The Story of The Northern Beacon

You may already be familiar with our Northern Beacon hot sauce — the hottest product in our range. But do you know its history?

Over the years, Northern Beacon has risen to become one of our most popular products, but believe it or not, this sauce wasn’t part of our original lineup. In fact, when I started this brand, I had no intention of making a sauce as hot as this.

I began trading as Khoo’s Hot Sauce way back in 2012, and our original lineup consisted of:

• Heavy Smoker
• Plum Breakfast
• Spicy Ketchup
• Golden Syrup
• Super Sauce

Back in 2012, super-hot sauces weren’t nearly as popular or as prevalent as they are now. My experience with sauces in that upper heat range had been underwhelming — more often than not, I found that these sauces sacrificed good flavour for overbearing heat, often relying on capsaicin extracts to fuel their burn.

Of course, these days that’s no longer the case, and there are plenty of delicious super-hot sauces to choose from. But back then, this was a corner of the market I wasn’t interested in entering unless I could bring something truly flavourful to the table.

Our sauces have always prioritised flavour over heat for heat’s sake.

At the time, we were regularly trading at artisan markets and food festivals. More and more, we were receiving feedback from customers who wanted a sauce with the depth of flavour they had come to expect from our products — but hotter than anything I currently had available. So, I set to work.

The first thing I wanted to do was balance the different burn profiles of the annuum, chinense, and baccatum strains of chillies in a way that could challenge the overwhelming heat of those nasty capsaicin extracts.

You see, these three families of chilli each produce their own distinct burns:

• The annuum family delivers a sharp heat that arrives quickly, scorches the tastebuds, and then fades just as fast.
• The chinense family, on the other hand, brings a slower burn — a delayed arrival that builds to an almighty crescendo and just keeps going. The world’s hottest peppers all come from this family, so chinense chillies had to form the backbone of our new sauce.
• And then there’s the baccatum family — the ajis. I knew I needed to include at least one representative from this group, as they bring a completely different heat. Thanks to a unique chemical makeup, they offer a tangy burn alongside their trademark fruity notes.

Khoo’s Hot Sauce was born out of my obsession with chillies — and if Northern Beacon proves anything, it’s that I’m deep in it. Maybe I went a bit overboard. Maybe I got a little too excited. Maybe eleven different varieties of chilli is a tad excessive… but after extensive testing, tweaking, and a fair bit of showing off, eleven very distinct varieties of chilli is exactly what I ended up with.

Early prototypes were built around a predominantly mango base, but we decided that with its fruity flavour and strong chinense notes, it was too similar to its predecessor, Super Sauce. So I changed direction and focused on achieving a more savoury profile — bringing in the earthy depth of sweet potato and a rich smokiness from our oak-smoked sweet peppers.

We retained a fruity element from the mangos and combined everything with a carefully selected (top secret) dry spice blend. The result was something very special: searingly hot, full of flavour, and with a balance that allowed the unique characteristics of each chilli to shine through.

The rest is history.

Northern Beacon very quickly became our most popular sauce. Within a few years, it scooped its first award: a Gold Star from the Guild of Fine Food at the 2019 Great Taste Awards.

The year after that, it also won the award for Best Super Hot Sauce at The Chilli Shop, and it’s remained one of the most popular sauces on their shelves ever since.

We even shared it with the Hairy Bikers to show the lads how much flavour a super-hot sauce can offer — beyond just the heat. Si summed it up perfectly in just three words: “Oh, it’s tasty.”

He went on to say:

“It’s all about taste. It’s not about heat, it’s about that fine balance that compliments each other that so many get wrong, where it’s always about ‘wurghh!’, it’s all about the heat. That’s not what Alex is about.”

That comment stuck with me. Because it’s exactly what Khoo’s Hot Sauce is about — and Northern Beacon is the proof.

If you’re looking for a hot sauce that doesn’t just bring the fire, but layers it with complexity, richness, and real character — Northern Beacon is the one.

And if you’ve already tried it?
Maybe it’s time to revisit it. Or explore the rest of our range — from the smoky charm of Heavy Smoker, to the sweet burn of Golden Syrup, or the classic comfort of our Spicy Ketchup.

No matter how hot you like it, we’ve got something to light your way.