May 5, 2023
After we walked through the small greenhouse, the next part of the tour was the Tabasco Barrel Museum.
Just a few steps away from the Tabasco Barrel Museum, is a view into one of the warehouses that stores barrels full of the Tabasco pepper mash.
Notice the salt on top of the barrels in the warehouse. A layer of salt is smoothed onto the top of the oak barrels to prevent contamination.
The next stop was the mixing part of the factory. It smells like on opened bottle of Tabasco sauce.
On entering, there was a safe exhibit. This reminded me of the safe exhibit at the FirstBank Headquarters.
We went upstairs to view the large mixing tanks.
The next stop was the Salt Mine Experience and the bottling lines. The bottling lines run Monday through Thursday, so we made sure to come when the bottling lines were running.
Then, on to the four bottling lines.
After we walked past the bottling lines, we came out into a fun section. There was a map showing where Tabasco is sold. The have eight feet tall bottles of the most common Tabasco brand sauces. There was a wall with pictures of chefs who regularly use Tabasco. Another wall had several different recipes that used Tabasco products.
After this, we thought we would eat at the 1861 Restaurant, but it was closed. It is only open for lunch.
We checked out the Tabasco Country Store and enjoyed the Tabasco Tasting Bar. I found a new sauce, Scorpion Sauce, to be hot and delicious. We bought a bottle.
They also had two ice creams made with Tabasco products. The chipotle and raspberry sauce ice cream was delicious. I could’ve eaten an entire scoop of it.
We picked out a couple of Tabasco t-shirts.
Once we paid for our merchandise, we sat in rocking chairs on the front porch for a bit.
We then headed out to visit the Jungle Gardens.
The Jungle Gardens have a loose gravel road, so riding a motorcycle through them isn’t east. The signs are confusing, so we missed out on a large part of the gardens. I was so hot and tired, I didn’t want to go back to see what we had missed.
I was not able to take any pictures as we rode through the Jungle Gardens. I cannot take pictures while I am on the back of the motorcycle.
Be careful of the roads you choose to get there. On our way back, we took a short cut that did cut off the miles, but the road was potholes strung together with bits of blacktop. I was so beat up by the time we got off that road, I didn’t want to get back on the motorcycle the next day.
Avery Island is beautiful and definitely worth the visit.
Retirement RV Dream 
Thanks for these great posts about your Avery Island visit, Julia! Believe it or not that is actually on my bucket list. We are Tabasco fanatics and accept it as the only true hot sauce to grace our humble abode. No egg is served without a bottle on the table and we’re so nutso we insist on buying and running through the little bottles so the sauce is always the freshest possible. I know, crazy. Folks can keep their Sriracha, Cholula, Frank’s, Devil’s Whatever – for us it’s Tabasco Original or nothing! One of these days I hope to visit that neck of the woods and tour the Mecca of Tabasco.
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We also fight against bland food with Tabasco! I was thrilled to get to tour the Tabasco factory and enjoy Avery Island, as it has been on our bucket list. I hope you get a chance to visit, it is a wonderful experience. They gave us four little bottles of Tabasco when we paid for the tour. Bruce is so slick. They gave us two bottles, then after we paid, started to give us another two bottles. Bruce said, “You already gave us two bottles, but we would love another two.” The friendly lady at the ticket counter laughed and gave him the extra two bottles.
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We visited there a few years back and also really enjoyed it! Thanks for taking me back.
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It is a fun place to visit.
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That sounds like a very interesting place with history and scenery. I never thought about the origin of Tabasco sauce before!
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It is a beautiful place and fun to visit. We learned at lot and enjoyed the Tabasco tasting bar. It had several different sauces to try. Some weren’t hot and one was very very hot.
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