In the past, I would have never thought that I’d be thinking about Marie Sharp’s and Blair’s hot sauces in the same train of thought but as of Saturday, my list of favorite hot sauces just got turned upside down. The package arrived on Friday and I had the Ex bring it to me when she picked me up for my birthday dinner, but I forgot the bottle in the car and had to wait until the following day to try it out. Which turned out to be even better because we decided to cook up some tacos for the group. We went to the market early on Saturday and I got some chicken which I promptly threw into some Pilarcita’s marinade – a few hours (and beers) later, the chicken was ready for the grill and we had the taco bar fully stocked.
Ingredients: Habanero Chili Pods, Naga Jolokia, Vinegar, Hawaiin Red Salt. (typo on the label with the spelling of Hawaiian)
I cracked open the bottle and took a big whiff – pure peppery goodness. My mouth started to water at just the scent of the sauce and I eagerly poured some on my unsuspecting taco. Consistency – combined with the pure pepper flavor, the consistency of this sauce really reminds me of a good bottle of Marie Sharp’s – but with better flavor. I’ve always regarded Marie Sharp’s as my go to habanero hot sauce (for the basics) but now, I can’t fathom using Maries when I’ve got a bottle of Pure Death around.
It’s thick enough to hold a point
Heat wise – it’s not that hot when you compare it to the likes of After Death, Mega Death ect… but it’s got a good notch of fire power. The habaneros get you straight away and set the stage for the building heat of the Nagas – about 3-4 bites into your food and you’ll start to sweat and your eyes will being to water. No hiccup alarms here – just a nice heady burn with a good bit of afterburn. I’ve already killed 1/2 the bottle and in writing this, I’m staring at the remaining bottle and pondering it’s lunch time application uses.
I would highly recommend this sauce to any chilihead (new or old) and to the HSB regulars, I recommend you buy it by the case.
Gardner Resources, INC.
Highlands, NJ 07732
www.extremefood.com
Don’t forget to mention the PROMO going on right now; I ordered two bottles of Pure Death and get one free!!!!
Can’t wait to get my shipment!
That looks so tasty! Does anyone know if it is limited to one free? Or can you buy 8 and get four free then add the one cent and get a bottle of Sudden Death as well?
call 1 800 98 blairs
they can answer the ? for you. maybe ask for Karin (or Karen).
I ordered mine several days ago. I also got a nice free gift from Blair a few days ago. THANKS BALIR!!! Im keeping that one, but it is tempting to eat.
My new favorite table sauce!!!!! GREAT!!!!!!
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“BALIR” oops. 🙂
A Blair bottle with a label thats different than the others? A Typo this time…..hmmmmm. What are the odds of that hapening?
How Silly Of Me…No One at Blair’s Sauces and Snacks Including myself Can Spell the Word “Hawaiian” until today of course ………It’s not a collector item unless you want to hang on to all my F-ups over the last cpl of decades….I am sure you can find a bunch……Enjoy your Sauce…….Feel Alive BLAIR
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Ya – its better than spelling Jalapeno wrong in big font on your labels. Although I do give credit to that company for trying to save face on it.
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Ooooo I heard the crunch sound of someone getting thrown under a bus.
Boy, aren’t we a sarcastic bunch today, LOL
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At lease they have a hot sauce, what do you have.
That’s right a good bowl of mac & cheese lol
I noticed the Hawaiian thing too, but quite honestly I was so impressed with the sauce that I couldn’t care less. LOL
This is my favorite sauce I’ve tried in a long time.
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Ouch!
BIRTHDAY DINNER??????? Happy belated BIRTHDAY!!!!! How many years young are you??????
I think the sauce is great, except too many seeds cause the ‘woody’ taste every so often….
I have never had a Blairs sauce before, because I usually only purchase hot sauces that I find in stores. And, I have yet to come across anything Blairs. But, I decided to give this one a try. I ordered two bottles online, and I got my three in the mail today. They are a little more expensive than most other sauces, especially after shipping. After trying it, I have to say that I do not mind the extra cost. This is a very tasty sauce, and like it says, has a pure flavor to it.
The only problem is with it is the heat factor. Hearing other chili-heads talk about Blairs gave me the impression that they have the hottest sauces around. Now, I know that the Pure Death is not supposed to be one of their hotter sauces. It’s not even an extract. But, I have to admit, this is pretty mild to me. And, even though I love hot food, I’m not the biggest chili-head out there. So, if anyone has some recommendations for a Blairs sauce that is much hotter than this one, but not so hot that you cannot eat it straight, and also has a nice flavor. Please let me know, I would love to try another. Because, even though this one does not do it heat-wise for me, it is a wonderful tasting sauce, with satisfactory heat, if you are not in the mood for something real hot.
I agree with some of the previous posters, that this is an excellent table sauce. Definitely a sauce for those who like hot food but don’t like to sweat when they eat.
Taste: 8.5
Heat:5
Overall:8
Looks tasty! The ingredients are simple, straught, and to the point. I’ll have to pick me up a bottle some time soon!
