Tabasco Has Secretly Launched Its Own Sriracha Sauce

TabascoHot sauce company Tabasco has launched its very own Sriracha product.

Tabasco is capitalizing on hard times for Huy Fong, the original maker of Sriracha, writes Hugh Merwin at Grub Street. Sriracha's factory in California was shut down after locals complained of the smell.

Tabasco's Sriracha launch has been largely kept a secret, according to Merwin.

"Apart from some talk on an LSU message board thread and a brief shout-out on Vice, there's been almost no mention of Tabasco's Sriracha," he writes. "In fact, it seems the only place you can even buy it is on the company's official 'country store.'"

The new Sriracha costs $4.99 for a 15-ounce bottle, making it about twice as expensive as the original.

Tabasco told Grub Street that the sauce is for a limited time only, but he speculates that the company might be perfecting the formula and packaging before doing a wider release in 2015.

Because Tabasco is a huge company with infinite resources, Merwin believes it could overtake the original brand.

The new sauce got positive reviews on the LSU message board.

Sriracha has developed a cult following in recent years.

A comic on The Oatmeal calls the sauce "the savior of cheap, crappy Asian food."

Order Tabasco's Sriracha here.