breading it dulled the flavor of the sauce too much. Using it to kick up some shrimp sauteed in a little bit of butter and garlic was a much better pairing, and I think this sauce really finds its place with seafood – it allowed the more complex flavor of Local Banger to shine through and really compliment the sweet shrimp.

I can heartily recommend Local Banger, it’s delicious, and a must-try if you enjoy beer-infused hot sauces.

Ingredients: Vermont Red Jalapenos, organic distilled white vinegar, Focal Banger IPA, maple wood smoked Vermont onions, Vermont garlic scapes, Vermont ghost peppers, salt.

Heat Level: 4/10. The ghost peppers make themselves known and bring a good forward heat, but not too much that lingers