Forthcoming — date unconfirmed
Hilversum is best known as the media town of the Netherlands, home of Dutch broadcasting and the café-and-brasserie culture that grew around Media Park and Het Gooi's commuter belt. This week the town picks up a credit on a less familiar map. Chillie Vinnie, an after-hours hot sauce label run in Hilversum by Vincent Veenenberg, has won a Bronze Medal in Chili Oil at the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 (heatawards.eu), Europe's flagship hot sauce competition, with Carolina Reaper Chili Oil. A solo maker, one of the world's hottest chilies in a Dutch oil format, on the European podium.
Nathan Austin on Carolina Reaper Chili Oil:
"Bronze in Chili Oil from a side-project label is the kind of result that rewrites who shows up to this category. Most entrants are full-time producers. Vincent's not, and the bottle still placed." – Nathan Austin, Tasting Editor, Republic of Heat
Chillie Vinnie is a small-batch hot sauce label run in Hilversum by Vincent Veenenberg. The process uses both fresh and dried peppers, with the fresh chillies coming from Westlandpeppers, the Dutch grower in Limburg. Vincent cooks everything in a large pan, pouring high-temperature oil over the dried flakes, then mixes and hand-bottles each batch.
Carolina Reaper Chili Oil took a Bronze Medal in Chili Oil. Vincent's design brief was deliberately not to be the hottest oil on the market, the build sits the cultivar in oil so the chili reads as flavour rather than punishment. Carolina Reaper is one of the hottest cultivars in the world; in oil format the work is in balancing the extreme heat against a usable, recognisable oil flavour profile.
"Really cool to see my own idea first turn into a product, made in Hilversum, and then to receive an award for it. The idea for this Carolina Reaper Chili Oil was never to be the 'hottest' on the market, but this 'Hot Sauce Award' sure makes me smile. Thanks to everyone who keeps supporting me." – Vincent Veenenberg, Chillie Vinnie
A solo Dutch maker landing on the European Chili Oil podium, judged blind against producers from across the continent, says something about what's possible in the after-hours corner of the European hot sauce scene. The European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 ran across 16 categories with over 200 entries from across the continent. Republic of Heat, a European hot sauce subscription, is its press partner. Every sauce was tasted blind in coded bottles, scored on five rigorous criteria by a deliberately mixed panel: professional chefs, sommeliers and food critics on one side, serious chilli specialists and fanatics on the other.
"Chili Oil is a category where the format does half the work and the other half is in how you treat the chili. Carolina Reaper in oil is a deliberately hard brief: too much heat too fast and the oil reads as a punishment, too little and the cultivar is wasted. Chillie Vinnie's bottle landed in the bronze tier on a continent-wide blind panel, from a solo maker working out of Hilversum. That's a real result on a difficult brief, and exactly the kind of producer EHSA exists to put on the map." – Neil Numb, Founder, European Hot Sauce Awards
The Chili Oil category proves how much room there is for European producers working from a familiar oil format and pushing the chili side. The strongest entries this year worked from named cultivars, careful infusion times and a respect for the oil itself rather than chasing heat for its own sake. Anyone who's only met supermarket chili oil should pick up a bottle from a Hilversum after-hours maker and see what one person with a Carolina Reaper and an evening can put together.
Carolina Reaper Chili Oil is available through Chillie Vinnie at vincentveenenberg.com (and via @tipa_vive on Instagram). Full EHSA 2026 results across all 16 categories: heatawards.eu/results/2026?utm_source=press_release&utm_medium=press&utm_campaign=ehsa2026&utm_content=chillie-vinnie.
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.
ABOUT CHILLIE VINNIE Chillie Vinnie is a small-batch hot sauce label run by Vincent Veenenberg in Hilversum, the Netherlands. The flagship Carolina Reaper Chili Oil is built from fresh and dried peppers, fresh sourced from Westlandpeppers in Limburg, cooked in a large pan with high-temperature oil over the flakes, then mixed and hand-bottled. Website: vincentveenenberg.com. Instagram: @tipa_vive
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 founded in June 2025 by Nathan "Naga" Austin and Simon "Scoville" Gardner, based in Berlin. The Discovery subscription delivers three handpicked European craft hot sauces plus a spicy extra to subscribers across the EU for €35 per month, postage within Germany included. Republic of Heat stocks only European producers who are as passionate about flavour as we are. No American sauces, no extract-based products. Press partner of the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026. Website: republicofheat.com
PRESS CONTACT Simon "Scoville" Gardner Press, European Hot Sauce Awards contact@republicofheat.com +49 176 41601284
On behalf of: European Hot Sauce Awards (heatawards.eu)
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