Forthcoming — date unconfirmed
Bulgarian cooking carries one of the more pepper-forward registers in Europe, from the lyutenitsa and ajvar roasted-pepper relishes sat on most kitchen counters to the kavarma clay-pot stews coming out of the Vitosha foothills around Sofia. Chilli Hills Foods, an independent Sofia kitchen run by Alexander Kyourkiev working across the full width of the chili-sauce range, has placed in four separate categories at the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 (heatawards.eu), Europe's flagship hot sauce competition: Gold in Extract Based Chili Sauce with Scovi 17, Silver in Mild Chili Sauce with Chocolate Chilli Sauce, Bronze in Chili Oil with Chilli Crunch, and Bronze in Hot Chili Sauce with Dracula's Blood.
Chilli Hills Foods operates out of Sofia under founder Alexander Kyourkiev, with a range that runs the full width of chili-sauce styles, from mild table sauces to extract-based heat at the other end. Four medals across four different categories at a continental competition is the kind of result that comes from a kitchen working seriously across the whole register, not specialising in one corner. Chilli Hills is the only Bulgarian producer to place at EHSA 2026 across the competition's 16 categories.
Nathan Austin on Scovi 17:
"Scovi 17 is an extract-based sauce that picked up a Gold, and that is genuinely unusual. Extract-based sauces are typically built to deliver heat as the headline and let the flavour fall in behind it. A Gold in that category from a Sofia kitchen says the formulation is doing more work than the heat alone, which is the whole point of having Extract Based as a judged category." – Nathan Austin, Tasting Editor, Republic of Heat
Scovi 17 (Gold, Extract Based Chili Sauce): the kitchen's high-heat anchor, built on chili extract to push the Scoville end while keeping a flavour profile the panel scored above the rest of the category.
Chocolate Chilli Sauce (Silver, Mild Chili Sauce): a chocolate-forward mild sauce at the opposite end of the range from Scovi 17, scored for flavour depth in a category where the discipline is keeping heat low enough to let the build register.
Chilli Crunch (Bronze, Chili Oil): a textured chili oil in a category where the panel weighs aroma, oil clarity and crunch balance alongside heat. Designed to spoon onto rice, noodles, eggs or whatever the cook puts under it.
Dracula's Blood (Bronze, Hot Chili Sauce): the kitchen's hot-end pourable sauce, named for the colour and the bite, scored in the main competitive bracket of the awards.
[MAKER QUOTE PENDING — Alex Kyourkiev confirmation, Chilli Hills Foods]
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. Extract Based, Mild, Chili Oil and Hot Chili Sauce each ask different things from a producer, from low-heat flavour discipline to extract formulation at the top of the heat scale. Chilli Hills landed in all four.
"Bulgaria arriving on the European podium with four medals in one year, across four different categories, is exactly the kind of result EHSA was built to surface. Producers from the centre of the continent who have been working quietly tend to land on this competition's radar in a single year and stay there. We are watching what Alexander brings next." – Neil Numb, Founder, European Hot Sauce Awards
Scovi 17, Chocolate Chilli Sauce, Chilli Crunch and Dracula's Blood are available through Chilli Hills Foods at chilli-hills.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=chilli-hills.
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 Press kit (photos, logos, AI lifestyle composites credited Republic of Heat / European Hot Sauce Awards 2026): https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Y3Ug7P9vb7Ea0Hbx6diCmwlAZ3HXXu4p?usp=drive_link
ABOUT CHILLI HILLS FOODS Chilli Hills Foods is a hot sauce kitchen based in Sofia, Bulgaria, founded and run by Alexander Kyourkiev. The range covers the full width of chili-sauce styles, from mild table sauces through chili oils to extract-based high-heat sauces. The full range, including Scovi 17, Chocolate Chilli Sauce, Chilli Crunch and Dracula's Blood, is available at chilli-hills.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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