Well, here it is my friends, my first official review. This is so exciting!!!! After spending many hours on HSB and meeting several new friends here, I happened to come across a man by the name of Brian from Loco Luna Gourmet Foods. We struck up a conversation and I heard a lot about this new ‘extreme’ he had just put out. I got him to send me a couple of bottles that he so kindly signed for me. Around that same time, I received a package from Nick with the Loco Luna Extreme for me to review. I was excited yet kind of reserved to try this because of a new friendship. So, opening the bottle and taking a quick whiff I knew I was in for a special treat!!!
Before I ever read a label I will give a sauce a good sniff to see what I am in for and then a taste to see if I can pick out the flavors and check my senses with the label.
SMELL:
The first smell that jumps out to me is the Worcestershire sauce, followed by a slight, sweet, peppery smell. This sauce screams EAT ME as soon as you open the cap. It definitely excited the nostrils and got the mouth watering for a taste.
INGREDIENTS:
Habanero and other chili peppers, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, cane juice, lime juice, salt, vinegar, tomato sauce, capsicum extract and other herbs and spices
CONSISTENCY:
Pours out good, a little runny but has a lot of chunks of the good stuff so it looks quite good. Easily covers the food and mops up well with a chicken finger.
FIRST TASTE:
Dear Brian, thank you for developing this nectar of the gods. This is totally my kind of sauce. The Worcestershire definitely shines here with a gradual warm up of heat and flavors. The next thing that shines through is an ever so slight sweet flavor and then the spices. I took several bare tastes of the sauce with no food just to enjoy the flavors I was experiencing.
ON FOOD:
After finishing off my first plateful of chicken fingers I HAD to get some more. I could not get enough of this sauce. In about 2 min I had about 1/2 the bottle gone. Loco Luna Extreme was also excellent on cheese as well as some left over hamburger meat!!!
IN CONCLUSION:
ME Want More!!! After this goes to press, I will be ordering up the whole series of this wonderful sauce. Maybe for some of the extreme chili heads it will probably not have enough heat but I think I just tested one of my new top 5 sauces!! Nice job!
OVERALL RATING: 9.5 out of 10
Additional Loco Luna Hot Sauce Reviews:
– Audio Review: The Lava Suite
– New Favorite Hot Sauce
Written by eman
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.
51 responses to “Review: Lava Extreme by Loco Luna Gourmet Foods”
Great first review eman! Keep em coming!
Great Job Eman! I’m really liked the review, and I’m sure you’ll sell more than a few bottles with all your descriptive words. Hope to see more from you soon!
Sounds like some good stuff! Brian, are you going to Zestfest? I’m gonna need some of this.
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Hi Lee. I will be there! I’m looking forward to meeting you and tasting some of your delicious sauces as well!
I can’t wait to try some of your sauces Brian! Great review!!
Cool. Zestfest should be a blast this year! I was talking to Cajohn the other day and we were discussing how this could be the best tradeshow we’ve ever done due to the buzz this blog has caused. Can’t wait.
What’s up, Dan?
Brian, how did you come up with your recipes? I’m just wondering how the sauce evolved since it is so unique.
So Brian, I just might have to order my extreme through you instead of Nick, that way theres a possibility in your kindness, that you could be my first signed sauce. Not that it will stop me from opening it and eating it though.
My next hit list for sauces must be:
Mild to Wild – Fiery Hot Habanero Sauce
Loco Luna – Extreme
Marie Sharps – Belizean Heat
Ashley Foods – 357 Mad Dog Extreme Mustard Sauce
S&S – Hotsauce blog sauce.
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Hey Lee, Good to see you around! I was just talking to Danny the other day on the phone. Good luck with that big private label gig you guys have going!!
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Hi Daniel! I’d be happy to sign whatever you like (within reason of course:)!
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Hi Lee! Ancient Chinese secret…
actually, all of the recipes are simply things that I like to eat. Hopefully, others will agree! The original recipe was simply a matter of trial and re-trial. Probably a similar story to a lot of manufacturers in that regard.
I enjoy a depth of flavor and I do not personally favor sauces with overpowering vinegar or “all firepower/no flavor” sauces. I just tried to make something that would have a satisfying level of heat and great flavor, so I jazzed it up with fresh herbs/spices/etc. that could appeal to a broad audience.
My background is in computer game development and I learned a little bit about trying to hit the mass market there. I’m simply trying to do that without sacrificing quality here.
Sorry for the soap box, but I’m trying to honestly answer the question.:)
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Doh! I was answering your other question Lee (and yes, ZF will ROCK!):
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Thanks Dan. The thing’s looking very good. Should know something this week.
Right on, Brian. How long have you been making the sauces? What’s your target market, i.e. gourmet food stores, etc. Where do your ingredients come from? Do you use a co-packer or make the sauces yourself? 20 questions….go.
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Excellent. From the sounds of it you guys have really busted your arse on this one. I sure hope it all works out for you guys. You deserve it! Tell Pepperman I said Hi. You know how he gets when he thinks he is being left out of thiings! 🙂
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Haha.. ok here goes.
I’ve been making various types of salsa’s, BBQ (LOVE my smoker:) and some other stuff for years, but I’m honestly pretty new to the hot sauce market. Maybe that naiveté answers your question about the unique taste a little also? We’ve been in business just over a year now (about 15 months +/-). I spent about 6 months working on my recipe to get something I was really happy with before that. I was inspired to start this craziness by all you guys when I saw a Food Network episode on Zestfest! Thanks for that!
