About J's

Growing up in the Chesapeake Bay area with my father and his father both working for the park service, I have always had a huge passion for nature and cultivation. This passion and love are represented in J's Hot Sauce which happened as a garnish too salty/spicy for cocktails while tending bar in my beloved Washington DC's New Heights, "Gin Joint". While working there I constructed a front patio garden to grow goodies for the bar and kitchen, which included a large variety of spicy peppers.  At the end of my first growing season, this garden left me with 2 gallons of various un-needed spicy peppers. I asked the Chef at the time, Logan Cox if he wanted them, but having just rolled out a new fall menu had no use.  So,.. not wanting to waste them I took a stab at "pickling them" which let's just say didn't turn out to be a pickle. This big vat of goodness was though to become the "O.G.", and this is where it all began.

I professionally ran bars and mixed cocktails for 20 years in DC, NYC, and Los Angeles. I tended to focus on savory drinks and use on-premise gardens which I built and tended in my programs when available. All the while making and tweaking the "O.G." for cocktails at these bars, as well for friends and family. The "O.G." was a hit and bottle requests start to happen more and more frequently. I started putting it in small used clean soda bottles with a cork for these requests and here we go... Whenever a customer asked for hot sauce I would give them J's, never knowing that it was my own product. This gave me total honest face to face reactions and opinion from "food people", and helped me tweak any receipt I was working on at that time. I started building little kitchens behind every bar I ran which allowed me to create a much larger variety of witches brews. From hot sauces, syrups, reductions, sodas, to pickles, this set up gave me full access to try whatever I wanted to without bothering the kitchen. 

(MDT featured on Titos Vodka site for featured Bartender). Deconstructed bloody with tomato water ice cubes, infused vodka, pickled veg. "O.G" hot sauce, fresh chili powder rim. The First drink with the O.G.

In the early 2000's I moved back west and really started taking It seriously. We are proud to be a Southern California based small business, making a handmade artisanal goods. We have a huge passion for all things culinary, and a ton of respect for all the kitchens, Food and beverage professionals everywhere. Much like them, we strive to create well-balanced products using fresh seasonal ingredients.  All natural products from pepper to package handmade in CA, with no added sugar or preservatives ever!

Try it and enjoy a better hot sauce.

Owner,
Jason Robey