Interview: Trevi Biles, Big Daddy's Ass Burn Hot Sauce

He can make you burn, make you rock, or teach you about triangles. Houstonist recently caught up with Trevi "Big Daddy" Biles, local hot sauce maker/ Whorehound band member/ geometry teacher. Here's what Big Daddy Trevi had to say about Big Daddy's Ass Burn "Hell Goin' In Hell Goin' Out" Hot Sauce:

What made you want to create a hot sauce? Was the stuff in the stores not hot enough?

Actually the whole thing started when my now wife Becky was my boss at a place we were working and she was getting sick and tired of me complaining about hot sauces tasting too vinegary and not enough about flavor. She basically told me to put up or shut up. So I decided I would make a hot sauce. She helped start a pepper garden and I started experimenting.

How did you come up with the recipe?

Ass Burn was the fifth recipe I came up with after experimenting with different peppers and spices. One thing I wanted to do and have stuck with was include St. Arnold's Lawnmower Beer in the recipe. I love their products, the people there at the brewery are awesome, and I wanted to include an ingredient that was distinctively Houstonian.

Do you both share the same heat tolerance?

Becky wasn't a pepper belly at all when I met her. Now, however, she has surpassed me and makes everything she cooks, even usually tame stuff like spaghetti and meat loaf, hotter than hell.

Trevi, have your students tried the sauce, and what do they think?

Actually I let my students (I'm a high school geometry teacher) try all three sauces the day before Thanksgiving break this year. They seemed to like it, a couple of them thinking it wouldn't phase them and having to run out of class to the water fountain.

Do your taste buds melt away after time so that you can't feel the heat anymore?

I've always heard that and I believe there is definitely a tolerance for hot sauce but I don't necessarily believe that your taste buds burn off. Otherwise I imagine I wouldn't be able to taste anything at all anymore. I can still feel the sweet burn of hot sauces.

What makes a winner at these hot sauce festivals? What do they look for?

We've done really well at festivals recently. Below are the awards we've won. I think the judges and samplers like that our sauces combine good flavor with heat and all taste original. Too many hot sauces have the same flavor or are just there to burn the hell out of you.

Awards:

Big Daddy's Ass Burn:
2007 Houston Hot Sauce Festival-Best in Show
2007 Houston Hot Sauce Festival-1st Place-Red Sauce
2007 Austin Hot Sauce Festival-1st Place-Pepper Sauce
2006 Houston Hot Sauce Festival-1st PLace-Red Sauce

Amplified Heat:
2007 Houston Hot Sauce Festival-1st Place-Green Sauce

High on Fire:
2007 Houston Hot Sauce Festival-1st Place-Habanero Sauce

How have the Houston restaurants/bars/establishments played a role in your success?

Yeah, a lot of local restaurants and bars have really been supportive. Griff Sports Bar makes buffalo wings with both Ass Burn and High on Fire sauces. Catalan has a Big Daddy's Banana Split with three ice creams made with each of our sauces. Also they have a new weekly Big Daddy's menu item made with one of our sauces. It's really been great seeing how some of our favorite places in town have embraced our sauces.

Tell us a little bit about your upcoming music festival.

We're presenting a honkytonk/Southern rock night that will be happening regularly at the Meridian with some great bands.

How do the bands feel about having a hot sauce named after them, and how has the response been?

As a long time musician in the Houston metal underground (I play bass in Whorehound and used to play in Drunken Thunder, Transmaniacon MC, and Brown Paper Dog), I've gotten to know a lot of bands over the years. High on Fire is named after the Oakland brutal-as-hell metal band and Amplified Heat is named after the awesome rock band from Austin. We made hot sauces with the bands' personalities in mind. Both bands have brought the sauces on tour with them and the folks out on the road seem to dig it.

Do you ever get tired of hot sauce?

Hot sauce does awesome things to so many different kinds of food and different hot sauces are so varied in flavor, heat intensity, and character that a hot sauce can go perfect with just whatever you're eating.

What are your remedies for a mouth on fire?

My personal favorite remedy is Blue Bell Cookies and Cream Ice Cream.

Future plans for world domination?

We will have Becky's bloody mary mix out very soon (it will be called Mrs. Big Daddy's Drunken Thunder Bloody Mary Mix) and we have some ideas working with some new hot sauces with some more bands so I guess we'll see what the next year has in store for us.

You can pick up Big Daddy's Ass Burn Hot Sauce at Spec's and these other locations.