Jalapeño Tequila!

A little spice on a classic.  This is an easy thing to do and adds a nice twist to margaritas.  All you need are a few ingredients and 1 month to infuse the yumminess into your favorite tequila; I prefer Hornitos because I like the taste and it’s a good value.  You only need the first 5 items, but having all items makes it a lot easier.

• 1.75L bottle of your favorite Tequila
• 8 fresh jalapeños (4 immediately, 4 two weeks later)
• fine filter or cheese cloth
• glass container to pour and filter jalapeños out of tequila
• Knife and cutting board (somewhat obvious)
• 2nd bottle of your favorite tequila (optional)
• gloves to handle jalapeños (optional)
• funnel for pouring tequila back into bottle (optional)

1. I pour a few shots worth of tequila out of a new 1.75L bottle and into the other (as you can barely see in the picture above).  This makes room for when you add the jalapeños.
2. Cut 4 jalapeños into quarters, length wise, and remove white part.  Cut the quarter pieces in half making 8 strips per jalapeño; this is so the jalapeños will fit through the bottle neck.  Cut them a small enough size so you can get them out of the bottle.
3. Drop jalapeños into tequila, top up with tequila from second bottle to about 1inch from top and recap.  I add some seeds; the amount I add is shown above in the 2 right columns of jalapeños.  The more seeds you add, the spicier it will be, but the spice will hit faster too (discussed in Tips below).  I aim for a subtle after bite of spice.             
4. Let jalapeños fuse their spicy goodness for 2 weeks.  Pour tequila through filter (or cheese cloth) into a glass container to filter out little bits of jalapeños, seeds and jalapeño slivers.  Then pour the tequila back into the bottle (a funnel makes this easy).  I usually discard the jalapeños, but you can use them to cook with.
5. Cut 4 fresh jalapeños into 1/8s like before in step 2.  Add jalapeños into tequila and let sit for another 2 weeks.  I add the same amount of seeds as the first phase.
6. After 2weeks of the second phase, pour tequila through filter and into glass container as in step 4 and then back into the bottle.

Now your jalapeño tequila is ready to enjoy.  I recommend writing “Jalapeño” on the bottle so you know which tequila is which.

Tips:

• I wear gloves so the jalapeño oils don’t get under my nails which is hard to wash off and later you’ll rub your eyes and slowly the sting will remind you where your fingers have been.
• Amount of seeds:  The more seeds you use, the faster and harsher the spice will be.  If you infuse the oils from the green, the spice will come on slow and give the tequila a nice after bite leaving you wanting more.
• When pouring out the jalapeños, they will naturally line up to come out the Hornitos bottles and allow you to just grab and pull them out into the filter.  After you pour out the tequila you may need to shake the bottle a few times to get the last few out.
• I think the Jalapeño Tequila (made with Hornitos) and Freshies Margarita mix make an excellent combination.  I typically make them 1 part tequila, 1 part juice or stronger.  Beware, these will not taste it, but can be very strong and you might not notice it.

– Jack