Gertrude Wong Sriracha Hot Sauce Tale

Continuing in our custom of dedicating a story to each of our hot sauce brands, here’s how Gertrude Wong’s Sriracha Hot Sauce came to be…

After the events of December 7, 1941, it was the norm for young men to enlist in the armed forces, as WWII had broken out. LB Mackesson (Luke’s father) chose the Navy, as did his brother Bruce, while his other brother Jim went with the Army.

LB worked his way through the ranks and eventually made Chief Petty Officer. His first deployment: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It was there he met his first island woman – and was infatuated to say the least. Oh, her long black hair decorated with flowers and her body blessed by the sun … what was not to like?

Yes, love was in the air for LB Mackesson, but his time spent with Gertrude was limited, as his ship responsibilities were huge. There was a time during the war where his brothers Bruce and Jim crossed paths with LB in Hawaii, since this seemed like the perfect place to spend some R and R. They were introduced to Gertrude, and it was then they realized why LB seemed so excited in the letters he wrote to them.

Well, years passed by, and next came LB’s next deployment to Manila in the Philippines. That lasted another two years and then – thank goodness – the war was finally over. Everyone returned home, life got back to normal, and all that was left was memories of Gertrude Wong.

But the funny thing was, all three brothers had the same memories in Hawaii. Apparently, Bruce and Jim had also partaken of Gertrude’s passion, and it wasn’t the fruit!

It was at this point that the memory of “Dirty Gert” had been properly named.

As Midgets Fishing Brewery gets ready to launch our recipe for Sriracha Hot Sauce, we thought of no one more appropriate to name it after than Gertrude Wong … or you can simple call it “Dirty Gert.”

Enjoy!