Ghost Pepper Vodka Review; Dear God Don’t Do It (video)

I bought a bag of dried ghost peppers from World Spice Market in Seattle last month and decided to try some different recipes with it. Ghost Pepper infused vodka, however, was a terrible, terrible idea.

I soaked two full ghost peppers in a 375ml (pint) bottle for about a week. The vodka turned a dark yellow, almost orange, but didn’t smell like anything in particular.

I dipped my finger in it to give it a taste, and it burnt my mouth, neck and innards. Surely that meant it would be a good idea to pound a shot of it, which I did on camera, for posterity and general public awareness.

I had three adults supervise the experiment, along with four children, for good measure, and the results might surprise you. That is, the results might surprise you if you don’t know that the ghost pepper is by many accounts the hottest pepper on the planet.

Having survived the shot relatively unscathed, thanks to the addition of milk, I decided to add a second shot to the gullet, which was exponentially worse than the first.

I could explain the minute-by-minute experience of having done such an awful thing to myself, but it wouldn’t compare to simply watching the video for yourself.

Watch the video below

Follow up

The burning in my mouth and throat subsided with about twenty minutes. Then came the burning in my stomach. It wasn’t unpleasant, but felt like I had a heat-pack under my shirt.

If you do make ghost pepper infused vodka, consider trying it in a Bloody Mary. Me and a guest both tried screwdrivers (OJ & vodka) with the tiniest amounts of the stuff, and it was both disgusting and unpleasant.

The following morning I had once gaseous expulsion that was muy caliente, but no other intestinal problems.

And the following evening, Dominic (the child you hear urging me to take that second shot) apologized profusely for doing that to me. He thought I only took the second shot because he told me to. I reassured him that I was committed to that mistake regardless of what he said, and that there was nothing he could have done to persuade me either way… he felt better.