Can you handle the heat? NYC Hot Sauce Expo kicks off in Brooklyn

NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) – How much heat can you handle? Find out this weekend at a hot sauce festival in Brooklyn. 

The 11th annual NYC Hot Sauce Expo kicked off Saturday at 10 a.m. in Industry City and closes at 6 p.m. The spicy extravaganza will return Sunday at 10 a.m., with challenges, bites, free hot sauce tasting and good drinks through 6 p.m. 

Dozens of hot sauce companies from across the country have brought their fiery dips to Brooklyn, including Brooklyn-based brand Cantina Royal and New Jersey brand Defcon. Heatonist and Hell’s Kitchen Hot Sauce, both New York City brands, also brought their flavors to the festival. 

“We invite only the best sauce makers from North America,” Hot Sauce Expo founder Steve Seabury told PIX11 News. “We brought the best here.”

If you’re looking to turn up the heat, the expo’s Stage of Doom will challenge participants in extreme eating challenges throughout the day, like the “Italian Beef of Spicy Love Challenge” and 12 p.m. Sunday, and the Guinness Book of World Records reaper eating challenge at 4 p.m.

“Enter if you dare,” organizers said. “We dare you to enter.”

Wash down the heat with drinks from sponsors like Modelo, Cann and Five Boroughs Brewing Co.

General admission tickets are $15 if purchased ahead of time and $20 the day of. A $45 ticket will get you two craft beers, a barbecue platter and free bottle of High River Sauces. VIP tickets go for $100 and include an open bar, gift bag and VIP area. Buy tickets online at NYC Hot Sauce Expo’s website. 

“These are the Oscars of hot sauce,” Hell’s Kitchen Hot Sauce owner Ron Menin told PIX11 News.