Real Ingredients. Real Smoke. Real Boulder Heat.
Colorado Pine-Smoked Peppers
Peppers are slowly smoked by hand with local Colorado pine, giving deep, layered flavor and signature aroma.
Real, Fresh Ingredients
Made with real peppers, carrots, garlic, and onions. No artificial ingredients, unnecessary additives, or thickening agents.
Small-Batch Crafted
Every batch follows the original family recipe first created in Boulder in 1996.
Balanced Heat
Layered spice that builds with flavor instead of overwhelming heat.
Clean Ingredient Label
No added sugar. No preservatives. No artificial ingredients.
Versatile Everyday Sauce
Perfect on eggs, tacos, pizza, wings, grilled meats, and vegetables.
1998 — The Beginning
In 1996, chef and Boulder local Harry Robertson began growing peppers in his backyard garden. Passionate about food and bold flavor, he started experimenting with small batches of hot sauce. From his new love for charred and smoked poblanos, combined with fresh habaneros and red-ripe serranos from the garden, Boulder Hot Sauce was born. What began as a personal project quickly became something friends and family couldn't get enough of.
Early 2000s — From Garden to Community
Harry knew Boulder Hot Sauce couldn’t stay a secret. As demand grew, he began sharing his sauces beyond the dinner table. The recipes he perfected in his kitchen slowly made their way into local stores and restaurants around Colorado. Most notably, The Sink, Boulder’s oldest restaurant where Harry’s Habanero is used in the Kitchen Wing Sauce.
2018 — Carrying the Legacy Forward
After Harry Robertson passed away, the future of the sauce became uncertain. Determined to preserve his legacy, his son Sam and his mother Bettsee stepped in to keep the dream alive. They kept the original recipes alive while maintaining the same passion Harry had for quality ingredients and great flavor.
2024 — A New Chapter
In 2024, Boulder Hot Sauce entered a new era when Sam Robertson partnered with Jake Kearney. Both graduates of the University of Colorado Boulder, they shared a vision to grow the brand while honoring its roots. Together they began expanding Boulder Hot Sauce into new stores, restaurants, and communities while keeping the original family recipes at the heart of the company.
Today, Boulder’s original local hot sauce is celebrating 28 years of business, and looking forward to joining you on your dinner table for many more!
With Love,
Jake, Sam, and Bettsee
Find us at
Smoked Chicken w/ Smokey Serrano Binder
A simple way to level up your binder for any grilled or smoked meats.
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"Poblano, serrano and habanero peppers, fresh carrots, onions and garlic, all prepped, grilled, smoked and processed by hand; these six ingredients, first grown in a warm, plentiful south-facing garden in South Boulder at the home Gotwald and Robertson shared, are nearly all they’ve needed to create BHSC’s only two sauces in nearly 20 years of small-business magic: Smokey Serrano and Harry’s Habanero."
