That's a spicy meatball!

We sampled our jalapeño vodka experiment last night, while preparing to watch Duke and North Carolina State square off in the ACC tournament. (Way to go, Wolfpack! Sorry, Wayland.) The peppers had infused in the vodka for three days. We decided to play it safe with this one, and have chasers at the ready, since we didn't know just how hot this was going to be. Wayland poured himself a glass of Irish cream, while I opted for a cold beer.

I prepared myself for the worst, and knocked it back.



Oh man, that is surprisingly good stuff. It takes a few seconds to kick in; initially, it tastes more like a bell pepper, with only a mild vodka kick. The heat is all on the back end, and in just the right amount.



Wayland pondered for a moment as the two phases of the shot worked their way across his tongue and into his brain. "It's fairly smooth," he said. "There's a nice spicy bite that crept up on you at the end. The spice was at a good place, definitely spicy, but not overwhelming."

After bottling the vodka, straining it through cheesecloth to remove the seeds, I fished half of a jalapeño pepper from the jar to try a bite.



The pepper hasn't noticeably lost any flavor or heat in the infusion process. It just tastes like a regular jalapeño, slick on the surface with vodka, as if it had only been dipped in the liquor.

Next, I made a drink using the infusion, though Wayland opted to make a different drink to have with the game.

The Caesar

Dash of Worcestershire sauce
2 oz. Mad Scientician™ jalapeño vodka
4 oz. Clamato juice
Dash of black pepper

This is a modification on the Caesar recipe found on the Inferno Vodka website, pointed out to us by a faithful reader (thanks, Lilcrow). I upped the ratio a bit, and didn't bother salting the rim.

I have never had Clamato juice before, so I tried a little bit on its own before making the drink. To me, it doesn't taste much different than regular tomato juice. Wayland made all sorts of faces when I told him what Clamato juice is; but since he won't touch tomatoes or clams in any form, I let him know that he was in no position to judge.

The drink was very tasty, though I didn't see much difference between this and a Bloody Mary. But then again, I've always preferred Bloody Marys (Maries? How do you pluralize that?) to be spicy.

Brendan's score: 3.5 flasks out of 5
Wayland abstains.
Overall score:

We've got a few other cocktails up our sleeve, involving previous infusions. We'll be posting those later this afternoon.