TOLEDO, Ohio — Kevin Mackey and his wife don’t let anything get between their love for hot sauce.
“I was funny,” said Kevin Mackey, CEO and president of Angry Irishman Hot Sauce. “We ran our first batch, I think it was May 25, then we had to run another batch in July. It was the day before we got married. We ran like 1,300 bottles of sauce. Went from here to set up for our wedding reception and we got married the next day.”
Mackey has been perfecting his sauces since he was a teenager. It turns out he really enjoyed the process, finally landing on the perfect combination of ingredients for his signature sauce.
“Seven years later,” said Mackey. “Literally almost seven years within a month or so, I hit the original hot sauce recipe.”
Just like that Angry Irishman was born. Now, him and his crew operate out of a shared kitchen in Bowling Green, Ohio, brewing up batches of their much loved sauce.
“We have hot sauces,” said Mackey. “Four different spicy mustards. Four different heat levels. We have three dry rubs and a BBQ sauce.”
Like many small businesses, getting your name out there is one of the most important things Angry Irishman Hot Sauce does. A big chunk of how they do that is taking part in different shows and expos. Unfortunately, the pandemic put a stop to a lot of that.
“We were in a lot of shows that we had never been in before,” said Mackey. “Last year, they got canceled, and that would have actually pushed our bubbles out past where we have been.”
Mackey is making the most of it and still has a lot of orders to fill. He hopes the shows scheduled for this year stay on track for his business, but also just because he misses it.
“I like to meet new people,” said Mackey. “When people haven’t seen you in a while, they’re like, ‘Oh my gosh! I saw you guys were going to be here and I’m so jacked up you’re here.’ It makes you feel good.”
