Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Band merchandise used to be limited, and still is for many, to the basics: t-shirts, posters, and stickers. These days you can purchase a wide variety of items ranging from Motorhead wine and Trooper beer to band figurines, skate decks, hockey pucks, coloring books, etc. I've seen some very interesting things on GoFundMe and Indigogo campaigns. Whether or not this merch expansion happened due to decreased music sales, an embracing of branding, a combo of both, or other factors entirely doesn't matter. Us fans get more cool stuff!

I'm not a collector or connoisseur, but I've had my share of hot sauces over the years. Phoenix-based traditional/US power metal band, Born of Fire, came up with a Heavy Metal Hot Sauce. Says drummer Steve Dorssom, "It was an idea I always had in the back of my head and I happened to know a hot sauce maker that was willing to team up with me, tweak out a recipe, make a bad ass custom label with a killer name and there you have it "Born Of Fire Heavy Metal Hot Sauce."

Chili peppers are measured on the "Scoville Scale" which is dependent on the capsaicin sensitivity of testers.

I really didn't want to crack the hot sauce open because it's such a cool conversation piece, but I figured I could keep the bottle. Don't shoot me for admitting I tested it out on some fast food chicken nuggets and fries first. Hey, somewhere in Ohio, USA, is a polaroid of me on a restaraunt wall for having ate their hottest wings, but that was long ago and I didn't want mouth blisters and anal issues.

This sauce was pretty damn great! I tried out a bottle on a variety of food items--steak, fish, chicken nuggets, and scambled eggs; it worked well with all of them. The first initial flavor is a complex of fruity sweetness on the front end. That evolves quickly into a back-of-the-throat heat that is relatively mild and not at all painful. There's much more of a flavor profile than I expected. I finished a third of it with my food and was tipping the bottle back for some straight-up sample tastes.

BOFHMHS isn't a sauce that will scorch your mouth and water-up your eyes. This one is made for the pleasure of taste. If I had to guess, I'd put it around 5,000-30,000 units on the Scoville scale somewhere between jalapeño and tabasco level heat. Comparatively, it reminds me of a combo of sweet and hot BBQ sauces. I would buy it in the stores before I'd buy most of the other one-dimensional "red hot" sauces you see on shelves that are only heat. There are other band hot sauces on the market like The Sword "Tears of Fire" and Arch Enemy "Burning Angel", but I haven't run across them to compare.

What I'd like to see from Born of Fire--a hotter version, single serving packets, and a gallon size for me!

Born Of Fire Heavy Metal Hot Sauce
· Taste: Delicious
· Heat Level: Mild
· Novelty Factor: Very cool