The Mühlviertel runs on granite-soil farmland, Mostschank cider houses, and Leinöl pressed at small mills. MV Chili-Manufaktur, a craft kitchen in Katsdorf whose Granitbeißer (Granite Biter) takes its name from that terrain, has placed nine times at the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 (heatawards.eu), Europe's flagship hot sauce competition, the highest medal count of any producer in this year's edition.
MV Chili-Manufaktur is run by hand in small batches out of Katsdorf in the eastern Mühlviertel, with a network of named organic farms across Upper Austria supplying chilies, peppers, tomatoes, spruce needles, fruit and vegetables. Christian Dlapka has built the range to cover Mild through Extra Hot, plus Chili Ketchup, BBQ, Garlic, Sweet, Asian Style and the Freestyle bracket. Nine placements across seven categories says less about a single bottle than about consistency across the whole card, with Best in Category sitting at the top.
Nathan Austin on Schwarzer Knoblauch:
"Black garlic is weeks of slow fermentation that turns raw bulbs almost balsamic, dark and savoury, and Schwarzer Knoblauch builds its silver-medal sauce around exactly that. The heat sits in the background. What you read first is the umami and toasted-sugar register of properly fermented garlic, with chili pulling through behind it." – Nathan Austin, Tasting Editor, Republic of Heat
Chili-Ketchup extra hot (Gold, Best in Category, Chili Ketchup): a rich tomato base built with onions and peppers, balanced sweetness, finished with bhut jolokia for a clean powerful heat. Designed to read as a ketchup, on fries and burgers, but with real chili character on the plate rather than just spice.
Brombeere-Fichte (Gold, Freestyle): blackberry fruit and the fresh resinous register of spruce needle, a regional combination Christian describes as Austrian forest style. Works against cheese and dark meat including venison, and Christian flags it on chocolate cake or vanilla ice cream.
Across the remaining categories MV picked up Silver in Extra Hot Chili Sauce with Granitbeißer (Granite Biter), Silver in Garlic Chili Sauce with Schwarzer Knoblauch (Black Garlic), Bronze in Asian Style Chili Sauce with Rice-Ingwer, two Bronzes in BBQ Chili Sauce with Jerky (Jamaican Flames) and Pedacola-BBQ, and two Bronzes in Sweet with Peach and Pur Habanero.
"We are honestly still a bit speechless. We make our sauces in Katsdorf, by hand and in small batches, and to be recognised by a European blind-tasting panel is a huge honour. It means a lot to us that our recipes can stand alongside producers from across Europe." – Christian Dlapka, MV Chili-Manufaktur
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. Medalling once is difficult. Medalling nine times across seven different categories asks for a producer who can build to Chili Ketchup, Garlic, BBQ and Freestyle and meet the panel each time.
"Nine medals across seven categories is the kind of result you see once a cycle if at all. That's not one lucky bottle, it's a kitchen with a method that holds up across entirely different categories. EHSA exists to surface exactly that kind of result." – Neil Numb, Founder, European Hot Sauce Awards
The MV Chili-Manufaktur range is available through feuer-zeug.at. Full EHSA 2026 results across all 16 categories: heatawards.eu/results/2026?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=press&utm_campaign=ehsa2026&utm_content=mv-chili-manufaktur.
The European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 are announced ahead of the Berlin Chili Fest, 29–31 May 2026. Republic of Heat's EHSA 2026 Top 3 winner box is live at republicofheat.com/de-en/discovery-set/euhsa_top3, with further EHSA selection boxes at republicofheat.com/de-en/hot-sauce-sets.
PRESS RESOURCES Reveal videos on YouTube, embeddable: - BBQ Chili Sauce: https://youtu.be/L5IhjgVIE4M - Extra Hot Chili Sauce: https://youtu.be/WXVJ6Qcbjzw - 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/1rWNmJ_NwdWl0wLsZQCEclV0yfqKCfgLg?usp=drive_link
ABOUT MV CHILI-MANUFAKTUR MV Chili-Manufaktur is a craft hot sauce kitchen in Katsdorf, in the eastern Mühlviertel of Upper Austria, founded and run by Christian Dlapka. The kitchen produces by hand in small batches across nine sauce categories, working with a network of named organic farms across Upper Austria for chilies, peppers, tomatoes, spruce, fruit and vegetables. Regional partners include Bio Gemüsehof Voggeneder in Naarn, Biohof Berner in Pupping, Bergkräuter in Hirschbach, Pankrazhofer in Tragwein, and Luvi Fermente in Timelkam. Range and details at feuer-zeug.at.
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 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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