Like attracts like. We view craft beer as an art form unlike any other and get no greater satisfaction sharing our craft with other artisans who do the same. Enter Voodoo Chile, a Leesburg, Virginia-based sauce company that, naturally, took a liking to our Fever Dream Mango Habanero IPA. The result is a hothead's paradise.

Voodoo Chile's
Fever Dream Mango Habanero IPA

• Heat level: MEDIUM+ … (7 out of 10)
• Pepper blend: Habanero, Fatalii, Cayenne and Carolina Reaper
• Other ingredients include: Fever Dream Mango Habanero IPA, mango, peaches, Mandarin orange, garlic, sweet onion and lemon juice 
• Pairings: Our go-to is a few drops as a topper for Rappahannock River Oysters on the half shell
• Highlights: A big, fruity semi sweet front is quickly followed by a playful heat and a dry, hoppy finish. The tropical flavor of mango is complimented by a tasteful addition of Mandarin orange and peach to lend some complexity to the first wave of flavor. The spice blend starts subtle, but builds hauntingly, and ends with the same dry, bitter finish you'd expect from a big IPA.

We know you want it, both in your mouth and in your brain, so here's a Q&A with Voodoo Chile founder Thom Toth:

What is the Voodoo Chile mantra?

TT - Voodoo Chile Sauces exists to entertain taste buds. Truth be known, making hot sauce is easy, that’s why so many people are doing it and why there are so many brands to choose from. What separates Voodoo Chile from the pack is our relentless commitment to quality and our focus on crafting layered, complex sauces that people will want to use and share. When we use the ubiquitous phrase “flavor first,” it is quite literal. Every last one of our sauces was purposely crafted to deliver at least one or two waves of flavor before the heat from the chile peppers begins to set in.  

How was the beer incorporated?

TT - To be blunt, the beer is not simply incorporated into the sauce, the entire hot sauce was diligently crafted around the beer, its flavor profile and nuances. Unlike other hot sauces and BBQ sauces on the market that use beer as an adjunct ingredient, we use beer as the main ingredient. Fever Dream Mango Habanero IPA is the number one ingredient by weight. When you crack the cap off this sauce, you can smell the beer and it is heavenly. We invest a lot of time and energy into deconstructing a beer before building a hot sauce around it. As Fever Dream IPA is an India Pale Ale, we wanted to work a little magic on the flavor profile while still keeping the beer itself front and center. To do that, we added just a touch of peach and Mandarin orange, and then we worked a little magic with the pepper blend, pairing the Habanero with the infamous Fatalii chile pepper, a kissing cousin of the Habanero that is hotter while being even tastier. Staying true to Voodoo Chile tradition, we used a few other peppers to give you a burn experience that you’ll rarely find in sauces from any other company.

Are there plans to use any other beers?

TT - Never say never. There is no specific second sauce planned right now, but there may or may not have been some recent brainstorming over beers. 

If you live for hot sauce, you owe it to yourself to try this collaboration. Then, share the #saucesomeness on social media. 

In addition to our tasting room, the Fever Dream hot sauce is available online at CraftBeerSauce.com and will be available in select hot sauce stores across the U.S. this summer.