We like to keep it simple so that the truest flavor of the peppers shines. Hot Winter Hot Sauce is made with locally-grown peppers, rice and cider vinegars, cane sugar, salt, and hardneck garlic.

No. The Hot Winter Pepper was selectively cultivated from a natural mutation in an heirloom variety. With help from Erin Cadwell, we spent 5 years refining this mutation into a distinct cultivar that is as stable as any open-pollinated seed.

The Hot Winter Pepper is our own unique cultivar of chile. Our founder, Shaun Winter, used to work at a farm on the Klamath River. There he developed the Hot Winter Pepper from an off-type Jimmy Nardello.

Hot Winter Hot Sauce is truly a local, small-scale product. The peppers are grown on farms located around Oregon and then fermented and bottled in Eugene.

Our sauce is unique because it harnesses the power of fermentation! Fermentation preserves the taste and vitality of our fresh chiles. The process also removes much of the pepper water, which serves to concentrate flavors, and to thicken our sauce. Learn more.

Hot Winter adds an extra level of flavor to any dish! We especially like Hot Winter on eggs, and pizza, but it's also great mixed with mayo on sandwiches or burgers, or used to flavor simple dishes like rice and beans, or stir fried veggies.

Use our Chile Vinegar to add an extra punch to salad dressings, marinades, soups, stews, pickles, or cocktails. Learn more about how you can use Chile Vinegar!

Hot Winter is offered in several varieties. Each variety features a different kind of pepper, and has a different heat level. None of our sauces are "super hot": we are aiming for robust, but not overwhelming heat, featuring unique flavors that pair well with food. Hot sauce should be delicious, not painful. We do offer hotter sauces, for lovers of heat (try the Bulgarian Carrot), but these also have a surprisingly complex and balanced flavor.

Our sauces are listed below in order from mildest to hottest:

• Poblano

• Santa Fe

• Hatch

• Original

• Aleppo

• Bulgarian Carrot

No, just keep the lid on when not in use. Exposure to direct sun or heat may cause fermentation to re-start. This will make the sauce bubbly, but is not cause for concern.

As to expiration dates: we just don't have them. Hot Winter is fully shelf stable, and is safe to store for years. This is because the product is both fermented and pasteurized. I encourage folks to "stock their bunkers". As the bottle notes, over time, "some discoloration is normal". This is the result of oxidation, and what happens when foregoing the use of artificial colors and preservatives. We recommend shaking older product, as the discoloring effects neither the flavor nor safety of the sauce.

Of course! Please see our wholesale ordering page.