Smokehouse Brewing Company – Lucifer Sauce – Spiciest Dish in Columbus

Smokehouse Brewing Company has and continues to be a solid favorite in Columbus, but this time they’ve got a new spicy sauce to try out.

From late 2011, Smokehouse Brewing (formerly Barley’s) has been a consistent haunt for myself and the Lady of the Farm. It had been a while since we ventured down that way, but the Riverside Drive location down in Grandview is touting a trio of spicy sauces, so we had to head back down and check it out for ourselves.

Solid wings, but they dont retain sauce well.

Before we get to the spiciest dish, a few recommendations if you find yourself traversing in that direction of town. The Sauerkraut balls have been and continue to be an instant favorite, filled with House-made spicy sausage, cheese and kraut balls, served with creamy chipotle dipping sauce. Hard to go wrong with their wings, which are brined, hickory smoked and char-grilled. The Lady of the Farm sometimes gets these with no sauce on them, either that or a Brisket Wedge salad. We wrote more about Smokehouse Brewing and their history previously, available for further reading here. Alright, on to the new spicy sauce!

Lil pool of reaper.

Approach dear reader to the (turns on scary voice) “Devil’s Triangle,” which we imagine could either be a pseudonym for 2020 or the hellscape version of the Bermuda Triangle. It’s also the name given to the three hottest sauces at Smokehouse Brewing: Gates of Hell, Devil’s Tongue, and Lucifer. We sat down with Lucifer this week to see what makes him tick, his likes/dislikes, and if his sauce was one of the spiciest in the city. We’ve discussed Gates of Hell before, but from the time of that writing, the Lucifer sauce is new and Devil’s tongue is a spicy cuvée of Gates of Hell and Lucifer. It’s a Carolina Reaper-based sauce and when examining the side cup you can see plenty of spices, seeds, and deep, deep, redness.

To get a feel for the sauce, we initially went with 6 wings, but the trouble with Smokehouse’s smoked and grilled wings is that (while hella tasty) they don’t hold wing sauces well. Knowing this we took a hard right turn into professional spicy territory and ordered a “Buffalo Chicken wrap, tossed in Lucifer instead of Buffalo.” The wrap contains breaded chicken tenders tossed in Lucifer sauce with lettuce, tomato (get it out of here), blue cheese dressing, and crumbles rolled in a spinach wrap, so essentially a cleaner way to eat breaded chicken fingers. Staring into the abyss of the wrap, the redness we noted was still present, staring back at us with malice. “Begin,” said a voice from behind me, so I obliged.

The first bite is a clean sweep of lettuce, spinach wrap, and blue cheese crumbles that makes way for a sweeping hellfire. Cool refreshing blue cheese, then hot, sweaty, Lucifer sauce. My nose began to run and my undereyes were already moist. I heard a puff of smoke and there sat a cartoonish devilman. “Keep going,” he said. As I breathed in to talk, the heat elevated, bringing back the unique Carolina Reaper heat we know and love. “This is way hotter than the Gates of Hell” I gasped, eyes becoming slightly teary. The devilman giggled, tiptoeing into the second half of the wrap, waiting to blow me up later down the road.

Each further bite brings a tease of coolness with blue cheese and lettuce hitting early, followed by a slapping reminder of the Lucifer sauce that’s been soaked up by the breaded chicken. Halfway through the wrap, it was clear that the waves of heat were at their peak, but each bite prolonged the lingering effects. Like an ugly bird contest, each swallow was worse than the last.

Wrap complete, the devilman snuck out of the fries and we stared at each other while the linger wore off. After a few minutes, I reached for some fries to finish out the aftershocks of heat in my mouth, he reached up for a high-five and I obliged, causing him to poof into another cloud of smoke. “I’ll see you tomorrow,” he whispered as he disappeared. The heat is intense, but just the right level for those of you who are accustomed to spiciness. It is not for the weak of spirit and definitely packs enough spiciness to bring some folks to their knees. The linger and the nagging pitchfork poking from bite to bite plop this Lucifer wrap at #10, just above JT’s Stupid Hot Wings. The two are similar, but the linger from Lucifer kicks it past JT’s. Much improved over the #51 ranking for Gates of Hell, so props to Smokehouse Brewing. Also, we haven’t tried these yet, but Smokehouse has “Jalapeño Popper Roulette,” six cheddar cheese filled poppers with one loaded with a Carolina Reaper. If you try it out let us know how it goes.

You can find Smokehouse Brewing at 1130 Dublin Road Columbus, Ohio 43215, open now for carryout.

Look below for more in our spiciest dish in Columbus series and hit us up if you have any suggestions that are not already on our list!

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