Tabasco Maker CEO Paul McIlhenny Dies At 68

[The Straight Story]

The chief executive of the company that makes the trademarked line of Tabasco hot pepper sauces sold all over the world has died at 68.

Paul McIlhenny, chief executive and chairman of the board of McIlhenny Co., died on Saturday at his New Orleans home of apparent heart attack, the local newspaper Times-Picayune reported.

He is credited with introducing several new varieties of hot sauces sold under the Tabasco brand and with greatly expanding their global reach.

Mr McIlhenny also helped develop items that could feature the well-known Tabasco logo, such as T-shirts, aprons and computer screensavers.

The 145-year-old company, based on south Louisiana's Avery Island, has been producing the original Tabasco sauce for several generations, since shortly after the Civil War.

http://news.sky.com/story/1056331/tabasco-maker-ceo-paul-mcilhenny-dies-at-68

[jberryhill]

1. One of our best exports

My work takes me to some pretty far-flung and exotic places. You can sit down in a roadside food shack in the most forgotten corner of the planet, and they'll have a bottle of Tabasco.

[TwilightGardener]

2. That's a shame. I'm a fan of the stuff. He spiced up many a bland meal--

that should be on his tombstone.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. A friend once told me

that all good Cajuns carry a bottle of Tabasco sauce at all times. He considered the new varieties McIlhenny introduced somewhat sacrilegious, but I like the green jalapeno and the habanero as well as the original.

[DreamGypsy]

4. I'm a big fan of the new Chipotle Tabasco ...

...sprinkled liberally (NOT conservatively) on a rib steak, followed by fresh coarse-ground black pepper and a veneer of barbecue sauce, before grilling. Doesn't have the vinegar aftertaste of regular Tabasco and doesn't kill taste buds after a single experience like the Habanero Tabasco. Diversity is goodness.

My father kept a bottle of the original sauce, applying three drops each time on my mother's homemade spaghetti sauce. The bottle must have lasted 10 years.

Forget the miscellany like T-shirts, stick to the sauce.

RIP Mr. McIlhenny. I expect the luncheon buffet in heaven will become more interesting upon your arrival.

[Initech]

6. The buffalo wing flavored sauce is pretty good too.

[HiPointDem]

5. Founded by banker Edward McIlhenny in 1870. Been in the same family all this time. On Avery

Island, Louisiana -- which the family also still owns.

McIlhenny married into the Avery family...

Rich then, still rich 150 years on.

[Raine]

7. I LOVE that stuff ... R-I-P nt

[XemaSab]

8. His family pretty much saved the Snowy Egret

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_City_(wildfowl_refuge)

[exboyfil]

9. My dad loved it

I am pretty much a Louisiana Hot Sauce fan myself (original). Tabasco is too powerful for me. Still I will grab it when Louisiana Hot Sauce is not available.