What is a hot chilli sauce?

I'm often asked at farmers' markets,'Is that sauce hot?'
For some, the merest hint of chilli will have then reaching for a drink and blushing becomingly. Others are made of sterner stuff and demand the hottest thing I do.
I point them in the direction of my 'Chilli Vanilli dipping sauce' and silently hope that their chilli tolerance is as good as they believe! It usually is and a smile of delight spreads over their face. I wish I had a pound for everyone who says, 'I could eat that straight from the jar!' Be my guest, but buy it first!
My lovely customers surprise me sometimes, too. The old gent in the trilby, whom I mentally peg as a Piccalilli man, goes for the hot sauce. The young couple, clutching a bagful of goodies, head for the Apricot and Ginger. Tiny tots are fed a spoonful of chilli sauce by their doting parents, while I applaud their willingness to give children different tastes and textures.
I was at a recent food festival and a number of customers came to me to tell me of the hottest sauce they'd ever tried. It wiped their taste buds out! But, they were proud they'd tried it. Tried it, yes, but not bought it. What would you use such a sauce for? It would destroy your palate, eventually, though, of course, it has its aficonados...
No, they wanted a sauce with flavour! A sauce they could taste and enjoy. They sampled, they asked intelligent questions and they picked out the different subtle tastes.
The scoville rating of chillies is quite precise, but I am too small a producer to afford such testing. I have Great Taste awards for three of my chilli products, which is a pretty good endorsement.
So, if you ask me, 'Is it hot?', I'll tell you in ascending order of heat, so you may sample accordingly, but it's only you who is the judge of that particular question!