There are many rumours why Harrybasco was created. One is that Big H destroyed his palate during a drunken bet, when he ate a deep fried prickly pear without skinning it and since then he required spicy food just to taste anything. Another one is that the boss was born under the most elusive star sign of all: The Habanero, a star sign spotted only for one day in February every 100 years, it appears just below Orion’s Belt where his testi……. (um never mind) while Uranus is rising. Another is that his mother mistook chilli flakes for chocolate sprinkles when she baked his first birthday cake. We just like to think that Big H digs chilli sauce and ate a lot of it until the other “basco” he loved became too expensive and he decided to make his own.
It doesn’t matter which one of these legends you believe, the truth is about 10 years ago Harrybasco was created through lots of trial and error, in a small kitchen, on a farm outside of Bapsfontein (good thing there were chillies on this farm). Many people were injured during this process because many people had to help with the testing and several samples were too strong, too weak or just plain terrible. As the legend would have it after 44 tries (read the bottle) he had a product he was proud of.
He promptly named it Harryasco until somebody told the big man that it sounds like Harry’s ass company, a B was quickly added and Harrybasco was born.
Big H never intended on selling the stuff, it was for himself and friends and family, but the more people tasted it the more they suggested he should start selling it, and would you believe it, with eight years of nagging they finally convinced him.
Harry’s friend Mornè (the one who pushed him the hardest) printed some labels and stuck them on bottles and Harrybasco was released onto the world.
And that my dear friends is where Harrybasco is at the moment. Making sauce, developing new ones, selling product, creating distribution, making friends, all in the name of world domination.
