Malahide's food story runs through its marina, the seafood menus along the waterfront at Old Street and Sale e Pepe, and the chunky cod-in-beer-batter at Gibney's, landed in from Howth Harbour down the coast. Little Red's Sauces, a small-batch producer based in the town and run by founder Shane Doherty, has added a hot sauce credit to that table, taking a Bronze Medal in Garlic Chili Sauce with Little Red's Everyday Hot Sauce at the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 (heatawards.eu), Europe's flagship hot sauce competition.
Little Red's was started in 2020 by Shane Doherty, a Dubliner who turned a hot sauce obsession into a business during Covid. The range is handmade, gluten-free, vegan-friendly, built without thickening agents or additives, and now covers a flagship Everyday Hot Sauce, a Chipotle BBQ Sauce, and a Slow Roasted Pepper & Garlic Salsa. The Everyday Hot Sauce had already taken a Gold at Blas na hÉireann in the brand's first year of entering; the EHSA Bronze places it on a European panel for the first time.
Nathan Austin on Little Red's Everyday Hot Sauce:
"Two ingredients done patiently, fermented chilli and garlic, then left to mature. Garlic Chili is one of the easiest categories in the line-up to overdo, the kind where the garlic either disappears under the chilli or runs over the top of it. Little Red's holds the balance." – Nathan Austin, Tasting Editor, Republic of Heat
Little Red's Everyday Hot Sauce took a Bronze Medal in Garlic Chili Sauce: naturally fermented chillies and garlic, then slowly matured. The name signals the intent, an everyday bottle built for regular use rather than a single-event sauce.
"Honestly still speechless. We make this in Malahide, by hand, in small batches, and taking a Bronze in Garlic from a blind European panel is hard to take in. Massive thanks to everyone who's been with us on this." – Shane Doherty, Founder, Little Red's Sauces
The European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 ran over 200 sauces from across the continent through blind tasting this year, scored on five criteria by a deliberately mixed panel of chefs, sommeliers, critics and chilli specialists. Garlic Chili Sauce drew 10 EU entries in 2026, with Little Red's placing third.
"Garlic is the category where producers either underdo it and the sauce reads as a generic chilli, or overdo it and the garlic eats everything else. A Bronze here means Little Red's found the line, and from a blind panel in Berlin to a producer in Malahide, that's the kind of result EHSA exists to surface. Watching closely for what Shane brings next." – Neil Numb, Founder, European Hot Sauce Awards
Little Red's Everyday Hot Sauce is available through Little Red's Sauces at littleredssauces.com and through selected SuperValu stores across Dublin. Full EHSA 2026 results across all 16 categories: heatawards.eu/results/2026?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=press&utm_campaign=ehsa2026&utm_content=little-reds.
PRESS RESOURCES Reveal video on YouTube, embeddable: - Garlic Chili Sauce: https://youtu.be/7ATiV-ZJHU0 Press kit (photos, logos, AI lifestyle composites credited Republic of Heat / European Hot Sauce Awards 2026): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1n0rxpGfR0Nw5YyCxTOj1fW6C5b444m5T?usp=drive_link
ABOUT LITTLE RED'S SAUCES Little Red's Sauces is a small-batch Irish producer based in Malahide, Co. Dublin, founded in 2020 by Shane Doherty. The range is handmade, gluten-free and vegan-friendly, built without thickening agents or additives, and includes Little Red's Everyday Hot Sauce, Chipotle BBQ Sauce, and Slow Roasted Pepper & Garlic Salsa. Stocked through littleredssauces.com and selected SuperValu stores across Dublin.
ABOUT THE EUROPEAN HOT SAUCE AWARDS The European Hot Sauce Awards (EHSA) is the professional competition for commercially produced hot sauces in Europe, run annually since 2024 from heatawards.eu. EHSA was born out of the Berlin Chili Festival, which has run since 2019 and returns 4–6 September 2026, and became an independent competition in 2024. Over 200 sauces from producers across the continent were entered in 2026. Entries are judged blind across five criteria: aroma, heat profile, flavour, creativity and finish. The 2026 edition covers 16 categories, with Gold, Silver and Bronze medals awarded across multiple positions in each. Each category also names a Best in Category, the top Gold. EHSA is run independently of any single producer or retailer.
ABOUT REPUBLIC OF HEAT Republic of Heat is a European hot sauce subscription designed to show off the flavours coming out of Europe and help solve the distribution problem independent makers face. Founded June 2025 in Berlin by Nathan "Naga" Austin and Simon "Scoville" Gardner. The Discovery subscription delivers three handpicked craft sauces plus a spicy extra to subscribers across the EU each month. Press partner of the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026. republicofheat.com.
PRESS CONTACT Press: Republic of Heat, on behalf of European Hot Sauce Awards contact@republicofheat.com +49 176 41601284
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