The liquid obtained from salting small anchovies, mixed with chilli, ginger, shallots, garlic, malt and spirit vinegar, soy, tamarind and molasses, matured in oak barrels. In order to protect the secrecy of the formula, the ingredients have, in the past, been referred to officially by code names: Bulimay, Buggy, Bugbear, Bugler, Bulldog, Buglehorn and Bullcalf to name but a few. The story goes that Marcus Lord Sandys, returning from India, commissioned Worcester pharmacists John Lea and William Perrins, to make up his secret recipe. When they tasted it they found it so disgusting that they put it to one side and forgot about it. Years later they rediscovered it and the fiery liquid was born.
