Lowell hot sauce company thrives on staying local, having the 'craic'
LOWELL - Brian Ruhlmann used a fun Irish saying when he came up with the name of his hot sauce.
"If you ever go to Ireland, you are going to hear 'What's the Craic, any Craic last night?' It means good fun and good times," said Ruhlmann, the owner and founder of Craic Hot Sauce.
His joy for hot peppers expanded while he was doing a hot sauce podcast.
"I started thinking that I would like to start my own business and good Craic is really the guiding light of what we do. Just trying to take people's energy, whether that be strangers that want to try new flavors, and bring it to New England."
The Urban Farmer has gotten help. He has a rooftop space at UMass Lowell where he gets to plant his peppers.
"Being able to turn space into something that can grow healthy food to help your community extremely important," Ruhlmann said. "Our hot sauce isn't like blowing your mouth off. They have 10 to 20 ingredients. 100 percent peppers directly from local farms and something that you can add to every meal that you cook."
Sharing his hot sauce with the community has always been the everyday goal.
"My favorite thing is return customers. Especially like some people that are like, 'I didn't even think I liked hot sauce and now I'm adding this to my dishes.'"
And changing people's minds about how the feel about spicy peppers always brings Ruhlmann happiness.
