Oh Robot Arm, your post totally reminded me of one more that’s become a regular.
The pique from Sol Food, a Puerto Rican restaurant in San Rafael. It’s a bit pricey at 10 dollars a bottle, but it is soooo good. Whenever we’re low we swing by on a trip to the city to pick some up. Awesome on rice and beans!
Thanks for the clarification. Upon further recall, I actually have both. The Tapatio is not all that hot, but the Yucateco (or whatever brand it is that I actually have) is a tasty hot habenero.
I’ve tried the new Tabasco varieties but I’m just so used the the traditional that I’d rather stick with that for my Tabasco fix. Other brands can fill out the habenero, chipotle, etc. sauces in my cabinet.
Sriracha and the Garlic variety of Cholula are my two biggies. Most of the spicy tuff I eat comes already spicy, like curry and such. So I don’t get to use it as much as I’d like.
Since we got the hot sauce folks here, I have a question. Do any of your sources still have Jimmy’s batch 81? It’s a hybrid of barbecue sauce and hot sauce, and so good. They used to have it at Quizno’s, but I havn’t seen it there in a while(The owner dude told me they just gave up cause the bottle always disappeared 
). I don’t even know if it’s still made and my googling doesn’t show any references past 2005.
Thanks.
Have you considered making your own three-pepper chili sauce?
Sriracha and Cholula are my favorites that have actual flavor, for pranks and pure heat, Pure Cap is the hottest, and you really have to be careful even handling it.
There’s Marie Sharp’s, and there’s everything else.
Down here in Houston, they’ve had the batch 81 in every Quizno’s I’ve gone to for as long as I know.
So it’s still around, but I want to say its batch 83 (though i’ve been wrong before) around these parts.
I might be able to find out if they offer bottles for sale here, if you’re interested.
Cholula is the go to girl for the sauce, thank you very much.
And Sriracha comes in a nice second on most sandwiches, especially roast beef. And fried veggies and ramen noodles. mmmmm
It appears I’m pretty much in line with everyone else.
Cholula - This is the best tasting sauce out there. Mild heat, great flavor, not too vinegary. I go through a bunch of it.
El Yucateco Red - Brilliant Habanero Sauce with substantial kick that, unlike most habanero sauces, actually has a rounded flavor with the heat. If I want to sweat I go for this.
Sriracha - I don’t use this a ton but occasionally it really hits the spot. It’s a little too tart for some dishes but it’s a must in most Thai dishes for me.
Tabasco - Never been a huge fan of this sauce because it’s too vinegary for my taste to use as a topping. I keep a bottle just for guests or for when I need to add some simple heat to a big pot where subtle flavors get lost. No point in wasting a good complex sauce in a giant pot of chili.
Franks Red Hot - This is Buffalo Sauce for Buffalo Wings, using anything else makes chicken wings. Those are fine, but they ain’t Buffalo Wings.
Taco Bell Fire Sauce - This stuff is so ridiculously delicious that I make special trips to the Bell to have some on a Double Decker and to steal a couple big handfuls of packets to bring home and stash in my fridge. If I’m making Tacos or Burritos this is a must.
Another Cholula fan by default. I use D.L. Jardine’s Blazin’ Saddle habanero sauce when I actually want some heat; it’s got this carrot thing going on that I really like.
In a bit of a different direction, for Indian food, I like Nirav Amli Chutney, which is kinda hot, sweet, and sour and all at once.
Oh God. Lately I swear I’ve been drinking that stuff. I wish they sold it in gallon jugs. It’s not really hot either. It’s just tastes so damn good.
I always have Tapatio and Sriracha on hand. Can’t go wrong.
I buy Frank’s when I’m going to make hot wings, so it doesn’t last around the house longer then that batch.
I grow my own hot peppers so I’ve always got jars and jars of dried peppers but I’d love to learn how to make my own hot sauces.
levdrakon, I totally agree. I’m so happy Chipotle stocks it so I can douse my burrito bol!
I realized I left off a lot of our other favorite hot sauces, but you all mentioned them, like Cajun Sunshine.
One I don’t like is Cholula. Just doesn’t taste good to me at all.
We are light on in Oz when it comes to a huge range of sauces. I love Tabasco, Worcestshire and the like, but at a BBQ recently I was given (possibly wrong, but very close) “Pappy’s Moonshine Madness” BBQ sauce. It was awesome, if a little heavy on the Tabasco. I’d love to know where to get it here.
In order of amount used:
Frank’s Hot Sauce
Sriracha
Tabasco Chipotle
Blair’s Sudden Death
I just started to use the Tabasco Chipotle, and it’s moving up the list. I doubt that it will overtake Sriracha, but never say never.
Thirding Marie Sharp’s. There’s a bottle on every dining table in the country of Belize for good reason.
At one point, I had a couple dozen chile sauces, but these days I’ve settled on just three. At all times, I’ve used these mainly for cooking and not as condiments. My main go-to sauce is an enhanced Sriracha, where I add about 1 tbsp Dave’s Insanity to a 17 oz bottle. Brings up the heat without making it oppressive. Second is a bottle of Crystal Extra Hot, which I use mostly for Buffalo wings/nuggets. And the third is a home made knock-off of the no-longer-made Inner Beauty sauce, which has a flavor which appeal to me so much I’ve actually constructed recipes around it. Other than that, I generally spice dishes with chiles rather than sauces. If, for example, I want chipotle, I add it directly, because that gives me better control of the flavors. Not sure how Thai curry pastes fit into this equation, but I use those also when I don’t have the time to make my own.
If it looks like an Asian might eat it, that might be because the founder of the company came from Vietnam, and brought the first seeds with him. A bit of history on the company.
a) El Yucateco rojo (red). A nice intermediate-hot habañero sauce
b) Good ol’ Tabasco. Ubiquitous, easy to dismiss, but a nice dependable vinegary-hot everyday spice.
c) Scorned Woman. The black pepper taste mixed with the standard hot peppers makes for a really nice flavor.
d) Blair’s Mega Death. Of the no-kidding hot sauces, this is the one that actually tastes nice. Blair’s puts out hotter stuff but nothing else quite this downright NICE.