Need heat? Lexington rocker grows some of the hottest sauces possible in his backyard

From grocery store shelves to hard-to-come-by bottles, Matt Sigler has long been an avid consumer of hot sauce.

Unable to ever find one hot enough to meet his demands, he set out to create his own. And with the help of some rock music fans, his Mad Matt’s Hot Sauce is finding its hot tune.

“My friends got really interested in making the really ridiculously hot sauces and people want that competition-strength hot sauce sometimes,” said Sigler. “I started out only growing the hottest of the hot.”

With flavors like “Murder Melon,” “Purple Pain,” and “Shadow Of A Ghost,” Sigler’s homegrown, handmade sauces feature names almost equally as bold as the heat bottled within.

Growing the world’s hottest peppers

Some of the hottest peppers in the world are used. Peppers used in the sauces range from the Dragon’s Breath at 2.48 million Scoville Heat Units (the scale that measures the spiciness of peppers) to Seven Pot Bubblegums (800,000 SHU), Carolina Reapers (2.2 million SHU) and many more. For comparison a Bell Pepper is 0 SHU and a Jalapeño is 2,500 SHU.

“I don’t know how, but there are people, they’re able to eat them like candy,” said Sigler of the Dragon’s Breath, the second hottest chili on record behind only Pepper X (3.18 million SHU). “It blows my mind because they are absurdly hot on their own.”

All of the peppers are grown in Sigler’s Lexington backyard inside of a 200-square-foot polytunnel greenhouse with seeds mostly acquired online from Finland-based Fatalli Seeds. However, plants first start out inside in the middle of winter before being introduced to the greenhouse in the spring after the first frost. From there the growth process takes anywhere from two to five months depending on the pepper.

With over 72 plants and a dozen varieties to tend to — he has branched out to include milder peppers since he began in 2016 — the process is oftentimes a tiresome one for Sigler. He also works full-time as a cook and has a newborn with his wife, Racheal. Despite his hectic schedule and responsibilities, he couldn’t see himself leaving any part of the growing to someone else.

“I love growing everything from seeds,” said Sigler. “I put them in their planters and cared for them for months on end long before they became a sauce. It never goes into anyone’s hands but mine, which is incredibly satisfying.”

While Sigler’s primary inspirations are his culinary know-how and obsession with heat he also draws from YouTube. Creators like “ChilliChump,” an Englishman who makes introductory and advanced videos on chili pepper gardening, fermentation, mashing and more, and shows like “Hot Ones,” which interviews celebrities and other personalities while eating progressively hotter wings, are among his favorites.

“I already had a lot of the knowledge, but those videos helped inspire and give me the confidence to branch out on my own,” said Sigler. “One of my goals is to have Mad Matt’s used on ‘Hot Ones’ one day.”

Originally from Caldwell County, Sigler has long been skillful around the kitchen. After learning of his allergies to onions, scallions, scallops and more at a young age, he quickly realized that he needed to know how to prepare food for himself. That curiosity led him to working at kitchens all over Lexington from Cracker Barrel to The Cellar and more.

Following a brief excursion from the state while his wife finished mortuary school in Illinois, Sigler started Mad Matt’s upon his return in 2016. The company later became certified Kentucky Proud in 2018.

Mad Matt’s Hot Sauce at concerts

The venture originally began with him creating custom hot sauces for music bands to spice up their merch tables at concerts. Groups he’s worked with include El Escapado, NP Presley & The Ghost Of Jesse Garon and Black Knife (his own band), among others. Sigler says that feedback has been so good that bands have been upping their orders to keep up with increased demand from their fans at shows.

“Everyone that I’ve worked with and sold to personally so far keeps coming back and telling me how much they love it,” said Sigler. “They’re also sharing and talking about it with their friends, which makes me happier than you can imagine.”

Mad Matt’s Hot Sauces can also be ordered directly from Sigler online at instagram.com/madmattshotsauce, facebook.com/madmattshotsauce for $10 per bottle (plus shipping) or by email at mattpsigler@gmail.com. His future goals for Mad Matt’s include greenhouse and retail expansion as he builds toward turning his passion into a full-time, sustainable career.