I Tried Heartbeat Hot Sauce (and My Taste Buds Lived to Tell the Tale)

Hot sauce is everywhere. On YouTube and social media, people are out here eating the spiciest food they can find; visit the right restaurant, and you might be unwittingly confronted with a spice challenge that could push you to the edge of consciousness. Most grocery stores these days have pretty expansive hot sauce aisles. Hell, my own apartment is bursting at the seams with hot sauce—between items I’ve been sent, sauces I’ve picked up to try, and just my own regular ol’ faithfuls, bottles overflow from their designated space in the pantry, and threaten to bust through the plastic wall of my refrigerator door. Even with all that hot (sorry) competition, every once in a while, a new contender threatens to push an old standby out of rotation. 

I was recently sent a few selections from Heartbeat Hot Sauce Co., a brand founded in 2015 and operating out of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. It uses fermented peppers and has no added water or preservatives, situating it as an “artisan” brand right up my alley. I’d heard of Heartbeat before because some of its bottles are featured on the popular spicy food challenge show Hot Ones, but I hadn’t tried any of them, and was a bit nervous going into it. While I do love spicy food and can handle quite a lot of heat, I’m careful not to go too hard after what I now refer to as The Great 300,000 Scoville Unit Incident™ (aka when a few years ago I asked a server at a Mexican restaurant to bring me their hottest hot sauce and ended up really regretting it). Reluctantly, hoping to avoid that happening again (or, worse, a Homer Simpson-at-the-chili-cookoff kind of moment), I delved into the Heartbeat bottles.

I’m happy (but also slightly disappointed) to report that none of them were too spicy for me; not by a long shot. However, a couple were addictively flavorful, and might make their way into a permanent slot in my erupting refrigerator shelf. For those looking for the lowdown on Heartbeat’s sauce selections, here were my favorites.

Pineapple Habanero

I love a good sweet-spicy salsa or hot sauce, and this one totally nails the vibe—you can taste tantalizing pineapple, which effectively reins in the zingy spice from the habanero. This is probably the most versatile and plainly enjoyable hot sauce I tried from Heartbeat. It worked on nearly everything I tried it on, from a burrito bowl and a loaded sweet potato to nachos.

Dill Pickle Serrano

I won’t mince words here: I’m a ho for anything dill. It’s my favorite herb, and an ingredient that’s basically a guaranteed win with me on any dish. I was thrilled to find that Heartbeat’s Dill Pickle Serrano sauce truly captured the bright, dill-y, garlic-fueled funk of a killer dill pickle, and even had a little kick, making it an all-around extremely satisfying condiment. 

Red Habanero

This is the most “classic”-feeling hot sauce in the bunch. Bell peppers, habanero, garlic, and lime combine to create a cohesive flavor that has its own piquant, produce-fresh identity, but is still squarely something dexterous enough to go on tacos, wings, eggs, or a breakfast sandwich. Featured in season 6 of Hot Ones, it’s definitely hot enough, but not a killer. 

Poirier’s Louisiana Style Creole Maple

A collab sauce with UFC fighter Dustin Poirier, this powerful, maple-y, chipotle-tinged flavor lingers like a fighter waiting to see if you’re down for the count. This is classified as “hot” on the bottle, and it definitely is spicier than your average table hot sauce. While this specific one was (to my knowledge) not featured on Hot Ones, its staying power on my taste buds made me see why some mid-level sauces can pack an extended punch by sticking around for a bit. Due to this one’s complex flavors and overall spicy vibe, I definitely recommend it to more adventurous saucers.

Scorpion

OK, we’re starting to enter more intense territory here. Not going to lie: This one is pretty hot—understandable, since it features habaneros, Trinidad scorpion peppers, and chipotles. It’s got a dark smokiness, but isn’t too abrasive or acidic. It’s not a “finisher” or even prohibitively spicy, but my eyes did widen and I started hearing P.O.D.’s “Alive” in my head for some inextricable reason when I tasted it. For the record, I could eat a meal’s worth of this and not be K.O.’d… but my nose would be running for sure. 

The TL:DR is that they were absolutely delicious across the board—a rarity with brands that have as many varieties as Heartbeat. These bottles are available solo, or as Pick 4 and Pick 6 packs. I’ll definitely be circling back, so I can try the ones I didn’t get to this time—namely Shiitake Szechuan [drooling emoji], Lion’s Mane Piri Piri, and the OG Poirier’s Louisiana Style—and restock on that Dill Pickle Serrano. Bonne chance (and maybe queue up on some ranch dressing). 

The Rec Room staff independently selected all of the stuff featured in this story. Want more reviews, recommendations, and red-hot deals? Sign up for our newsletter.