Yes, garlic can be hot. The variety I have here is a hard-neck milder type of elephant garlic that is probably a cross between garlic and a leek. It's wild, in Austin they apparently call it something like "ditch garlic." Up here in North Texas I dug up the first one or two in the woods across the road and transplanted to my yard. I'll have garlic here forevermore.

Have you tried roasting it? My father swore by it, and I keep meaning to try it. It gives you a mellow flavor.