Cocktails with Hot pepper sauce
Hot pepper sauce is chili blended with vinegar and salt, sometimes with sugar. It brings acidity to a drink as well as heat.
How it's used
It goes in by the dash, into savory drinks such as the Bloody Mary and the Michelada. Add it with the other seasonings and mix well, whether the drink is shaken, rolled or built. Heat is easy to overshoot, so taste before adding more.
Substitutes for Hot pepper sauce
Vinegary chili sauce
Tabasco, Frank's RedHot, or Cholula swap out fine. Heat varies, so start with half the dashes and add to taste.
Chili paste and sriracha
Thick sauces for a pinch that must be mixed in well. They bring body with the heat, and sriracha and sweet pastes add sugar too.
Ground cayenne
Does not dissolve and leaves specks in the liquid. A pinch is better used on the rim.
Storage
Vinegar and salt preserve it, so a bottle lasts for years. The heat holds; what fades is the color, from red toward brown, and faster on a sunlit shelf. The fridge slows the change but is not needed.
