Alchemy Peppers – Jalapeno Peppers + Citra Hops Hopp Sauce

Alchemy Peppers traces its roots to a college student who’d become interested in molecular gastronomy while working in a bar with a machine that could make fogs and vapors from ingredients (and accidentally gassing out the bar when trying the machine with some peppers) and a self proclaimed “craft beer nerd” who he’d previous become acquainted with. The combination of a science-based exploration of the properties of peppers and an enthusiasm to find new culinary applications for hops outside of beer have been guided them in their sauce creation. In fact they don’t call their sauces hot sauces, but rather hopp sauces.

Jalapeno Peppers + Citra Hops is the mildest of their lineup, and the one I chose to open first as its been a while since I’ve had a green sauce. The ingredients list is clean with just peppers (jalapeno and bell), lime juice, agave nectar, garlic, salt, citric acid, and hops. Citric acid is the only thing that jumps out as being a less-than-wholesome ingredient, and though it is a naturally occurring acid in citrus fruits with a sour taste (and often used in sour candies such as Sour Patch Kids) most of it is produced through an industrial fermentation process from molasses or corn starch. The use of the citric acid was intentional however, as any sauce needs acidifying ingredients to maintain a safe shelf stable pH, and the makers of hopp sauce preferred the flavor profile of the citric acid to vinegar. The sauce does smell quite fresh when you open the bottle with the citrusy hops and the vegetal jalapeno wafting up. The texture is rustic with some nice thick chunk and bits of jalapeno in the sauce, but it was very watery outside of the jalapeno with water separating from the rest of the sauce on the plate or on top of food.

This sauce does taste green. The vegetal flavor of the green jalapenos and green bell peppers come through – a little grassy, crisp, and fresh. The Citra hops do give some aromatic citrus notes and just a smidge of bitterness. Both are balanced against the sweet acidity from the lime juice and just a hint of sourness from the citric acid. Despite the agave nectar I didn’t detect much sweetness in this sauce, which is a good thing. The biggest challenge with the flavors in this sauce however are that they’re all extremely light, tasting diluted. With water as the second ingredient not only is the texture of the sauce a bit watery, the sauce tastes a bit watered down. Jalapenos are a milder chile but there’s absolutely no heat in this sauce. It’s considerably milder than even basic Louisiana style sauces such as Crystal or Texas Pete.

I tried this sauce on a variety of foods including some ham and cheese melts, tacos, bacon and cheese fries, and a tuna sandwich. It’s versatile in its applications, the flavor profiles being light and neutral enough they go with most things. The water that separates from the rest of the sauce is a bigger concern, making foods feel too wet and soggy if they sit for a bit with it applied. The complete lack of heat combined with the diluted flavor also didn’t elevate foods to a high degree though it wasn’t objectionable on anything either.

I like the idea behind Alchemy Peppers Jalapeno + Citra Hops Hopp Sauce and it is marketed as a mild sauce so I wasn’t expecting a high level of heat. I can enjoy mild sauces, and in fact have loved the Butterfly Bakery of Vermont Trinidad Perfume which is a sauce made from a pepper designed to have no heat but to be packed with flavor. I’ve had many other jalapeno based sauces that not only had more heat but which also had much fuller flavors with much more concentrated pepper flavor coming through. Despite the fresh green taste, which I enjoyed, there are enough negatives about this sauce that I’m not going to recommend it. I have already purchased several other sauces from Alchemy Peppers however so I’m looking forward to trying those.

Ingredients: Jalapeno Pepper, Water, Green Bell Pepper, Lime Juice, Agave Nectar, Salt, Garlic, Citric Acid, Hops

Heat Level: 1/10, though if I could rate it lower I would. There’s no heat to be found here.