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- Hot Sauce
Brands - Mad
Dog
 David
Ashley the man behind Mad Dog sauces prefers the title chief
chemist to CEO which gives you an idea of where his passions
lie. Like many entrepreneurs in the hot sauce world he started
experimenting with making hot sauces in his apartment in Brighton,
Massachusetts; that was in 1985. Encouraged by the response
of friends and colleagues he continued to develop and produce
hot sauces in his kitchen until eventually, after about 5
years, his wife chucked him out and he was force to find proper
premises; so started the Ashley Food Co., based close by in
Sudbury.
 David
is the first to admit that he's no professional culinary qualifications
but what he does have is an understanding of the importance
for fresh quality ingredients and the zeal for experimentation.
And its not just the peppers, David will go to great lengths
to source the finest unsulphured sweet molasses or the best
Tamari (Soy Sauce) from Japan; whatever it takes.
One of Ashley Foods first commercial outlets was Boston's
Le Saucier, coincidentally believed to be the worlds first
store dedicated to hot sauce. A big break came with meeting
the now legendary Chip Hearn at the Fancy Food Show, at the
time owner of the Starboard Restaurant in Dewey Beach, Delaware
that had an enormous Bloody Mary bar that offered 200 varieties
of hot sauces. As customers started to ask the bar staff if
the could buy the sauces it seemed only natural to setup a
store outlet and Chip Hearn became one of Ashley Foods biggest
customers. As an aside, Chip Hearn is now believed to have
the biggest private collection of hot sauces in the world,
approaching 10,000.
From the early days Mad Dog sauces have attracted the attention
of judges and been in the awards. In 1993 Mad
Dog Liquid Fire won a 1st Place at the Pig & Pepper
Massachusetts State Sauce Contest and then in 1996 Mad
Dog Inferno did the same but also won a special award
for the Best Heat and several professional tasters declared
it the
hottest sauce on the market - David Ashley and Ashley Foods
had finally made the big time.
The range of Mad Dog sauces has continued to grow with much
hotter sauces but without sacrificing the great taste of the
Mad Dog Range. The Mad Dog 357 at a full 375,000 Scoville
Units was an instant International best seller, combining
great heat and taste. It still sells extremely well and is
complemented by the even hotter Mad Dog 357 with Bullet Keychain
which incorporates even more heat from the addition of 6 million
Pepper Extract. The story goes that when David ordered the
bullet keychain rings for these he wasn't expecting them to
come with a tiny spoon inside; there are all sorts of suggestions
as to why the spoon was lurking in there but never to miss
an opportunity David marketed the sauce with a bullet incorporating
it's own tasting spoon - believe me you won't want to try
more than you can fit on the end of one of these spoons in
one go.
If you want to go much hotter then you're into Food Additive
territory which is exactly where the Mad Dog range is now
exploring. Maintaining the bullet theme David has now introduced
an extract registering a frightening 4 Million Scoville Units;
appropriately the sauce is named Mad
Dog 44 Magnum.
Our full range of Mad Dog sauces.
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