Hot Sauce Society

Hot Sauce Society | It’s The Real Fire Festival

Holding a festival dedicated purely to hot sauce?

That takes a lot of bottle.

After all, a little famously goes a long way with this condiment. But such is the thirst and devotion of Londoners to hot sauce that the Hot Sauce Society is bringing back their annual heat-loaded hoopla to Peckham’s Copeland Park this May.

Over 30 independent traders will be packing their wares into the airy industrial setting, bringing literally hundreds of handmade and small-batch hot sauces with them for you to sample. You’ll be able to try before you buy (as much as you can handle) and chat to the producers personally about what goes into their bottles of liquid fire.

Alistair Veryard Photography

When you need a little respite from the tastebud tingling, there’s plenty of other stuff going on, too – the team behind South London’s hot sauce, craft beer & vinyl shops Hop, Burns & Black will be returning with their unique take on karaoke (which requires you to scarf down a scotch bonnet chilli pepper right before you sing); there’ll be DJs and live music programmed by the people at Red Rooster Festival; something called a “Spicy Limbo” contest; and chilli face-painting, which is guaranteed to make you look hot.

Alistair Veryard Photography

And since man cannot live on hot sauce alone, there’ll be Caribbean street food courtesy of jerk chicken masters Dookies Grill, and a couple of bars primed to douse the flames with a cool beer or a cocktail laced with chilli-infused bourbon from the Horse With No Name.

It’s got quite a kick.

NOTE: The Hot Sauce Society festival returns on Saturday 20th May, 11am-7pm, at Copeland Park in Peckham. Entry costs £2 on the door – no need to book ahead, but you can find out more HERE.

Hot Sauce Society | Unit 8, Copeland Park Estate, 133 Copeland Rd, London SE15 3SN

And on Sunday… take an ice cream crawl through Central London