Meet the Maker: Red Clay Hot Sauce

 

 

Summertime is barbecue time! And barbecue means hot sauce. We’ll be carrying one of our new favorites, Red Clay Hot Sauce, in stores this summer.

 

Created by Charleston, South Carolina chef Geoff Rhyne, Red Clay Hot Sauce is the first Southern-style hot sauce of its kind. Handcrafted in small batches and made from all natural ingredients, it’s born in bourbon barrels, which gives the sauce aromatic hints of vanilla and oak. Red Clay has a unique, savory flavor that finishes with a smooth, bright, well-rounded heat. It is authentically fashioned with a simple approach: quality ingredients and an eye towards tradition. We caught up with Chef Rhyne to learn more.

 

 

Tell us the story behind Red Clay Hot Sauce…

 

“The business came about by total happenstance. I was the opening chef of a restaurant called The Ordinary, a high-end oyster and seafood place in Charleston, South Carolina. I was building a pantry of house-made products from ketchup/cocktail sauce/hot sauce to our own pickles/cured meats. When the hot sauce was put on the tables, customers literally were stealing the bottles off the tables and smuggling them out in their pockets and purses! It became an ongoing issue that all the staff were kind of amused by, since this was a “fancy” restaurant…and here we had people stealing 1.7 oz bottles of hot sauce right off the table. So, we decided to start making, bottling, and selling it, and it was an instant success. I named it after the red clay of Georgia, which is my home state.”

 

 

Oh, tell us more… How do you make it?

 

“Red Clay exclusively features locally-grown Fresno peppers…a departure from the industry standards, where most peppers are sourced from South America. The peppers are topped, chopped, lightly salted, and placed to retire in bourbon barrels. We also source the barrels locally, from Charleston-based High Wire Distilling Co. This is where the sauce is aged and permeated with the woodsy notes that give Red Clay its smooth flavor.

 

 

Also unique to the industry, we finish Red Clay Hot Sauce with white wine vinegar, rather than the more commonly used distilled vinegar. We never heat it, Red Clay is cold-pressed and cold-filled to retain the delicate essence of the peppers and the distinctive characteristics of the rich, smoky flavors still found in the wooden barrels.

 

Each bottle of Red Clay Hot Sauce possesses unique nuances and a distinct, well-balanced heat, making it a versatile addition to all foods: appetizers, soups, meats, seafood, vegetables, pasta, and eggs, among others. The sauce itself is vegetarian and vegan-friendly and is preservative free.”

 

 

What are some of your favorite ways to use the hot sauce?

 

“I love it over eggs and avocado for breakfast, and it’s great with fried chicken! It goes well with nearly any seafood: oysters, crab, shrimp, or fish. It makes an excellent Bloody Mary. I also top off my pizza with it, and toss some into greens like kale, collards, and spinach when I’m cooking them.”

 

 

Can you share a recipe that you use with it?

 

“Here’s a staple that I use all the time, it’s great with grilled meats or shrimp:

 

Bourbon–Red Clay BBQ Sauce

 

1 cup ketchup

2 oz Red Clay Hot Sauce

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon bourbon

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

 

Whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl until combined. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.”

 

 

If you weren’t making hot sauce, what would you be doing?

 

“I’d probably be working on my golf game and traveling around the back roads of the South experiencing all the wonderful and interesting people, places, and culture and keeping a journal of the escapades.”