Forthcoming — date unconfirmed
Oslo doesn't need to prove its food credentials. Maaemo's three Michelin stars, Kontrast's plates, and the new-Nordic chef wave that put Oslo cooks on the European map already make the case. But this week the city picks up a new one. Lloyd & Melón, made in Oslo by chef Kaneyn Lloyd Allen and award-winning designer Stig Melón-Bratvold, has taken Gold in BBQ Chili Sauce at the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 (heatawards.eu), Europe's flagship hot sauce competition.
Lloyd & Melón is a fermentation project built on fresh vegetables and natural ingredients, the result of Kaneyn Lloyd Allen's chef expertise and Stig Melón-Bratvold's brand-design background blending into a single producer. Kaneyn is an Australian chef with two decades in Oslo restaurants, currently head chef at the cantina of ANTI, the award-winning Norwegian creative agency. Stig is an award-winning Oslo graphic designer. They turned the idea into a brand in summer 2022; Karl Bjorck joined in 2025 across production, social and operations.
Korean BBQ (Gold, BBQ Chili Sauce): habanero, gochujang, miso, garlic and sesame, fermented for depth, a Korean-leaning build. Savoury and umami-heavy with chili heat that builds rather than punches. Built for wok cooking, ramen, bulgogi and galbi, and any dish that wants Korean BBQ flavour without American-style sweetness.
"Still hard to take in, honestly. We're a small team fermenting sauces in Oslo, up against producers from across the continent, and ended up 2nd in a blind tasting. We didn't see this coming. Massive thanks to everyone who's tasted, shared and cheered us on." – Stig Melón-Bratvold, Lloyd & Melón
A small-batch producer like Lloyd & Melón taking Gold says something about what the independent hot sauce scene is producing right now. EHSA 2026 ran across 16 categories with producers entering from across the continent, ten of them in BBQ Chili Sauce alone. Every sauce was tasted blind in coded bottles, scored on five rigorous criteria, by a deliberately mixed panel: professional chefs, sommeliers and food critics on one side, serious chilli specialists and fanatics on the other.
"The BBQ Chili Sauce category at EHSA is judged on balance more than heat. Smoke, sweetness, acid and chili character all have to land in proportion, and most entries fail on at least one. Lloyd & Melón took Gold with a Korean-leaning build, three people fermenting out of Oslo, against producers many times their size. EHSA exists to surface exactly that kind of result, and we'll be watching what Kaneyn and Stig do next." – Neil Numb, Founder, European Hot Sauce Awards
The BBQ Chili Sauce category as a whole proves European producers are building entirely outside the American BBQ playbook. The strongest entries worked from fermentation, regional and global flavours, and the kind of depth only small-batch production gives. Anyone who loves BBQ sauce, and anyone who's only ever met the supermarket version, should try this one and see what European craft producers are doing.
"Republic of Heat tastes hundreds of European hot sauces a year for our Discovery subscription. A chef and a designer fermenting Korean-leaning sauces out of Oslo, that's exactly the kind of cross-discipline craft we go looking for. EHSA handing them Gold in BBQ is the external check on what we'd say anyway." – Nathan "Naga" Austin, co-founder, Republic of Heat (republicofheat.com)
Lloyd & Melón's Korean BBQ is available at lloydmelon.com and via Instagram (@lloyd_and_melon). Republic of Heat will release limited-edition EHSA winner boxes in June 2026 at republicofheat.com; the full BBQ Chili Sauce reveal sits on its YouTube channel (https://youtu.be/L5IhjgVIE4M). Full EHSA 2026 results across all 16 categories: heatawards.eu.
ABOUT LLOYD & MELÓN Lloyd & Melón is an Oslo-based fermentation project run by Kaneyn Lloyd Allen, an Australian chef with two decades in Oslo restaurants and currently head chef at the cantina of ANTI (the award-winning Norwegian creative agency), and Stig Melón-Bratvold, an award-winning Oslo graphic designer. They founded the brand in summer 2022; Karl Bjorck joined in 2025 across production and operations. Sauces are built on fresh vegetables, natural ingredients and fermentation. Website: lloydmelon.com, Instagram: @lloyd_and_melon.
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 29–31 May 2026, and became an independent competition in 2024. Over 400 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 Berlin-based hot sauce subscription founded in June 2025 by Nathan "Naga" Austin and Simon "Scoville" Gardner. The Discovery subscription delivers three handpicked European craft hot sauces plus a spicy extra to subscribers across the EU for €35 per month, postage within Germany included. Republic of Heat stocks only European producers who are as passionate about flavour as we are. No American sauces, no extract-based products. Press partner of EHSA 2026. Website: republicofheat.com
PRESS CONTACT Simon "Scoville" Gardner Press, European Hot Sauce Awards contact@republicofheat.com +49 176 41601284
On behalf of: European Hot Sauce Awards (heatawards.eu)
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