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Don’t worry Blair, I’m a reviewer and I can’t spell either! Makes me love spell check in Microsoft Word that much more 😉
Just got my 3 bottles yesterday and I’m almost half-way through one of them … its a great sauce. I love the simplicity of it (only 4 ingredients) and its multiple applications. Keep up the awesome work!
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Try the SUDDEN DEATH, I think it is a great sauce that is just a bit
hotter, used it for years as my go to sauce. Not as smooth as the PURE DEATH.
thanks, ill give it a try.
Im already on my second bottle. 🙂
Great sauce, Blairs sauces got me into the “extreme” heat side of sauces. This is a nice tasting, with a bit of heat, sauce that I know will go quick.
Unfortunatey, I didnt have much money in the bank and could only order one bottle at the time. Now that I know how good it is Im gonna be getting 3 mores later this week.
Outstanding Sauce in my opinion. I though enjoy my sauces the pulpier, thicker, seedier the better. It to me comes across fresher and not so processed tasting if that makes sense- it does to me anyway, lol.
Another winner Blair – Kudos!!
I agree with Nick’s comment:
“I would highly recommend this sauce to any chilihead (new or old) and to the HSB regulars, I recommend you buy it by the case.”
Great review Nick!!
This hot sauce disappointed me. Compared to Marie Sharp’s Fiery hot sauce, it failed to deliver on a few aspects.
First is the smell. It has a pungent smell which wasn’t necessarily a turn off but certainly not inviting. I personally didn’t like the smell.
The color is almost neon orange (not sure if good or bad thing). I swear it looks likes hair dye color bright! On a definite positive side it does pour well and is not watery. It has a very good texture as reported.
The fire on this sauce is nothing like the extreme products Blair’s is know for, it’s a completely different line of product. Knowing this, it still was a tad on the mild side. I can safely say that you can use this sauce as liberally as you wanted and not have worry of going overboard on heat. I would have liked to have seen more heat on this product. Not enough fiery tingle on the lips and mouth. The jolokia is a joke, stick to your favorite red habanero sauce.
The taste is where I was let down the most. Too few ingredients, make this sauce plain. No lime, for sour, and the Hawaiian salt isn’t even noticeable at all, they should have used regular salt. If you’re looking for something with Marie Sharp’s flavor and heat then just buy Marie Sharp’s fiery hot. I’m sorry but this sauce is not even a comparable a substitute.
Personally I will not be buying this sauce again. But I’m sure others will find it to be great. I can say it is unique to the Blair’s line and people will certainly find it to be a great change up. But definitely not one of my favorites. Worth one try to judge yourself. Looks great and is a hot sauce, but nothing special here.
Smell: 4
Color/Texture: 10 (plus or minus 1 point for being neon paint color!?)
Heat:5
Taste: 5
Overall:6
“I would highly recommend this sauce to any chilihead (new or old) and to the HSB regulars, I recommend you buy it by the case.”
This is exactly the type of sauce I would buy by the case. This and my other favorite habanero hot sauce which is Melinda’s Red Savina are the kind of hot sauces that I use often, and use a lot of, so I can go through a bottle or two a week. Yes, there is Jolokia in this one, and while it adds a little extra kick, it’s not nearly as hot as most other jolokia sauces and the primary flavor is still strictly habaneros.
I would not replace Marie Sharps with this though. They’re different sauces. I love Pure Death on spanish rice, but Marie Sharps is ideal for marinading some chicken breasts or thighs in. I like the heat of Pure Death better, but flavorwise I’m a huge fan of both and it would be a tough choice.
This was actually the first Blair’s hot sauce I ever tried, and is probably their best tasting offering IMO, although I do love the taste of Original and After Death too but they’re very different tasting. It is one of my favorite hot sauces — could be hotter, but it tastes great.
Dean – It’s my favorite as well. I used to dig the original death because of the pure flavor, but the added heat in this one makes it far superior
It’s actually really hard to choose between original death and pure death. On most forms of chicken and spanish style rice, I love Pure Death. On chicken wings or burgers, I prefer the sweeter, more complex flavor of Original, or even After Death (which is 95% the flavor of original death and 200% the heat!). And on a burrito I’m not really sure which I prefer.
This was the first hot sauce I have had that is hotter than Crystal/Cholulas or whatever store brand. And I was amazed at how good it was. And now I’ve tried many more and Pure Death still remains one of my favorites.
Have you ever found any good deals on a case of Pure Death?
Dean – sign up for Blair’s newsletter and you’ll occasionally see deals through that. And there will be specials that are posted on blogs from time to time.
On burritos it’s definitely pure death for me over original, but on wings I would recommend Defcon Sauces. I even put that in my eggs!
Defcon does make some excellent sauces for wings too. I like Heartbreaking Dawns 1498 Ghost Pepper sauce a lot on wings too, it’s very sweet and fruity and clearly made for chicken of any kind.
I haven’t tried Heartbreaking Dawns yet – will need to add that to my list. Breaded or naked wings?