Where it all began (at least for me)

Sure, it's easy to blame my hot sauce addiction on Griffin Hammond, but the truth is I invited it in...gave into its temptation...embraced it. Even for all the pain it has caused me along the way,...(that glorious, sweet, sweet pain) I continue to pursue it, and ever more so with each hot sauce brand, bottle and flavor I discover.

As a media producer and video editor in my day job I had long followed Griffin Hammond on Youtube. For a number of years Griffin was an executive producer on a Youtube channel called "IndyMogul" as an educational resource for independent film makers. But Griffin also has a personal passion for hot sauce; Sriracha hot sauce in particular, and the Huy Fong brand in specific. So much so, in fact that he decided to produce a documentary about Sriracha, detailing each stage of the filmmaking process along the way for his Indy Mogul audience. As a member of that audience, following Griffin on his journey from a successful Kickstarter campaign, through the challenging demands of shooting and editing his masterpiece, to award winning accolades on the film festival circuit, I became curious about Sriracha myself. So when I saw of bottle of this famously storied sauce in the kitchen of a friend's apartment I needed to taste a drop. Just.....one little drop.....that's all.

But that was NOT all.

My previous experience of hot sauce had been limited only to Tabasco. I was not a fan of it then and though somewhat softened I'm still not particularly fond of it now. I was a bit put off by Tabasco's notable vinegar pungency. But it being perhaps the dominant hot sauce brand in restaurants and grocery store shelves throughout the U.S. Tabasco seemed like the obvious go-to general use hot sauce, and I'd kept a bottle in the house for a few recipes that called for it. I just didn't like it very much.

Sriracha was different.

Sriracha features a combination of sweet, savory, and spicy that I found immediately inviting. I quickly went out and purchased a bottle for myself. That one drop soon became a spoonful, and several spoonfuls soon became globs. Within three weeks I was pouring Sriracha onto my eggs at breakfast, my sandwiches at lunch, and my pizza or salads at dinner....going through bottle after bottle after bottle.

That was just the beginning.

Years later Sriracha is still a part of my daily breakfast routine. But more than that it has become a doorway into a vast world of hot sauce I would have otherwise never imagined. Just as it did for Griffin Hammond hot sauce has now become a passion for me as well. A passion fueled by ongoing discovery of hot sauce brands, flavor spectrums, and cultural infusions...all of which make for a most tantalizing and ever-growing hot sauce bucket list (of which this site is sure to testify).

So....yes, perhaps it is easy to blame Griffin Hammond for sowing the seeds of my hot sauce addiction. But "blame" doesn't feel like the appropriate word. Perhaps "Thank you" is more fitting. Yes, I think it is.

Thank you, Griffin Hammond.

-Jon

PS: Are you a fan of Sriracha, or any other hot sauce? Tell me your story in the comments below. And if you want to try Sriracha yourself (and maybe get hooked) click here to buy a bottle, or click the Amazon link below.