Shakers Public House – Spiciest Dish in Columbus Series

The Death Nectar comes for us all.

Newly owned by Spencer Campbell and his wife Caitlin, Shakers Public House is the revamped Shakers Bar & Grille. With a big customizable menu, you can find wings, burgers, and a lot ways to eat fries.

For the wings there are 12 sauces ranging from Drunken Teriyaki to Hot Buffalo. As you’ll learn a bit more about in a moment, each has the ability to add a special ingredient (Death Nectar) to the sauce to crank it to 11.

Before me sat twelve southern fried, hand-battered, all-natural, fresh, chicken wings with a blend of custom spices. Sitting at the top of their scale is the Hot Buffalo and the Hot BBQ, so I began with the stickier of the two. Thicker than Lizzo, the Hot BBQ is a smokey sauce that “mingles with habanero pepper sauce to make a zesty classic.” All sauces are housemade and come from the mind of madman and owner Spencer Campbell. The heat of the habanero had triggered the release valve on my sniffer and some drips were beginning to form.

The heat is solid and the thickness of the BBQ gives it a longer linger than some other sauces. By itself, the Hot BBQ would be in the upper 20s, but it was not the chosen one.

As I glared at the next plate of six wings, light chanting began to emanate from around the nearly empty bar (you’ll have that at 1:30pm on a weekday). I strapped on my Spicy Icarus wings, buckled my helmet, and prepared myself for the Death Nectar Hot Buffalo wings.

Pulling the first wing to my face, I gave it a solid whiff (nasal cavity now cleared by the Hot BBQ), and only smelled pain. The first bite is a gentle slap, giving you time to roll the habanero-infused Buffalo Sauce around and enjoy the taste. By the second bite, the Death Nectar has taken hold, a gentle snuggle of murder and sweat. My under eyes were damp, my nose was dripping again, and I began to mouth-breathe like I hadn’t in quite some time. My buddy Jolokia Joel looked at me, terrified, and asked how they were.

“Buhhh, they’re great, definitely spiciest I’ve had in a while,” I managed to get out, wheezing fire as I did. As I dug into my third I slid him a wing for when he finished up his Manganero wings.

I paused, contemplating the rest of my day to make sure I was clear to let the Death Nectar consume me. Sitting on the stool, my head began to swim and I reached to finish the final wings. The linger was still intense, but the flavor was generously more prominent. Mouth on fire, I pushed through the remaining bites, waiting for the moment where I could clean my hands and wipe the sweat from my face without further triggering a reaction. Impressed (unless I hallucinated this), the waitress took the cleared plate back to the kitchen yelling, “he finished all of them, no tears!”

Last wing gone, I gave a few more deep heaves of breath, cleaned my hands, and watched Jolokia Joel pick up his Death Nectar wing. Mind you, this man is no wuss and has a pretty high tolerance, but I haven’t seen a man cry that hard since the ending of The Iron Giant. Tears on each side of his face, a runny nose, and eyes wide in a look of betrayal, he finished the wing, cursing me the remainder of the way.

In the end, the Death Nectar comes for us all. With its linger and searing heat, we’re placing it at #6 on our list. Able to be added to any sauce, Death Nectar is definitely not for the faint of heart. Rumor has it one man began hyperventilating after consuming, while others stop after just one wing. If you’re looking to up your spicy wing tolerance, Shakers Public House is the place to do it.

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