Facepunch – Project X Special Edition Hot Sauce Feature

Featuring rubs and multiple sauces, Facepunch has been in the hot sauce game since 2002. Based in St. Paul, Minnesota Facepunch makes most of their sauce in their church’s commercial kitchen, but also has a couple of dry rubs (spicy and non-spicy).

The Project X is a Special Edition made in very small batches featuring habaneros, Thai chili, hot banana pepper, and finish off with an exact count, over 2 dozen Carolina reapers. Facepunch is highly unique in that they are one of the only sauces we’ve seen to use banana peppers in their sauce and one of the only small batch makers that has a hot sauce with banana peppers as the premiere pepper.  They’re also one of the only hot sauce makers out there with more than one style of hat, with five different color patterns available. The Cool Guy (aka Mark) and I traded some sauces a few weeks ago and he sent along the banana pepper hot sauce. I had never anticipated a banana pepper to have much heat, but this one gets your attention. It’s not going to hurt a ton, but I could see it pairing well with Mikey’s Late Night Slice Spicy Ass Pep pizza.

Ingredient list: Distilled Vinegar, Fresh Habanero Peppers, Chili Peppers, Pepper, Banana, Raw, Morton’s Canning & Pickling Salt, Carolina Reaper Peppers, Granulated Garlic, Dehydrated Onion, Chili Powder, Spice

When you take a whiff of the Project X you’re hit with a lot of peppers, which is good because peppers make up most of the ingredient list. The texture is smooth and you can see a few seeds and bits of pepper in the bottle. Not overly-processed and pours fairly smooth, but comes with a reducer so you don’t get too much if you don’t want it.

Taking a taste, the Carolina Reapers hit pretty quick from a flavor and heat perspective. The habaneros start to roll to the back of your mouth, reminding you the reaper isn’t the only pepper in this bottle. The vinegar-heavy sauce lets you deal with the heat of all the peppers and delivers a punch to the face immediately (true to the name). Overall blend is nice and while I couldn’t pick out the garlic or onion, it’s enough to know there are other ingredients within the sauce.

This is a great introductory sauce to the Carolina Reaper. It’s not going to kill you, but it definitely lets you know that there is something extremely spicy in the bottle. If you’re looking to try a Carolina Reaper sauce, this will definitely get you eased into it.

Currently they are running a deal for free shipping anywhere in the USA. If you find yourself traveling after quarantine is finished up, Facepunch also has you covered with their line of mini travel size bottles.

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