Brooklyn Beckham has joined the growing list of celebrities launching their own hot sauce brands, introducing Cloud 23, a premium offering priced at £15 per bottle. The sauce comes in two flavours—Hot Habanero and Sweet Jalapeño—with labels featuring kissing cherubim, giving it a luxury perfume-like appeal.
The 25-year-old follows in the footsteps of Ed Sheeran, whose Tingly Ted's sauce is already on shelves, Alice Cooper with his Poison Reaper line, and Kim Kardashian, who has invested in Truff, a truffle-infused hot sauce favoured by Oprah Winfrey. The trend reflects a broader surge in consumer demand for spicy condiments, with Ocado reporting a 10% year-on-year increase in hot sauce sales.
Ocado now stocks over 100 hot sauces, with searches for Korean varieties up 850% and chipotle up 292%. Craft hot sauces, often sold in Instagrammable bottles and featuring ingredients like ghost peppers and yuzu, are particularly popular. James Nicolian, co-founder of Some Like It Hot, an online store specialising in rare hot sauces, describes them as “the closest thing to magic. It makes everything better.”
The rise in popularity is partly attributed to the YouTube show Hot Ones, where celebrities eat increasingly spicy chicken wings while answering questions. Idris Elba, Jennifer Lawrence, and Ricky Gervais have all taken part, with Gervais failing to complete the challenge. Jen Ferguson, co-founder of Hop Burns and Black, notes that a box of sauces from the show is a bestseller despite costing over £100.
Hot sauce culture now includes festivals, TikTok tours, and forums dedicated to building tolerance. Nicolian is launching the UK’s first certified “hot sauce sommelier” course. While some sauces like Da’ Bomb Beyond Insanity measure over 135,000 Scoville units, most customers prefer flavourful options for everyday use. As Christmas approaches, Nicolian sees demand for hot sauces on cheese boards and even in coffee or on ice cream.
