Sriracha, the Champagne of Thailand (in that the product is named after a region), has been on the news with the factory releasing disturbing odors in California and more. They no longer have to move or worse, shut down the factory, but they are facing another kind of a challenge. Tabasco, the famed hot sauce company, has quietly launched a new product - their very own sriracha! One would think that this may infringe on copyright laws, but Tabasco may not even stand up to sriracha's superiority to even pose a threat.

First of all, the Tabasco sriracha bottle is a little lackluster. It looks like an outdated ketchup bottle that is squatter and smaller. The cap is golden yellow, which also is reminiscent of a mustard bottle. Also, the color of the contents varied a bit. While Huy Fong's original sriracha has a vivid red color that can make anyone's mouth water, Tabasco's copy sriracha is brownish-red. Not so appetizing. Strike one.

And then, the texture. Everyone loves sriracha for its medium chunkiness and complex texture. Tabasco obviously didn't get the memo and created a version that is watery, making it look diluted and subpar. Strike two.

Most importantly, the taste. If one is going to make a copy of a beloved original, might as well make it better. But in Tabasco's case, it looks like they made it worse. A taster for Grubstreet.com said that the hot sauce tasted like a "spicier ketchup". Yuck. If the original sriracha lovers wanted a hotter ketchup, they would have just mixed the two together. And it tasted as watery as it looked in the bottle. Strike Three.

At least the Tabasco's launch of its wannabe sriracha was quiet. They will be able to pull the product off the shelves just as quietly, unnoticed by all the sriracha lovers. Meanwhile, if anyone is still looking for a subpar version of sriracha, head on over to Trader Joe's for a fake. As one youtube critic said, it taste like an imposter.