My Sister moved to the mountains of Tennessee several years ago, about 15 miles above Chattanooga she and her husband have a great house at the end of a long rolling road, “Tickle Tummy Road” is their nickname for it because your stomach drops out at least five or six times along the way. It leaves you feeling like you just got off of a roller coaster- kind of whoozy, but with a big smile. We love to go up and visit as much as we can and attempt the pilgrimage at least once a year.
One of the many fringe benefits is the huge amount of shopping areas from Hamilton Place to the Downtown Shopping District. But hands down and without a doubt our favorite place to go is the Chattanooga Pepper Co. Located right on Frazier Ave. on the Northshore above Coolidge Park and the Merry-Go-Round (Big Time Fun). The Northshore area keeps getting better and better and new cool little stores and eateries are always popping up.
“Mild to hot and everything in between!” The Chattanooga Pepper Co. boasts over 300 different Hot Sauces, over 50 types of Salsa, countless BBQ Sauces, and many hard to find pickled products. Owner/Operators Kevin Burris and Tom Casey also carry pepper mills, an assortment of peppercorns, soups, dips, and a big snack and goodies selection. A Chileheads dream, there are so many things to look at it made me dizzy at first. I was like a kid on a sugar rush running up and down the aisles “Hey look at that, Whoa look at these!” Yeah I’m a joy to be with sometimes.
Wendy went right for a basket to put our newest additions in and I bellied up to the Tasting Table were I tried Crazy Jerry’s Golden Beaver, Mojo Goon VooDoo Juice (New to them, the bottle comes in a Burlap Bag!), Khan’s Island Habanero Sauce, and a couple of local sauces. Tom and Kevin were great, we talked for awhile about Hot Sauce and Hot Food, collecting, and the local Hot Sauce makers. I also found out they had first started in a Outlet Center with just a Kiosk and right about 50 sauces and due to customer requests they expanded and are still growing.
Chattanooga Pepper Co. is a blast, we had a wonderful time as usual and racked up on some great sauces. Their selection ranged from the Big Hitters to the Local Small Guys, I could have stayed all day but the kids got bored and were hungry- Brats! As I left crying, and tried not to get tears on the camera- we told Kevin and Tom we would be back, and we will. No trip to Tennessee would be complete in our minds without stopping in to say hey and dropping some well earned Hot Sauce Allowance on some cool bottles. If you make to the Chattanooga Pepper Co. tell them Vic & Wendy sent ya, I know you will get the same incredible “Southern Hospitality” we did.
Chattanooga Pepper Co.
109 Frazier Ave
Chattanooga, TN
423-266-6496
Tues.-Sat. 10:00am-5:30pm
Sun. 1:00pm-5:00pm
Closed on Mondays