Berlin is known for currywurst, the döner that the city's Turkish community gave the world in the 1970s, and a Friday-night street food scene that runs from Vietnamese to Levantine. Not That Spicy, a one-person small-batch kitchen run in Berlin by Justin King, has taken seven medals at the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 (heatawards.eu), Europe's flagship hot sauce competition: Gold in Hot Chili Sauce with Roasted Hell, Gold in Medium Chili Sauce with Cranberry Cracker, Gold in Chili Honey with Volcanic Honey, Silver in Chili Honey with Honey I'm Hot, Bronze in Medium with King's Burn, Bronze in Mild with Susan's Sorcery and Bronze in Mild with Jude Jinn.
Not That Spicy is an independent Berlin hot sauce label, made by Justin King by hand in small batches. The range covers chili honey, mild, medium and hot sauces, with each one built around flavour-led recipes rather than heat-chasing. The brand name reads as a wink at the chili-bro extremity culture; the working argument sits in the bottles. Three Golds in three different categories, plus a Silver in the same category as one of the Golds, plus three Bronzes including two in a fourth category, from a single Berlin kitchen.
Nathan Austin on Volcanic Honey: "Volcanic Honey is the one we know inside out. The 150-day ferment shows in the consistency: the honey holds the seeds suspended through it, none of them sunk, which is what tells you the ferment did its work." – Nathan Austin, Tasting Editor, Republic of Heat
Roasted Hell (Gold, Hot Chili Sauce): roasted Carolina Reaper, chocolate Trinidad scorpion, carrot, sweet potato and fresh rosemary. Justin set out to make a really hot Carolina Reaper sauce when early feedback was that his range needed more heat, then anchored the recipe around the rosemary, potatoes and roast-vegetable register he eats at home. The bottle reads as roasted, the heat that hits hard and keeps coming.
Cranberry Cracker (Gold, Medium Chili Sauce): a ghost-pepper-and-cranberry build, a Christmas cranberry-sauce recipe with chilies in it that Justin had thought about making every Christmas for around four years before he finally did. A roast-dinner sauce, on the table next to the gravy. The name folds the Christmas cracker into the cranberry.
Volcanic Honey (Gold, Chili Honey): Madame Jeanette and red habaneros fermented for three to four months in organic honey from Imkerei Bien (https://www.instagram.com/bienhonig/ - bienhonig.de), the Berlin honey supplier Justin met at his Markthalle Neun stand and now partners with. The 150-day ferment runs slow on purpose. Justin describes the test batch that became the recipe as a flavour sensation he hadn't met before. Honey I'm Hot was the lighter half of the honey range; Volcanic Honey needed the hotter-sounding name.
Honey I'm Hot (Silver, Chili Honey): the lighter, milder honey alongside Volcanic Honey in the same category, also built on Imkerei Bien organic honey but pitched at a different heat tier.
King's Burn (Bronze, Medium Chili Sauce): a second medium-tier bottle from the range, alongside Cranberry Cracker on the Medium podium.
Susan's Sorcery and Jude Jinn (Bronze and Bronze, Mild Chili Sauce): two Mild bottles from Not That Spicy both placing in the same category, the maker's range pushing into Mild from the heat-led end.
"Turns out we're Not That Bad either. Three golds, Medium, Hot, and Chili Honey, in the blind European tasting. Small batch, Berlin-made, going up against producers from across the continent. I am very honored that people like my products and that we have won these awards. I am not a chef but a senior software engineer that has managed to somehow make these awesome hot sauces" – Justin King, Not That Spicy
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. Hot Chili Sauce, Medium Chili Sauce and Chili Honey ask different things from a producer, and Not That Spicy took Gold in all three on the same year, with a second medal in Chili Honey and two more in Mild.
"Three Golds, a Silver and three Bronzes from one Berlin kitchen, across four categories, isn't a single lucky bottle. That's range and technique on display. The European Hot Sauce Awards exists to surface exactly that kind of result, and we're watching closely for what Justin brings next year." – Neil Numb, Founder, European Hot Sauce Awards
Roasted Hell, Cranberry Cracker, Volcanic Honey, Honey I'm Hot, King's Burn, Susan's Sorcery and Jude Jinn are available through Not That Spicy at notthatspicy.com. Full EHSA 2026 results across all 16 categories: heatawards.eu/results/2026?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=press&utm_campaign=ehsa2026&utm_content=not-that-spicy.
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: - Hot Chili Sauce: https://youtu.be/wJSbcurxAlk - Medium Chili Sauce: https://youtu.be/t6_GvbkBCM8 - Chili Honey: https://youtu.be/KUVUZ0AKsdA - Mild Chili Sauce: https://youtu.be/nQsGH0tPhZ8 Press kit (photos, logos, AI lifestyle composites credited Republic of Heat / European Hot Sauce Awards 2026): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ZDQWQdSUUVrJ4DFarNxYy6if0YXBReky?usp=drive_link
ABOUT NOT THAT SPICY Not That Spicy is a Berlin-based, award-winning small-batch hot sauce company that sets taste buds ablaze with a remarkable range of flavours. With a commitment to delivering the perfect balance between heat and flavour, they cater to spice enthusiasts of all levels, from mild to wild.
Run by Justin King, every product is made by hand in small batches from original recipes. The range goes beyond hot sauce with innovative offerings including award-winning fermented hot honey, award-winning infused maple syrup, and hot garlic chilli oil. The Volcanic Honey and Honey I'm Hot is fermented with organic honey from Imkerei Bien, Not That Spicy's Berlin honey partner.
The full range, including Roasted Hell, Cranberry Cracker, Volcanic Honey, Honey I'm Hot, King's Burn, Susan's Sorcery, and Jude Jinn, is available at notthatspicy.com.
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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