Our reviewers evaluate products and services based on unbiased research. Top Consumer Reviews may earn money when you click on a link. Learn more about our process.
Sunday, September 15th
Hot Sauce Lover, formerly known as Doc Hotties, takes great pride in sourcing hot sauces from around the world. The owners travel the globe to bring great flavors to you, from food trucks in California to family restaurants in Jamaica and Antigua.
Hot or not?
Hot Sauce Lover has two clubs to choose from: mild and medium or hot and extremely hot. Either way, you'll get one bottle per month, though you can also set up your subscription to be delivered every other month or quarterly. You won't know what you're getting in advance, but all it takes is a look through the store's a la carte shop to get an idea of what hot sauces might be in your box: Dave's Gourmet Scorpion Pepper, Karma Sauce Burn After Eating, and Lottie's Original Barbados are just a few of the ones we spotted.
Cheap subscription but spendy shipping
You'll pay $7.95 for either hot sauce club from Hot Sauce Lover - but that doesn't include the shipping fees. That actually costs more than the sauce itself. In total, your monthly cost for this hot sauce club comes in at just under $16: not terrible, but not quite competitive with some clubs that give you two bottles for just a little more. And, FYI, there are no long-term commitments here either, so you'll just pay month to month.
Gift-giving features are lacking
Hot Sauce Lover doesn't come with any features for giving the club as a gift, either. Aside from entering one address for billing and another for shipping, we couldn't find anything specific to gifting: no option to designate it as a gift, no spot to enter a personalized message, nada.
Solid feedback from customers
On the other hand, we were pleased to spot some really recent feedback specific to the hot sauce clubs here. Almost everyone gives the subscription a perfect five-star score, saying that the sauces are flavorful and deliver the perfect level of heat (corresponding to what they selected when setting up their membership). One person wasn't thrilled with getting two "dessert” hot sauces back to back, but other than that this club seems to be a winner.
Good but not yet great
Looking at all of the hot sauce clubs available today, Hot Sauce Lover's are decidedly average. It's nice to have the ability to choose a heat level, but the company is missing a lot of features commonly found among its rivals (like being able to set a specific subscription length instead of just month-to-month, or easy options to give it as a gift). There's nothing bad about this hot sauce club, but we'd suggest browsing its higher-ranking competitors first.
Thinking that a hot sauce is the perfect gift for a friend or the ultimate way to treat yourself? You're right. Most hot sauce clubs come with easy-breezy gift-giving features, from fun newsletters to jazz up the overall experience with serving suggestions and background info on the hot sauce makers, to hassle-free scheduling of a gift notification and the first delivery.
Hot sauce, a condiment with ancient roots, has evolved from being a simple addition to meals to becoming a beloved flavor enhancer that boasts a wide range of tastes and heat levels. Its history dates back to ancient civilizations like the Mayans and Aztecs, who used spicy concoctions to enhance their dishes and believed in the medicinal properties of chili peppers.
Today, hot sauce has transcended cultural boundaries and has become a staple in kitchens around the world, inspiring a vibrant subculture of hot sauce enthusiasts. Hot sauce owes its popularity to the complex interplay between its primary ingredients: chili peppers, vinegar, salt, and various spices.
The Scoville Heat Scale measures the spiciness of peppers, making it possible to create sauces with different levels of heat, from mild to mouth-numbingly intense. Hot sauce not only tantalizes taste buds but also triggers the release of endorphins, leading to a pleasurable sensory experience akin to a culinary adventure.
But not everyone is fortunate enough to have a variety of hot sauce flavors on their local supermarket shelves. Not to worry. Hot sauce clubs have emerged as a unique way for enthusiasts to explore new and exciting flavors on a regular basis. These clubs offer subscription-based plans that deliver carefully curated selections of hot sauces to members' doorsteps.
Now, the fun part: choosing which hot sauce club to get into. You've got lots of options out there, so how can you decide which one gets your subscription? Here are a few ways to compare the hot sauce plans you're considering:
Hot sauce clubs offer a dynamic way to explore a vast landscape of fiery flavors, and the experts at Top Consumer Reviews have researched and ranked today's most popular subscriptions. Celebrate your love of spicy foods with a red-hot and fun monthly delivery of hot sauce!
Select any 2 Hot Sauce Clubs to compare them head to head