Hot Sauce Expo, Portland

Normally, a cool craft beer is refreshing—but it can be downright lifesaving after your tongue is burning from eating spicy food. The First Annual Portland Hot Sauce Expo celebrates both of these satisfying sensations, trotting out the dual arts of craft beer and artisan hot sauce during a full weekend of samples and competitive-eating events. Read on to see if you can take the heat:

• Guinness Book of World Records Reaper Pepper Eating Challenge: Contestants have 60 seconds to eat the most reaper peppers, which hit 2.2 million SHU on the Scoville scale, making them the hottest peppers in the world. The current record holder is Wayne Algenio, who housed 22 reaper peppers in an event earlier this year, and lives to tell the tale.
• The PDX Bloody Mary Mix-Down: Whoever can make the best bloody mary—based on factors such as taste and presentation—from scratch within 90 seconds earns a trip to New York City to compete for the national title.
• Free hot sauce tastings from companies from throughout the Pacific Northwest and throughout the world, including PuckerButt, Endorphin Farms, and High River Sauces.