Photo courtesy of Bradshaw Sauce Company
Dexter Bradshaw is bringing some heat to Alexandria — and hot sauce fans love it.
Bradshaw, one of the rare residents who can say he was born and raised here, grew up on the edge of the West End, where he attended Douglas McArthur Elementary, George Washington Middle School and the former T.C. Williams High School.
“I’ve always liked hot sauce, even as a kid and I would always have a bunch of bottles in the fridge and I was always making them. If I liked the flavor of one and the heat of another I would mix them together. That was kind of the way I got into it,” Bradshaw explained.
He started off making hot sauce for a local restaurant, where customers responded positively and many encouraged him to bottle it to sell. The amount of work that goes into starting a company initially deterred him. He stopped making hot sauce for a while when he switched jobs, but continued to get comments from people who remembered his sauce.
Photo courtesy of Bradshaw Sauce Company
Bradshaw and Brewster
Hot sauce is also the reason he met his fiancée, Felicia Brewster.
At the time he was working at T.J. Stones and had started making hot sauce again for Thursday wing nights. Brewster, who lived around the corner from the restaurant, had popped in to meet a friend — who didn’t show up.
Bradshaw decided to go over and talk to her, despite the fact that he made it a point to never flirt with customers.
“He came over and started talking to me as I was sitting by myself,” explained Brewster. When it was time to leave, she offered him a ride to his house since it was raining. They made plans to cook steak together the next night and now, exactly four years later, they are engaged.
It was Brewster who encouraged him to take his hot sauce to the next level. “I feel like every time we went somewhere where people had [tried] his sauce, they were like, ‘Can I have some?’” Brewster said.
After witnessing this multiple times she finally asked Bradshaw, “Ok so people want it, you like making it — why don’t we just do it?”
They started the process in 2019 and the company was incorporated in January 2020, right before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. This made it difficult to sell at local farmers markets, most of which were doing pre-order sales.
Instead, they have been selling on their website, through Made in ALX and by word of mouth. They will also be selling bottles at Del Ray Pizzeria’s (DRP) upcoming Wing Fest on May 22. Bradshaw is currently the bar manager and beer curator for the pizzeria.
Small Batches at Hot Temps
Bradshaw makes the hot sauce in small batches in the prep kitchen that used to belong to The Reserve, DRP’s speakeasy bar, which closed permanently because of the pandemic.
The peppers are boiled separately from the other ingredients. When boiled, the peppers release their translucent skin, making them sweeter and hotter. The process isn’t exactly comfortable. It causes a strong burning sensation for the person cooking them. The sauces are held and bottled at a temperature of 180 degrees to prevent contamination.
Photo courtesy of Bradshaw Sauce Company
Habanero peppers
Thai Chili is the company’s most popular flavor with customers. “It’s a very easy hot sauce for people to get around because it’s not usually that spicy, it’s sweet, it’s got a lot of garlic and ginger and it’s just a fun sauce to have,” Bradshaw described. Hot Honey Bourbon is the couple’s personal favorite because it’s not too hot and is good for everyday use. Brewster jokes that the flavor was made for her, since she doesn’t typically like hot sauce.
They started with three flavors which grew to four and they plan to soon produce a fifth special release flavor that will probably be something a little on the hotter side but not too extreme.
“It’s easier to lose flavor and balance the hotter you go,” explained Bradshaw. “Also for us it’s better to not make the hottest thing possible because it’s just going to be sitting on your shelf for a year or two.” They are also considering a special mustard-based hot sauce in the future.
A Pit Named Vinny
Bradshaw believes flavor and branding are what set the company apart from the many other hot sauce companies. For Bradshaw, part of that is the label which he describes as “approachable and simple.”
Bradshaw Sauce Co. bottles feature the face of Bradshaw’s Pit Bull, Vinny, wearing sunglasses.
Photo courtesy of Bradshaw Sauce Company
Vinny
Bradshaw is a big pit bull advocate, although he admits that wasn’t always the case. It wasn’t until he and his roommate got their first pit bull while he was a student at Virginia Commonwealth University that he fell in love with the breed.
After two of his pit bulls passed away, he found Vinny. “There was one dog not playing with any other dog, just by himself exploring and I was like, ‘I want that one’ and I’ve had him for almost 11 years now,” Bradshaw explained with affection.
He chose Vinny to represent the brand when his godmother, who is a graphic designer and helped him with initial label design, asked him “What’s in your life that’s important to you?” Vinny is more than just a cute face on the bottle, he is an inspiration. “Dogs are very near and dear to us, and at some point we want to partner with pit bull rescues,” said Brewster.
Keeping It Local — Mostly
They recently hired a Maryland-based artist, Bryan Baltz, to design a special label for the popular Thai Chili sauce.
The company has tried to source ingredients locally, but it has been a challenge because most farms in Virginia do not grow the hot peppers they need. In order to have peppers year around, most of them come from the Dominican Republic. Other ingredients, like honey, have also been difficult to implement in the recipe because of lack of consistency. They hope to revisit ingredient sourcing once the business is more established. They would also love to someday do a beer-based hot sauce in collaboration with a Virginia brewery.
For now, the next step is getting on store shelves. That involves a long process of certifications and inspections which they hope will be finished this fall.
Once it happens, the company will need to expand to a commercial kitchen with more specialized bottling equipment. Bradshaw does not want to give up control by hiring a co-packer or other outside help. He wants the company to remain true to its roots.
Bradshaw and Brewster look forward to what the future will bring for the company, and for them as a couple. They hope to have a large wedding in Richmond in the fall of 2022 to celebrate after the pandemic.
Purchase Bradshaw Sauce Company hot sauce on the Made in ALX website,where they are currently offering three bottles for $20.
