Vault City x Thiccc Sauce
When you make a beer like Fruits of the Forest, Triple Stacked Breakfast Waffle, any potential pairing would have to be equally outrageous. Cue Luca Rollini, the Leeds based legend behind Thiccc Sauce, who specialise in small batch, big flavour hot sauces. These bespoke releases are hand waxed, stamped and shipped all over the UK.
We were already BIG fans of Thiccc Sauce, so we jumped at the chance to add some of our beer to one their amazing new recipes. Luca spoke with us about the origins and future of Thiccc Sauce, as well as his recommended food pairings for our new collaboration, Fruits of the Forest, Triple Stacked Breakfast Hot Sauce.
Tell us about Thiccc Sauce?
Thiccc Sauce started in May 2020 accidentally in lockdown 1 back at my Mums house in Nottingham. Whist being furloughed from a job I was with at the time, I used the spare time I had to create some small batches of scotch bonnet hot sauce, sold them out on Instagram, created the brand and started building our Instagram following. By the time we had come out of lockdown in July, I had established a small growing sauce brand with lots of future plans.
From then on, I worked closely with the likes of Bundobust, North Brewing Co, Friends Of Ham, Little Bao Boy and more, collaborating on sauces to showcase culinary foods from these brands in a sauce form. This is something that is very important for us when we collaborate with other businesses and it's an area of the brand we enjoy the most. We're all about small batch sauces, handmade with high quality ingredients, hand cooked in Leeds.
What was your inspiration for starting Thiccc Sauce?
In September 2019 I spent 3 months in America travelling around New York, Boston, Rhode Island, Miami & LA researching the food & beer industry. Whilst over there I became aware of the demand for handmade small batch hot sauce & the great link it had with the craft beer industry.
When did you first try hot sauce?
This happened following my dad's decision to put hot sauce on his chilli con carne when I was young. Safe to say my tolerance wasn’t as good then haha!
What brands inspired you?
I was inspired by brands like Truff and Cholula
Tell us about the Vaulty City x Thiccc Sauce collaboration?
I've followed Vault City since they started and love the outrageous ingredient decisions that go into making their beer. It's something I love to do when designing a collaboration; pushing boundaries & using ingredients I haven’t used before.
Fruits of the Forest, Triple Stacked Breakfast Hot Sauce
The sauce contains (deep breath) strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, redcurrants, blackcurrants, rhubarb, Vermont maple syrup, apple cider & red wine vinegar blend, red jalapeños, Carolina reapers, roquito sweet peppers, brown sugar, vanilla sugar & obviously Vault City Beer!
The sauce bottle will be drip sealed with Gold Wax, which we only ever use for the most elite of sauces 😉 and not to forget the incredible artwork Stallan has designed for the label which is up there with one of our all-time favourites!
What impact does adding beer have on the flavour?
It definitely adds a sweetened depth to the sauce. I love cooking with beer especially something as thick & flavourful as this. The level of ingredients in this sauce is up there with one of the craziest we’ve ever done.
What does the future hold for Thiccc Sauce?
We have huge plans for 2022 with plenty of collaborations in the pipeline, most of which we can’t disclose, but let's just say we're taking the collaboration flag international in the alcohol industry which will be our biggest yet! Plus we will continue to develop new and exciting sauces along with seasonings & more!
Last question... Can you tell us about food pairings?
You can't go wrong with breakfast waffles, but there are loads of options really. Outrageously American, but try mixing some of the sauce into some jelly & make a peanut butter jelly sandwich!
