How To Choose The Perfect Hot Sauce For Your Spicy Cocktails

If you prefer spicy over sweet when it comes to cocktails, you're not alone. Spicy cocktails have a faithful following. From micheladas to Bloody Caesars, from spicy margaritas to a too darn hot (and by that, we mean just exactly hot enough) mojito, spicy cocktails are as varied and plentiful as the chili heads who love them. 

When it comes to making them in one's own kitchen, what's the ticket to tickling the tastebuds without blowing your head off and making your nose run from the pain? The most common options are to muddle, infuse, sprinkle with spice, or simply use the right hot sauce to take said cocktail from prim and proper to powerful. Making cocktails spicy can take several different routes, such as using infusions and syrups as Ohio Liquor explains. It depends not only on what's in your pantry and what kind of taste you want but also on how much effort you're looking to put into your cocktail. 

Spice can come in the form of a cocktail rimmed with chile and lime, a simple syrup infused with anything from serrano to chipotle peppers, or even infusing the liquor itself by putting a sliced pepper straight into the liquor bottle and letting it release its potent spice. However, all these steps involve getting fresh or dried ground peppers to keep in the house. 

If you have the room or access, go for it, but in case you don't feel like messing around with plastic gloves (because be careful when handling spicy peppers), these steps might feel too involved. Or, you can go the muddling route. Muddling involves crushing, fruit, herbs, aromatics, et all to bring out the flavors and aromas in order to enhance cocktails. While it sounds simple enough, muddling requires the right tools, the right technique, and patience to coax out the flavor. Again, this technique might feel best left to cocktail bars if you just want a quick, spicy hit for cocktail hour.

A dash or more of your favorite hot sauce can add heat, flavor, and even color to a cocktail. But how to know which one to use? That depends on the alcoholic base of the cocktail. Vinegar-based hot sauces work well with rum and vodka. Ohio Liquor says these hot sauces (Tabasco, Crystal, and Zab's) have, "both heat and a touch of tangy acidity that complements the flavors found in these spirits." 

However, when it comes to bourbon-based cocktails, fruity hot sauces (Think: Tajin Fruity Chamoy, Melinda's Mango Habanero Pepper, and The Hot Ones Jr. The Yellow) work well. Consider the Blood Orange Trinidad Scorpion hot sauce used in the Rogue Scorpion Tea cocktail that "skilled barkeep who also heads up hot sauce brand High River Sauces" Lisa Seabury shared with Thrillist. One of the best hot sauce-liquor mixers is tequila, which pairs equally well with acidic and sweet hot sauces. So fire up your palate and turn the clock to happy hour, it's spicy cocktail time.