Forthcoming — date unconfirmed
Central Switzerland is known for cheese and alpine kitchens. Sbrinz, Chügelipastete, Willisauer Ringli and the Felchen from Sempachersee sit at the centre of that. Sursee can now lay claim to one more: Europe's best Mild Hot Sauce. Spicepunk, made in Sursee by Marcus Pitschke and Mirjam Vogler, has taken Gold and Best in Category in Mild Chili Sauce at the European Hot Sauce Awards 2026 (heatawards.eu), Europe's flagship hot sauce competition.
Spicepunk is Pitschke and Vogler's small-kitchen label, built around character rather than heat-chasing. Original recipes, top-quality ingredients, finished by hand in small batches. The range includes Suncrush Bright Burn, Peach Riot and others, with each sauce tested on flavour balance rather than Scoville extremes. Distribution runs through their own shop at spicepunk.ch and specialty hot sauce retailers across Switzerland.
Spicepunk took two medals in Mild Chili Sauce, where Peach Riot took Gold and Best in Category, with Red Dynasty adding a Bronze in the same category.
Peach Riot (Gold, Best in Category, Mild Chili Sauce): peach, mango and habanero, a fruity-mild take on the category. Fruit sweetness opens up front, the habanero builds gently behind it, and a clean tropical finish ties it together. The kind of sauce that pulls double duty across a Käseplatte, summer salads, tacos and bowls, even breakfast eggs.
Red Dynasty (Bronze, Mild Chili Sauce): the second Spicepunk entry to medal in the Mild field.
"Honestly still speechless. Spicepunk runs out of a small kitchen in Sursee, by hand, in small batches, and taking 1st place in a blind European panel is hard to take in. Massive thanks to everyone who's been with us on this." – Marcus Pitschke, Spicepunk
Spicepunk topped a Mild Chili Sauce category that drew 44 European entries. EHSA 2026 as a whole ran 16 categories with over 200 sauces entered from across the continent. Every entry was tasted blind in coded bottles, scored on five criteria by a deliberately mixed panel: professional chefs, sommeliers and food critics on one side, serious chilli specialists and fanatics on the other.
"EHSA exists to find Europe's genuinely exceptional hot sauces, and Mild is one of the hardest categories we run. The heat has to be there, but it has to lift the flavour, not flatten it. Too gentle and the sauce is bland, too much and it isn't mild anymore. Topping a 44-sauce field is a serious result for Spicepunk, and we'll be watching what they do next." – Neil Numb, Founder, European Hot Sauce Awards
Hot sauce doesn't have to be about stupid heat. The Mild category proves a chili sauce can add flavour to any dish without turning the meal into a YouTube dare or an exercise in suffering. The best entries this year stand on flavour alone, not pain tolerance. Anyone who's written hot sauce off as a gimmick should get hold of a bottle of Peach Riot, to see what a sauce can actually be.
"We taste hundreds of European hot sauces a year at Republic of Heat for our hot sauce subscription. Our first taste of Peach Riot and we knew exactly why it had taken Best in Category. Phenomenally well-made sauce and exactly the kind of producer we go looking for, the judges got this one right. Sursee should be proud to have a sauce maker like this in its midst." – Nathan "Naga" Austin, co-founder, Republic of Heat (republicofheat.com)
Peach Riot is available through Spicepunk's own shop at spicepunk.ch and specialty hot sauce retailers across Switzerland. Republic of Heat will release limited-edition EHSA winner boxes in June 2026 at republicofheat.com; the full Mild Chili Sauce reveal sits on its YouTube channel (https://youtu.be/nQsGH0tPhZ8). Full EHSA 2026 results across all 16 categories: heatawards.eu. Berlin Chili Fest runs 29–31 May at Berliner Berg Brauerei (Treptower Str. 39, 12059 Berlin), independently of EHSA.
ABOUT SPICEPUNK Spicepunk is an independent hot sauce label based in Sursee, in Canton Lucerne, Switzerland, run by Marcus Pitschke and Mirjam Vogler. The range is made by hand in a small kitchen, in small batches, from original recipes and top-quality ingredients. The brand prioritises character and balance over Scoville extremes. The full range, including Peach Riot and Suncrush Bright Burn, is available at spicepunk.ch and specialty hot sauce retailers across Switzerland.
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. Over 400 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 Berlin-based hot sauce subscription founded in June 2025 by Nathan "Naga" Austin and Simon "Scoville" Gardner. 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 EHSA 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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