Recently infused a cheap-o liter of Smirnoff, splitting it into two 500ml containers - one with three Red Savinas and the other with two smallish (1 1/4" long) Bhuts and a big (2" round) 7-Pot Jonah. Nothing special to prep or infuse, just slit the peppers and stuffed into the bottles. Tasted last night after a week or so of storage in a dark cabinet.
The Red Savina vodka was HOT tasted straight, the unique citrus-y flavor and aroma of the Savinas was very obvious. I can see where it will make a killer Bloody Mary (gonna call it a "Blood Barry"
).
The other bottle....well, let's say a small sip caused me to sneeze, cough, and the lips and throat were on fire for a while. I thinned the remaining vodka with another 500ml of Smirnoff to mellow it out a bit! Dummy that I am, I came up with a "Devil's Blood Martini" - I added a couple drops of red food coloring to the vodka, then made a martini using a splash of dry vermouth and a home-pickled cherry pepper stuffed with Maytag blue cheese.
It looked and tasted AWESOME
but still a bit too hot to indulge more than one. I'll take a pic next time I make one.
A couple questions for those of you who have done this for a while -
How long does the vodka continue to pull heat and color out of the peppers? If this gets much hotter, I'm gonna end up with two or three bottles of this stuff around for a while...
And does the flavor/heat fade over time?