Butterfly Bakery of Vermont – Mellow Vibes Only Taco Hot Sauce

Bitter: 🟡🟡○○○

Salty: 🟡🟡🟡○○

Sour/Tangy:🟡🟡🟡○○

Sweet: 🟡○○○○

Umami: 🟡○○○○

Heat: 🟡🟡○○○○○○○○

Quick Flavor Notes: Cumin, bright, savory

Recommended: Yes

Texture: Medium and mostly smooth

Ingredients: Serrano, organic distilled white vinegar, lime juice, garlic scapes, cumin powder, salt, coriander powder.

Sometimes a hot sauce company will become famous for a certain sauce and when that happens with chile heads it often ends up being one of their spicier offerings. That leads to that sauce being recommended across various social media sites and forums with the best of intentions. The only trouble can come from those same chile heads sometimes not realizing that new hot sauce enthusiasts may not quite have the same tolerance yet. Those hot sauce makers also realize there’s a huge market out there for mild to medium hot sauces both for people with lower heat tolerance as well as for chile heads who might realize starting the day off with a breakfast burrito festooned with several tablespoons of a Carolina Reaper sauce may limit the rest of the day’s activities. Much like Torchbearer made a milder Garlic Habanero version of their wildly popular Garlic Reaper (and honestly, I find the Garlic Habanero version to be better balanced) Butterfly Bakery of Vermont makes available a mellower version of their wildly popular Taco Vibes Only, so I thought it was time to check it out.

Butterfly Bakery of Vermont Mellow Vibes Only is very close to Taco Vibes Only in terms of recipe, just minus the super-hot chiles. I mentioned it in my review of Taco Vibes Only but that sauce came about originally because Hot Ones wanted the company’s Red Ghost Reaper but issues arose sourcing enough reapers and ghost peppers to make it in the necessary volume. I see that as a win because as great as Red Ghost Reaper is, Taco Vibes Only is an even better sauce and manages to use super-hot chiles in a way that enhances the other ingredients instead of overpowering them. With Mellow Vibes Only the heat comes from red serrano chiles, always a favorite of mine, and mixes in the Mexican flavors of cumin powder, lime juice, garlic (in the form of garlic scapes), and somewhat surprisingly – coriander seed. While cilantro, which is the herbal leaf that grows from the coriander seed, is very common in Mexican cuisine, and coriander seed isn’t unknown, it’s not nearly as common. Common in Indian cuisine coriander seed has a complex flavor profile that includes notes of citrus, aromatic wood, floral notes, and warm spice. Mellow Vibes Only is mostly smooth in texture with a medium consistency. Cumin, being a very aromatic spice, comes through strong in the aroma.

I mentioned in my review of Taco Vibes Only that it reminded me of a much fresher and high quality Taco Bell Fire Sauce. Fire has always been my go-to at Taco Bell, though recently due to a mix-up with whoever bagged my order I ended up with a bunch of Mild and Hot instead. Something I hadn’t realized is that aside from the difference in heat (which is negligible as they’re all super-mild) the flavor profiles are also all quite a bit difference. Fire has a much stronger tomato flavor and is a bit fruitier while Mild and Hot are much more cumin-forward. I mention this because Mellow Vibes Only, going with just serrano peppers for heat, allows the cumin and coriander to move much more forward in the mix as well. While Mellow Vibes Only isn’t a cumin bomb like Palo Alto Firefighter’s XX Habanero it’s very present but it’s the coriander that really stands out. Without the searing reapers and ghost peppers the citrusy floral complex coriander flavor comes through especially on the back half of the flavor of this sauce. The lime juice adds to the citrus flavor and helps balance out the vinegar so while this sauce is very tangy, as most Butterfly Bakery of Vermont hot sauces are, it’s not aggressively vinegary. Mellow Vibes Only has a similar ultra-premium Taco Bell sauce vibe to Taco Vibes Only, but comparing the two as much as I enjoy Mellow Vibes Only I personally prefer Taco Vibes Only. The addition of the bright fruity reapers and earthy ghost peppers to the serranos just makes Taco Vibes Only more complex and interesting to me, However, if you’re at a place where Cholula or the basic red El Yucateco are the hottest things you’ve had then Mellow Vibes Only will be a great stepping stone.

Mellow Vibes Only being a Mexican style sauce I had to try it out with Mexican food first. Picking up some nachos and a bean burrito from one of my favorite local Mexican spots I found it did, as expected, go beautifully with them. I found myself alternating bites between the Mellow Vibes Only and the dark red chile de arbol sauce that they always provide and it’s interesting how the sauce can completely change the flavor profile of the item. Mellow Vibes Only is much brighter, fruitier, and tangier than the chile de arbol sauce, but that arbol sauce brings a great bitterness and earthiness to bear. Combining the to gives the best of both worlds. Mellow Vibes Only also works well on non-Mexican food. It’s perfect on a turkey sandwich – that cumin and coriander making it feel special, as well as in a cup of Wawa chicken corn chowder – the Mexican flavors almost giving it a bit of an elote chowder vibe.

Both Mellow Vibes Only and Taco Vibes Only get my full recommendation. If you haven’t had either yet and you have a moderate or higher spice tolerance I’d go with Taco Vibes Only first. If you have a low spice tolerance Mellow Vibes Only is a great choice. Mellow Vibes Only is also great to have as a partner to Taco Vibes Only for those days where you don’t want to subject your system to reapers. Both sauces are of course all natural with no artificial preservatives, colors, flavors, or thickeners.