Brand Addiction - Tabasco

My wife and I have an addiction. Several, actually. We love certain brands and are willing to go out on a limb and tell the world about them. In this case, we want to tell you about a little something called Smoked Chipotle Tabasco Sauce - by Tabasco.

Let me tell you a story: There once was a lad who was not a big fan of the spicy sauce. The occasional barbecue sauce with a kick was okay, but mild buffalo wings was the limit of his taste bud sensation.

Then one day, the wife and I stopped at a Chipotle Mexican Grill in Columbia, MO. My little brother was in college at Mizzou and wanted us try this burrito place. I got a steak burrito, and tried a little of this hot sauce called Smoked Chipotle Tabasco Sauce. It wasn't hot - it was tasty! I was so impressed that I went to the local supermarket and bought a bottle. Three days later, I returned and bought four more.

It wasn't long before I was taking the sauce with me everywhere. It was great on eggs, burgers, chicken, tilapia, pot roast, chicken mcnuggets, burritos - and anything with sauce or cheese. I was an addict, going through a bottle every couple of days - and the wife used only slightly less.

Remember this is a guy who was not a big fan of spicy - I'd cry like a baby when I ordered mild hot wings and there was any extra sauce on the side. But something happened. The constant ingestion of hot sauce changed my palate. Emboldened by smoked chipotle tabasco, I started trying Pete's Hot Sauce, all the other flavors of Tabasco, and even started ordering hot wings with the Hot Sauce at Buffalo Wild Wings (Blazin' is just foolish).

This use of hot sauce didn't come cheap, so the wife and I started ordering from the Tabasco Country store, where we could order 24 bottles at $2.65 a bottle. We go through a two cases every three months (We could buy a gallon jug, but we prefer the bottles - dropping a gallon jug of hot sauce trying to pour sauce on an omellete isn't exactly the best way to preserve kitchen tiles).

So why the information on our hot sauce addiction? Because it's the perfect example of brand addiction. We evangelize Smoked Chipotle pepper sauce in every place we go. Pulling out a bottle of hot sauce at a restaurant is a strong indicator of a great product - and everyone wants to try great products.

So, congrats to Tabasco, and thanks to Chipotle Mexican Grill. Now if they could only come up with a low sodium version that still tasted so good.