A few months back, I did an interview with Gordon Cameron, the proprietor of an up and coming, Washington DC-based line of hot sauces called Capitol Punishment. The sauces (Roasted Red Gar-banero, Must Have Mango, Smokey Sear-Acha, and Serra-Tillo) were fantastic, and are still some of my current favorites.
After not hearing from Capitol Punishment sauces for a while, I decided to check up with Chef Gordon and see how things were going. Turns out, life as a fledgling Artisan Hot Sauce maker isn’t easy when your identity gets stolen, leaving you to foot a large bill for taxes in a state you’ve never lived in, complete with a lien on your checking account.
In the words of Chef Gordon, “I have a court date for September 7th. This is unfortunately conflicting with the Zest Fest weekend, I was looking so forward to meeting fellow manufacturers and HSBers. This issue has really impacted Capitol Punishment, not to mention my personal life. It has cost me two events this summer, I can’t use my bank, buy raw materials, damn it even cost me a low number Firecracker 500!”
This is an unfortunate blow to all hot sauce lovers who value good heat, perfectly balanced flavors, and high quality ingredients. Hopefully fortune turns around soon for Chef Gordon, so we can get back to enjoying his fine line of sauces again.
Chef Gordon’s take on the situation? I still have a huge habanero for a heart that pumps capsicum into my blood, so it’s will take more than this issue to keep me out of the biz. So when the smoke clears, we will rally to get everything back on track with a vengeance.
Written by John
Nick Lindauer founded Hot Sauce Blog in 2004, making it one of the internet's very first hot sauce review sites. After 20+ years of tasting, reviewing, and attending every major fiery foods event in the country, he's back behind the keyboard covering the hot sauce world he helped build.
12 responses to “Update on Capitol Punishment Sauces”
Man that sucks….. Wishing you the best Gordon!
Wow – that is unfortunate.
Best of luck to Chef Gordon to get this sorted, cleared and back to making sauces.
Great article too John!
Oh man, that SUCKS! Gordon, wish you the best of luck man. This too shall pass.
Man that blows. Tell us where they are and we can go track them down and pour some HOT stuff in their eyes 😀 I hate stuff like this happens and it is coming more of a common occurence
Gordon, good luck, and looking forward to your return.
Thanks for the sharing of sucktitude. I have a CPA/Tax attorney working on the case. It should be easy to prove but the beuracratic wheels turn very slowly when it comes to thier mistakes, of course they’ll take your money in a heart beat. I hope my wife gets the hint I want a FC500 for Christmas.
[Comment ID #50772 Quote]
Gordon, you didn’t get one at all? Will you be at ZestFest?
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No, I never got one. I got in right after it went up one Blair’s site. By the time they went to run the cards was just after the state garnished all my accounts.
No, no ZF, the funds I had resevered for hotel, airline, shipping etc, were assimilated by the afore mentioned evil empire.
Hot sauce woes man, anyone want to crop dust Annapolis with Nitro Rain?
[Comment ID #50942 Quote]
can’t help you with the crop dusting, but if you have your wife contact me, i’m sure we can do something for a fc500 for ya. “the big show 823” at “yahoo” dot “com”
Don’t say ‘can’t get raw product’ either 😉 Your credit is still good with me.
LOL, Thanks Jim. I have not forgotten. I hope to have this issue resolved in a few weeks. In the meantime I did have an art guy work out some truely awsome new labels. Nice slick new look.
Good luck tomorrow! Stairway to Freebird!
gordon-
hi! i’m joe polo
give me a call @ 913-432-5228 let’s see if i can help with your situtation
i’m new to the blog arena so i hope this reaches you
joe