must be doing something right

i make my sauce for the year all at once.......i tease folks on my facebook, and drop sales on one day......i usually do well, selling a bunch that first week.....i have gained a few commercial accounts, but it usually takes me a good part of the year to finally unload everything.....i still have 5 or 6 of last years 5oz bottles kicking around (last year i made 457 5oz)
 
 
this year's production was about the same.......i think i came in just under 400 5oz bottles and another 30+ 10oz bottles......
 
 
 
I dropped sales saturday at 8AM (although I did deliver 96 bottles to a brewery/pizza place that exclusively uses my sauce on Friday)
 
 
as of this AM I had 8 bottles of red left, 5 bottles of green and 5 bottles of peach......I also had 18 10oz bottles of blend
 
 
sold out of smoked red, yellow, white, 5oz blend and chocolate by sunday afternoon
 
 
and one of my regular restaurants hasn't even gotten any
 
 
might have to up production a little next year......my basement/backyard grow and production on my home kitchen might be getting outgrown lol
 
Dude, that's AWESOME, man! I remember your thread from last Fall. You were making sauce like a madman, haha. Congrats, bro! Wishing you the best of luck in your venture

:cheers:
 
most came out really solid this year, too
 
 
wasn't totally sold on my white, will see how it is now that its sat in the bottle a little bit.....
 
 
not sure if i want to get bigger, or stay like it is now......i'll figure out the breweries needs and might up production a little to make sure they get sauce all year, but i might like it right where it is at
 
 
getting bigger would involve lots of things.....greenhouse, expansion of sales area, yadda yadda yadda.......right now i get christmas, a few loads of oil for the furnacne, a few bills and a little fun money out of my hobby lol.....
 
this year's lineup:
 
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this year's write ups: 2017 Ballstown Heat
Green: smoked jalapeños & green chilis, with a few green superhots thrown in. Orange, lemon & lime juice as well as smoked onion and garlic round this one out, finished with agave syrup. Lighter heat, good smoke.
White: lots of smoked garlic & roasted parsnip, along with mostly aji white lightning & coyote zen white peppers. Finished with a little agave syrup. This one is hot but far from overwhelming, you can really taste the garlic and roasted parsnip.
Peach: A variety of peach superhots (peach bhut, jay’s peach scorpion and others) along with some sugar rush peach, coupled with a variety of pears and fresh ginger, again finished with agave syrup. This one is hot with just a touch of fruit.
Yellow: Lots of yellow superhots (fatali, devil’s tongue, yellow brain strain, scotch bonnet, yellow bullet habanero) along with other yellow peppers start this one off with a little fruit flavor. 5lbs of smoked pineapple with yellow curry and tumeric give this one good depth. A little agave syrup on the finish gives it just a little sweet. This one is very hot but with excellent flavor.
Chocolate: This one might be our most complex sauce ever. Chocolate superhots (brown moruga, 7 pot chocolate, gravedigger and others). Tomato, tomatillo, garlic, onion, raisins, allspice, cumin, cloves, cinnamon & thyme, finished with mexican chocolate and agave syrup. Think of this as a mole-inspired hot sauce! Towards the higher end of our heat scale.
Red: Over 12 varieties of red superhots & red peppers make this one fairly complex. We’ve added 6lbs of cranberries and loads of fresh ginger, and finished it off with honey and agave. This one makes an excellent every day type sauce. Good heat, but not as hot as some of the others.
Smoked Red: Another deep, smoky, complex sauce. All of the red varieties along with some garlic spent a few hours in the smoker. Black Oxford & Honey Crisp apples also spent time in the smoker, along with a little garlic. Cherry vinegar was made using our own tart cherry tree, and some cherry juice was also added. Finished with agave syrup. This one hits the hot notes pretty hard.
Blend: A mix of chocolate, yellow, red & white peppers. All the peppers spend time in the smoker, along with garlic & onion. We added beet & pomegranate juice, and spiced it with yellow curry, turmeric & garam masala. Finished with agave syrup. This is complex, smoky, hot with a little Indian kick.
 
 
 
and my spokesmodel:
 
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Would appear to be commercial, selling to restaurants etc.
 
Maine has a burgeoning food sovereignty movement......so i have one foot in the hobby/commercial camp
 
 
bottled roughly 2400oz of sauce, mostly in 5oz bottles, a handful of 10oz, in my kitchen
 
 
 
as of this AM i have 10 5oz bottles and +/- 15 10oz
 
 
only one restaurant and one small farm store in my hometown.....everything else is private sales, regulars that i have established over the years.....a lot of friends and family
 
PtMD989 said:
Hobby,eh ?
That’s awesome your product moves that quick.


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i tease on social media all season.....pics from sprouts to production go up, i announce a drop date once everything is done and sales open at 8am that day.....
 
 
i learned a thing or two from the "beer release" techniques some breweries use haha
 
tims77 said:
 
 
 
i tease on social media all season.....pics from sprouts to production go up, i announce a drop date once everything is done and sales open at 8am that day.....
 
 
i learned a thing or two from the "beer release" techniques some breweries use haha
Kinda like once it’s gone, it’s gone. Till next year.


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PtMD989 said:
How many plants do you plant?


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last year was 220ish i think?
 
 
being on the northern fringe of pepper growing, i get weird production.....some plants are super productive, and some plants of the same variety end up giving very little.....
 
PtMD989 said:
Kinda like once it’s gone, it’s gone. Till next year.


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exactly........i hand letter my bottles with the color & year......and my handwriting isn't the best.....i put a few labels on a little crooked, sometimes on purpose even......all to create a little folky mystique, in that it's a once a year, "hard to get", small batch, handmade sort of thing...lol
 
(and if you watched my production, you'd agree on the small time part lol)
 
 
i probably overthink it, but it's working
 
 
 
 
although i did tell my one big brewery (they bought 144 bottles) that if they run out, i'll make them a small custom batch to get them through......ultimately having them run out in early November would be ideal, as my sales tend to drop right around Dec 1......
 
That’s great you don’t have to sit on your product. [emoji106]
Hand writing that many labels would give me hand cramps


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PtMD989 said:
That’s great you don’t have to sit on your product. [emoji106]
Hand writing that many labels would give me hand cramps


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funny thing is i actually still have 5-6 bottles of last years......
 
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