Scovilled Hot Sauce of the Month

What's in the box: Each box holds 1, 2 or 3 small-batch hot sauces that a curator picks to match your heat level, flavor preferences and the foods you eat.

Scovilled runs both a hot sauce shop and a monthly subscription box, and the box is the main draw. Most clubs send every member the same bottles. Scovilled instead asks you to set a heat level, choose the flavors you like and the ones to avoid, list the foods you cook and flag any dietary needs. The site says a person, not an algorithm, then picks 1, 2 or 3 small-batch bottles for you, and that you will not get the same sauce twice. Plans start at $18.95 a month with free shipping on every box, and you can skip or cancel anytime. The shop carries more than 500 sauces from over 90 independent makers. Every sauce is rated on the same four-level heat scale, from mild (under 2,500 SHU) to extra hot (350,000+ SHU, the ghost, reaper and scorpion range). Because the scale is consistent, it is easy to decide what to ask for or reorder. Makers on the site include High Desert Sauce Co., Butterfly Bakery of Vermont and CaJohns. The downsides are common to this kind of box. A single bottle is not much sauce for the money, and the curation only works as well as you describe your taste. Still, it is a well-designed way to discover craft sauces or to give as a gift.