2021 Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival – The Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival Is Back, Baby! Mask up, vax up, and join us in person for the 31st annual event – Food

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Art by Zeke Barbaro / with a reference to Lisa Kirkpatrick

Well, we made it through the Hellfire and Doom of 2020, only to ascend around 2021. You know the situation, fellow human beings on planet earth, so let’s move on to the good things. Last year your friendly Alt-Woche staff completely reconfigured this time-honored festival as a virtual event, and this year, as the crazy viral load wanted, we had to start all over again. But now we are so excited to present the return of our personal Hot Sauce Festival! And of course, the entire 31-year-old Shebang still benefits the Central Texas Food Bank, an amazing nonprofit that, more than ever, needs community support to continue its mission.

It turns out that change can be good. This year we’re rescheduling the party to a later day to take advantage of the “cooler” evening air, and we’ve downsized and moved the venues. But not just any old venue, mind you: we’ve moved the festival to one of the coolest places in town, the Far Out Lounge and Stage, and this new iteration, complete with shady trees, is going to be fresh and super fun.

Hot Sauce Festival “Chief Judge” Henry Alvarado, 1995 (Courtesy Henry Alvarado)

Some of your original attendees may have flashbacks from the early days of the festival at Waterloo Park, Central Market (during the infamous rainy year) and even, believe it or not, a farmers market. In the words of the man who should definitely be the new Jeopardy! Host yes, LeVar Burton, you don’t have to take my word for it.

Henry Alvarado began judging hot sauces at the very first festival in 1990, held at the Burnet Road Farmers’ Market. He said there were only a handful of judges sitting outside in the heat under a tree. “It was hot and people were sitting all around us wondering how theirs [sauce] Did. It went crazy for a while! ”A few years later, Henry gave birth to brother Fred Alvarado and best buddy Carlos Contreras, also known as the El Paso Boys. Aside from those two pandemic years, they have always judged and cherished theirs ever since Still 61 years of friendship.

Growing up in El Paso means they have a very specific taste for the verdes and usually prefer the red and special variety entries at the festival. The day before we talked about Zoom, all the guys were busy roasting new Mexican chilies on the grill and Carlos was making mango and habanero sauce for a meat glaze and ice cream topping. (“Jesus, it’s a mother-!” He laughed.) These certified pepper experts also have big plans for Rajas with asadero and enchilada sauces. “We have green chillies from the wazoo here, but football season is just around the corner, so you know.”

Fred and Henry judge at the 2015 Hot Sauce Festival

Henry added, “We look forward to this year’s event and to being out there again. It will be nice to see some of the people we have met over the years.” They also strongly encourage attendees to exercise in the heat with all the chilies and beer: “We learned our lesson after a couple of years.”

The mostly outdoor Far Out was named “Best New Venue” at the Austin Music Awards 2019-2020 and they shout live local music from the rooftops. Since with your capsaicin overload you will surely feel like listening to melodies, we have covered you with a five-fold calculation: There are the eclectic harmonies of Ley Lines women’s quartet, the boldly excellent hip-hop duo Geto Gala, indoor creatures “dreamy, jazz -inspired sound “, some kickass aggro Mazzy star vibes from Van Mary, rounded off with the instrumental reggae from McPullish. (Check out the story behind McPullish’s hot sauce company here.)

As if that weren’t enough, there are commercial bottlers with numerous stalls on-site for your hot sauce tasting, and we also return to the ridiculously unwritten announcements of the contest winners on the stage too.

This year we conducted a judging in the run-up to the event and opened the competition to restaurants as well as commercial bottlers, and we are so glad we did that. Pepperheads from all over the world have entered their secret recipes in our standard categories of red, green, pepper and special varieties. Our very own Sporty Spice, Michael Bartnett, stepped in at the last minute after two judges were canceled due to security precautions on the morning of the event, but our solid pack of hot sauce obsessives made it through nearly 100 submissions nonetheless. Thanks to our lovely hosts, former Chronicle Marketing Director and current Renaissance woman Sarah Wolf and her partner Nick Goodin, we’ve kept it small, tormented and out of doors. The jury discussed the pros and cons of the spiciness, aroma, appearance, taste, and originality of each sauce, and rated each sauce on a scale of 1-5 (to keep things simple in this time of chaos). Top secret: After the procedures, there may or may not have been tiny tequila shots and spontaneous swimming. Further information on the Who’s Who of Hot Sauce Judging 2021 can be found in our jury bio.

From left to right: Fred Alvarado, Carlos Contreras and Henry Alvarado (Courtesy Henry Alvarado)

Our powerful band of festival organizers are working hard with the Far Out Lounge staff and vendors to ensure that the right arrangements are in place. To minimize the risk and keep people as safe as possible, the guidelines include (significantly) reduced capacity, social distancing, health questionnaires, and masks. Further information can be found in the FAQs.

Most importantly, we are once again raising funds for the community-critical Central Texas Food Bank! To date, with your support, this popular festival of fans has raised the supplies and funds for over 1 million meals since it was born. So if you’re eating, dancing, and scorching your taste buds, please remember to share your happiness with our neighbors in need by donating as much as you can to the Central Texas Food Bank, the largest famine relief organization in the area.

When asked why it was still so special so many years later, Contreras said: “[This festival] is a unique thing that started out as some kind of competition between Austin and San Antonio, however [now it’s more]. The people here are sociable, they are nice, they like to get together and do that, and they realize it’s for a really good cause. “

So, brave souls, mask yourselves and join us as we raise money to alleviate food insecurity and celebrate everything sharp.

The 31st annual Austin Chronicle Hot Sauce Festival, presented by Capital Metro, with special thanks to Big Swig & Hard Swig, will take place on Sunday September 12th. For more information and to buy tickets, visit austinchronicle.com/hot-sauce.

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