Small-batch hot sauce · Port Alsey

# Good food deserves a little danger.

Fermented three weeks, bottled by hand, sealed in wax. Three sauces, five heat levels, zero apologies. Well, one apology, but that was about Batch № 03 and we have all agreed to move on.

Meet the lineup Find a bottle

Small batch № 7

21-day ferment

Batch № 7 bottled Thursday · 212 cases · gone by Sunday, historically speaking

The lineup

## Three sauces. No filler episodes.

- $12

  Batch № 01

  ### First Alarm

  The everyday ripper

  Fermented jalapeño, tomatillo, and a hard squeeze of lime. Bright, green, and loud enough to open both eyes. This is the bottle that lives on the counter, not in the fridge door.

  Polite burn
  Bottle
    150 ml · $12
  Put it on
    Fried eggs · tacos al pastor · cold pizza

- $14

  Batch № 04

  ### Deep Cut

  The slow burner

  Habanero and charred pineapple, aged nine weeks in a bourbon barrel we won in a bet. Sweet first, smoky second, then a long third act that keeps improving your posture.

  Committed
  Bottle
    200 ml · $14
  Put it on
    Smash burgers · grilled corn · brave marinades

- $16

  Batch № 07

  ### Last Words

  Sign the waiver

  Scorpion pepper, smoked date, black garlic. Made once a season, 212 cases at a time, each numbered by hand while wearing two pairs of gloves. We are legally proud of it.

  Famous last words
  Bottle
    100 ml · $16
  Put it on
    One drop per taco · dares · apologies

The heat scale

## Calibrated by our own tears

Every batch is tasted by the same three people in the same order on the same stools. It is not science, but it is rigorous, and two of us have notarised the results.

Tasted by three

1. 1

   ### Whisper

   A rumor of warmth. Your grandmother could drink it. She has.

2. 2

   ### Polite Burn

   Noticeable, friendly, gone in a minute. First Alarm lives here.

3. 3

   ### Committed

   You reach for water and then, wisely, decide against making it worse.

4. 4

   ### Slow Burner

   Deep Cut territory. Arrives late, stays long, tips generously.

5. 5

   ### Last Words

   One drop. We mean it. The label says so in three languages.

How it’s made

## Slow sauce, fast opinions

Beckoner Street market, Thursday, before coffee.
Kettle two, doing its loud little job.

1. 01

   ### The market run

   Every Thursday, 6 a.m., Beckoner Street market. We buy chillies by the crate from the same four growers we started with, and we squeeze every pepper like it owes us money.

2. 02

   ### The ferment

   Three weeks minimum in salt brine, in crocks older than the business. Fermentation does the heavy lifting: depth, funk, the tang that vinegar-only sauces fake.

3. 03

   ### The blend

   Small kettles, wooden spoons, a radio permanently tuned to the wrong station. Nothing thickened, nothing stabilised, nothing you cannot pronounce with your mouth on fire.

4. 04

   ### Wax & number

   Every bottle dipped by hand and numbered in pencil. If the wax drips crooked, that is not a defect. That is provenance.

From the test kitchen

## Midnight tacos

Serves 2, generously · 25 minutes · uses № 04 Deep Cut

### You will need

- 8 small corn tortillas, doubled up
- 450 g skirt steak, or mushrooms if it is that kind of week
- Deep Cut (№ 04), applied with confidence
- 1 white onion, minced fine
- A fistful of cilantro, stems and all
- 2 limes, quartered, non-negotiable
- Flaky salt, more than feels right

### Then

1. Salt the steak an hour ahead. Watch a show. Ignore the group chat.
2. Sear hard in a screaming pan, 3 minutes a side. Rest it as long as you seared it.
3. Warm tortillas directly on the flame until they smell like a good decision.
4. Slice against the grain, pile it on, top with onion and cilantro.
5. Deep Cut in stripes, lime over everything, salt last. Eat standing up at the counter like you mean it.

Counter-tested

Stockists

## Shops with excellent judgement

- ### Marrow & Rind

  Port Alsey

  Full lineup + refills

- ### The Brine Room

  Copperline

  Ferments on tap

- ### Halbury General

  Halbury

  Batches 01 & 04

- ### Night Owl Grocer

  Port Alsey

  Open until 2 a.m.

- ### Sagemoor Deli

  Sagemoor

  Ask for the back shelf

- ### Westhollow Wine Co.

  Westhollow

  Pairing flights

- ### Kettle & Crate

  Ferrow Bay

  Gift boxes

- ### The Corner Torta

  Copperline

  On every table

Somewhere we should be? Tell your favourite shop to write to shelves@piquant.example.

## Put us on your shelf

Case of 12, mixed or single-sauce, wholesale from $84. We deliver ourselves within forty miles of Port Alsey and we always bring a tester bottle for the staff. That last part is strategy, not generosity.

wholesale@piquant.example

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