This turns a barbecue into a competition within about four minutes. The Thoughtfully Gourmet set gives you 10 hot sauces arranged in order from perfectly reasonable up to genuinely unwise, presented in a bright red box that looks like a dare before you’ve even opened it.
The ranking is what makes it work. There’s no guessing which one to try next, so everyone lines up at the same starting point and the challenge builds naturally as the bottles get further along the row.
You get Mango Habanero, Garlic Del Fuego, Fiery Cayenne, Ghost Pepper and, waiting at the end, Tongue Scorcher. The early bottles are genuinely good on food, so it’s not ten novelties — you can cook with most of these quite happily.
Each bottle is a different size with that gloriously over-the-top hot sauce branding, and reading the labels out loud is half the entertainment. The set looks great on a kitchen shelf even between challenges.
Most novelty food gifts get admired once and forgotten. This one gets used, because it invites people to have a go. Someone films a reaction, someone else insists they weren’t affected, and the argument about who handled the Ghost Pepper best runs well into the evening.
It’s made for the bloke who puts chilli on everything, the dad who reckons nothing’s too hot for him, or the tradie who needs taking down a peg at the work Christmas party. Buy it knowing you’ll be asked to try one too.
âś” 10 sauces ranked from mild to genuinely extreme
âś” Includes Mango Habanero, Ghost Pepper and the infamous Tongue Scorcher
âś” The milder bottles are properly good for everyday cooking
âś” Presented in a bright red gift box that sets the tone
âś” Becomes an event at barbecues, parties and Christmas gatherings
