Helsinki's food identity runs on Market Square salmon off the harbour, ruisleipä on the breakfast table and the rye-and-Baltic-fish kitchen that defines the city's small producers. Chili Factory, an independent small-batch sauce kitchen in Helsinki run by Dinny Harjula, has placed second at the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 (heatawards.eu), Europe's flagship hot sauce competition, taking silver in Extra Hot Chili Sauce with Evil Triple Trouble.
Chili Factory is a small artisan operation, with every sauce made by hand, slowly cooked in small batches, and built from fresh ingredients. The brand has been Dinny Harjula's project for around a decade, and the winning sauce traces back to its origin: a build Dinny started almost ten years ago, when he set out to make a chili sauce that was just too hot for him to enjoy himself.
Nathan Austin on Evil Triple Trouble:
"Evil Triple Trouble is a triple-superhot composite, Naga Morich, Trinidad Scorpion and Carolina Reaper in one bottle, and at that ingredient density the build itself is the statement. Silver in Extra Hot from a blind European panel means it isn't just heat for heat's sake, the structure has to hold up underneath." – Nathan Austin, Tasting Editor, Republic of Heat
Evil Triple Trouble took silver in Extra Hot Chili Sauce: a superhot build piled with Naga Morich, Trinidad Scorpion and Carolina Reaper, three of the hottest chilies of the era Dinny started the recipe in. He kept loading chilies into the pot until he could no longer enjoy the sauce himself. That's the story, and that's the bottle.
"This. Is. Amazing. We're honoured and proud to receive this kind of recognition. We are a small artisan chili sauce company from Helsinki, so this is really great for us. But our hunger doesn't stop there. Chili Factory is going for the gold next year." – Dinny Harjula, Chili Factory
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. Extra Hot Chili Sauce is the category where the heat has to deliver structure as well as pain, and Chili Factory landed inside the top three.
"Extra Hot is one of the categories where a panel can taste a bottle that's all bravado, and Evil Triple Trouble isn't that. Silver here is a real result, and Helsinki has a producer worth watching." – Neil Numb, Founder, European Hot Sauce Awards
Evil Triple Trouble is available through Chili Factory at chilifcktory.fi. Full EHSA 2026 results across all 16 categories: heatawards.eu/results/2026?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=press&utm_campaign=ehsa2026&utm_content=chili-factory.
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 video on YouTube, embeddable: - Extra Hot Chili Sauce: https://youtu.be/WXVJ6Qcbjzw Press kit (photos, logos, AI lifestyle composites credited Republic of Heat / European Hot Sauce Awards 2026): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12OH57a0A2Rx1vE44KbaK5cAL6Flby3r1?usp=drive_link
ABOUT CHILI FACTORY Chili Factory is an independent small-batch hot sauce kitchen in Helsinki, founded and run by Dinny Harjula. Every sauce is made by hand from fresh ingredients and slowly cooked in small batches. The range, including Evil Triple Trouble, is available at chilifcktory.fi.
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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