Clark + Hopkins – Chesapeake Bay Jalapeno Pepper Sauce

Bitter: ⭐⭐✰✰

Salty: ⭐✰✰✰✰

Sour/Tangy: ⭐⭐⭐⭐✰

Sweet: ⭐⭐⭐✰✰

Umami: ⭐⭐✰✰✰

Heat: ⭐✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰✰

Quick Flavor Notes: Sweet, vegetal, celery seed, mustard

Texture: Thin and smooth

Recommended: Conditional

Ingredients: Cider Vinegar, Jalapenos, Bell Peppers, Onion, Garlic, Ginger, Salt, Bay Leaf, Celery Seed, Mustard, Sugar, Spices

Clark and Hopkins was founded in Northern Virginia by chef Brandon Clark and his tennis buddy Don Hopkins. Initially making hot sauces for fun, it was after a friend who’d returned from a trip to Kerala, India made a comment that there were no hot sauces from his region that the idea of a hot sauce company focused on reginal flavors from around the world was born. I originally encountered Clark and Hopkins hot sauces through Drop (MassDrop at the time, when they were actually good and not just selling keyboards) and immediately loved their flavors. Since I grew up near the Chesapeake Bay I decided I’d give this flavor of theirs a try.

Most of the time when something is billed as having flavors of the Chesapeake Bay it means it will mimic or pay homage to the most famous spice mix of the area, Old Bay Seasoning. Clark and Hopkins Chesapeake Bay follows that tradition using some of the signature spices of Old Bay including dry mustard, celery seed, bay leaf, ginger, onion, and garlic. Where it goes off in its own direction is by using green jalapenos as the pepper base instead of the red (I’m assuming cayenne) pepper used in Old Bay plus adding sugar and removing the paprika and black pepper which are big Old Bay elements. Acid comes from apple cider vinegar which is often used in the steaming liquid for crabs (along with some beer) in the region. The sauce is thin in texture and mostly smooth. The apple cider vinegar along with some spices are dominant in the aroma.

Apple cider vinegar is a sweet vinegar and especially when combined with sugar in a sauce can lead to a cloying and distracting sweetness. That’s unfortunately the case here. I love the other flavors in play and I love Old Bay seasoning so I’d been looking forward to a craft hot sauce incorporating those flavors (yes, I know there is an official Old Bay Hot Sauce, which I’ve tried, and it’s not bad, though it’s essentially just Frank’s with Old Bay added). Clark and Hopkins Chesapeake Bay is quite tangy, as you’d expect from vinegar being first ingredient, and has some of that grassy vegetal flavor both from the green jalapenos and the green bell peppers. The celery seed adds some earthy savory goodness and there’s a bit of heat and pungency from the fried mustard. Both of those are good counters to the cloying sweetness as are the onion and garlic, though the ginger unfortunately reinforces those sweet notes. I do feel that this sauce could be more successful replacing the green jalapenos for ripe red ones or red serranos, eliminating the sugar, and either replacing the apple cider vinegar with something more neutral or doing a 50/50 blend of that and distilled. As expected from a sauce with only jalapenos as the source of heat this sauce is incredibly mild.

Clark and Hopkins recommend seafood as a pairing for this sauce so I decided to try for a variety and picked up a mixed bag from my local Cajun seafood boil place cooked “dry” with none of their sauce (which I’ll often do for takeout and just spice it how I like at home along with some drawn butter as the “butter” used at those places is more often than not margarine, ick). Chesapeake Bay does pair well with seafood, especially brinier or more savory seafoods like mussels and clams. Naturally sweet seafoods like snow crab legs and scallops aren’t as good of a match as they again reinforce that cloying sweetness in the sauce. Other than seafood I tried this on some flank steak (which I’d accidentally made a bit too salty) and found it worked well there, again deeper more savory flavors distract from the sweetness. This is also pretty good on tuna and turkey melts.

Clark and Hopkins Chesapeake Bay wouldn’t be a re-buy for me, but the sauce itself isn’t terribly unbalanced and is made with quality ingredients so I will give this a conditional recommendation. I personally find apple cider vinegar plus sugar to be a combination that barely ever works for me. If you like sauces with more sweetness this may be something you’d enjoy. This sauce is also all natural with no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, or thickeners.