There are 2 kinds of people in this world: those who enjoy the light kick a DNA sample of Tabasco provides over a fresh egg scramble, and those who smother a hellish rain of hiccup-inducing habenero onto shitty happy hour wings. Regardless, the hot sauce landscape has been migrating away from haphazard supermarket choices to small-batch craft varieties, and at the helm of this revolution is Noah Chaimberg( right top photo) and Tyler McKusick ( left top photo). Noah and Tyler are the world’s first hot sauce sommeliers; and while the titles are self-appointed, when I met up with them at their Brooklyn-based hot sauce tasting room and store Heatonist, they gave me every reason to believe they’re well-deserved.
The store has been open for 5 months, but Heatonist was founded back in 2013 from Noah’s inability to try hot sauces before he bought them. Now they carry and sample nearly 100 different, all-natural, additive and extract-free hot sauces, and in addition to the loyal customer base they built from setting up shop in local Brooklyn markets, ship all across the world to places as far as the Arctic Circle, the outback of Western Australia, Europe and Asia.
What I love about Noah and Tyler is they eat, live, and breathe hot sauces; not in the annoying-obsessive way that makes you want to judo chop most people in the soft regions of their bodies, but an eagerness to broaden everyone’s usage and understanding of hot sauces by pairing them with what one is cooking or eating… it’s “food that goes on food” they like to say. Customers are encouraged to be as specific as possible, which has lead to impromptu pairing challenges. Curried Fish? No problem, this Serrano Ginger Lemongrass has you covered. “Lasagna?”, I quipped. Without skipping a beat, Noah explained that I wouldn’t want anything with too much liquid on a dish like that (TRUTH), and nonchalantly walked over to Dawson’s Big Smoke Chipotle ; a dense, thick, smoky hot sauce that would blend seamlessly with the tomato. Shit…this dude even knows the consistency of these sauces. Snapping on black plastic gloves and strolling behind a narrow bar lined with their various hot sauce offerings, Noah continued to rattle off pepper types, heat levels, and flavor profiles while using mini basters to pipe off deliciousness on to my sampling spoon.
So what’s next for this hot sauce Mecca ? Heatonist is rolling out the 2nd phase of their hot sauce algorithm that matches people to their database of sauces based on a sliding scale of flavor preferences ( smoky, sweet, spicy etc…) This next stage will give recommendation preferences. Noah and Tyler also keep busy in their test-kitchen, most recently creating a refreshingly spicy michelada-mix with cucumber, fennel and ghost pepper. Damn, now I’m thirsty…
