Not as bad as last year, I don't think. I don't remember them using as much Liquid Smoke. That's nasty . Smokers work through a quick cigarette in the August heat. Then it's back to the table.
Green sauces are usually the smallest section, but a bit dicier than the reds.
By this time, a beery haze and subtle palate fatigue start to set in, but usually not soon enough. We only have two finalists. In a few hours, they'll casually taste and ponder a palate-busting collection of 20 sauces. Special varieties, as it's called in the trade, is the purely experimental group of hot sauces. It's the category almost exclusively populated by kitchen visionaries, culinary free spirits, and the truly sadistic.