Capitol Punishment Foods

Chef Gordon Cameron has always loved hot foods - hot wings, wasabi peanuts, you name it. He was impressed with the number of hot sauces on the market and the wide variety of hotness, he was disappointed with the quality of the sauces themselves. So many sauces were so intent on the intensity of heat, flavor was ignored. While it was easy to get a sauce that was hot, it was really difficult to get a hot sauce that possessed both heat and taste. Chef Cameron was determined to create a line of hot sauces that were both hot and flavorful.

Ever since Gordon was a kid he has surrounded by fresh produce. His family farms in Nova Scotia yielded top quality fruits and vegetables. Granted, Nova Scotia is not exactly the world’s foremost in chile production, but from his family Gordon learned what it takes to manage crops and how to fully utilize every possible bit of it. The quality of the preserves, chow-chow, pickles and relishes are world class, all of which are ways of ensuring that “right out of the garden” taste all winter long.

Fast forward nearly two decades; Gordon has been working in the culinary world since 14, most recently as Chef of a highly regarded seafood restaurant in Washington, DC. As a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and Johnson & Wales University and plying his trade for 18 years in many facets of the industry, Gordon has been exposed to a world of flavors, cultures, and, cuisines.

Being a fan of hot sauces can be an arduous task of wading though the vast wastelands of useless red water (homage to Letterman’s decaf coffee slogan: Useless brown water) or the stuff that puts you straight in the emergency room (now that’s not good eats). Though your painful or disappointing journey a certain class of hot sauce will emerge one that can be delightfully hot and packed with flavors. That’s what producers and consumers need to seek, now we’re headed into flavor country.

Capitol Punishment began when Gordon was living in the Capitol Hill area of Washington, DC. He wanted to create a line of sauces that relied on its own ingredients for its heat and flavor, ingedients of the highest quality in unexpected but delicious combinations. He created his first batch of six prototype sauces in early January of 2006, which he bottled and shared with colleagues and friends. The sauces were met with rave reviews, and within a week or so he had nearly 100 bottles pre-sold.

Capitol Punishment is truly an artisan enterprise. Gordon cooks, bottles and labels each batch by hand to ensure that each bottle that he sells is just as good as the first prototypes that he initially created.

Capitol Punishment would like to extend a special "Thank You!" to the Black Rooster Pub in Washington, DC (on the corner of 20th & L Sts. NW, 202-659-4431)! Stop in for great food, a cold beer and selection of fine irish whiskeys - you just might meet the creator of Capitol Punishment hot sauces while your there. Thanks!