Target market – grocers and specialty food store probably, but in all honesty, it is anywhere that makes sense from a product mix perspective. We are working on restaurants now for the first time and currently have gained a BBQ restaurant that we supply and hopefully a few others soon!
Ingredients – they come primarily from an Austin specialty supplier. Being that we are in Texas, there is a pretty good supply of quality product to be found locally and this allows us to qualify for the “Go Texan” designation. This allows us to get some Texas-centric marketing provided by the state (although I honestly haven’t seen any of it yet). We do get a few ingredients from south of the border, but it is primarily local.
Manufacturing – we do use a co-packer. This is my original recipe that is religiously followed by our manufacturing folks and I have been present for almost all of the cooking. Our volumes are not such that we can justify the investment in our own facility yet, but I hope that we achieve that level in the future. We cook in small batches and create gourmet goodness!
Any other q’s? 🙂
Cool. It’s such an off-the-wall thing to start a hot sauce company that I always like hearing other people’s experiences because there are so many different ways it can happen.
I can’t claim to be a guru like Cajohn or Jim, But I do have 1 tip: When sourcing ingredients don’t just think about the next batch, you gotta think about the next 40. It sucks when the rules of supply affect your recipe. Sounds like you have a good supplier. We started out buying our Peppers at the grocery store 4 years ago! Things have changed.
Sounds like you are kicking @ss, Brian. Good work!
Nice job with the review eman. 🙂
A 9.5, I need to try this sauce.
Interesting that it has Worcestershire Sauce in it it cause next to hot sauce thats my favorite add-on. So I cant wait to try it.
“This sauce screams EAT ME as soon as you open the cap.” now that says it all I think.
Good Job in advance Brian as I havent tried it, but I will be soon.
and thumbs up to eman for admitting thats its not always about the heat “Maybe for some of the extreme chili heads it will probably not have enough heat”
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That is a great list. You will love all of them!!!
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It is an off-the-wall thing, but it has to be an act of love! That’s what keeps us inspired and passionate right?
I truly appreciate the support and advice. I am learning daily from living this stuff as well as from the the kind folks here on the HSB. Thanks a ton! We are all in this together, to some extent, right?
Like Jim says, “we are all friends doing the same thing”
We’ve been helped so much by the cool people in this industry it is good to pass it on whenever possible. Email us anytime.
HSB rocks.
Thanks man. Yes, Jim has been a great resources. HSB does rock and so do you!
“I love you man” haha!:)
Now, who is ready for a little “kumbaya”?
Ok – gotta roll for a while!
nice review eman. I’ve been eating the Hot Lava recently and also find it very, very pleasing to the palate. It’s a perfect compliment to wings and a nice little additon to a good steak. It smells exactly like you described. A must try for the taste alone.
Yumm Yumm Eat’um Up!! Great job Eman!
Hats off to you Brian as well!!
Great people and Great sauce!!
Thanks Tracy and Eman! You guys rock!
MSK…what’s up…haven’t talked for a while….hows things?
Loco Luna extreme has been one of the next sauces to try for the fridge when I clear out the ones I have in there now! ha Sounds like something I should definitely not miss!
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Been ultra busy my friend! Without getting into the details, let’s just say we’ve crammed the entire spring landscaping into 1.5 weeks. Needless to say I feel beaten and battered.
I would share my cool finds and info with the hubby but he is workin 🙁 😛
Going away for the weekend with the family. Happy Easter everyone!
Have a Safe & Happy Easter Brian!!!
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John at 8:45 am Black mamba took it’s 1st victim at are hot sauce table
ya have to wonder about people that don’t take the names seriously….isn’t a black mamba one of the deadliest snakes? I think if I ever try it i’ll approach with caution. 😀
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I can’t wait to get to Zest Fest! It does sound like it is going to be one great show. And I can’t wait to try that sauce. It does look tasty!
BTW eman, great review!
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Keep that snake in it’s cage Bret!!!
Happy Easter everyone. Have a great holiday weekend. Play it safe don’t drink and drive! We wan’t you back here in one piece 🙂
Funny story about this sauce. Me and Daniel have a friend…lets call him Stingemaster X-2. Well stingemaster refuses to open the sauce to let us try. So we plan on eating lots of chili and sitting in his room until he passes out. THen we steal the sauce.
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A dastardly deed! I say DO NOW
Nice review!!!
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Thanks Brian! I think it was Ben Franklin that said something to the effect that a man (or tamale) owes the best of his efforts to any guild to which he belongs.
Another great guy also says it’s all about ‘Karma’ 🙂
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Gotta love the brains on Jim! 🙂 Honestly whay better guild then the HSB? LOL We are the company we keep right? Plus a little help from Karma never hurts! 😉
Bunch of hippies….
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LOL
Brian I try your lava sauce at Jungle Jims Sat. And bought 1 of each great sauce my wife like your mild one. I see you here on the HSB once in awhile. I will try to taste everbody thats on the HSB who makes a sauce. Keep up the good work.
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LOL!!!
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Thanks Tim. I appreciate your kind words. Bret at Jungle Jims did tell me that the tasting went well. In fact, he has already reordered! I do appreciate the support. And yes, there are some great sauces represented on the HSB by a number of worthy sauce creators. Thanks again.
I got the set of lava sauces yesterday – fantastic stuff
i like this stuff so much, i just ordered a case of extreme – maybe the best sauce ever…