Naga Chilli Vodka's new version to be out on Gandhi Jayanti

01 October, 2012

A London-based company is going to gift a new hot Naga Chilli Vodka to all Vodka fans in the world. However, it remains to be seen what the long-term affect will be on the consumer? The new drink will have Bhut Jolokia, one of the hottest chilly in the world, and will curiously be launched on Gandhi Jayanti, October 2, the birthday of the Mahatma, and a day when liquor is not sold in the country as a mark of respect for Gandhi.

NOT ONLY the world, but also Indians will get a taste of Naga Chilli Vodka, new version, which is 2.5 times hotter than the previous version. An English spirits company has bottled a fiery cocktail English vodka with India’s famous Naga Chilli - more popularly known as Bhut Jolokia - one of the hottest chillis in the world.

This Bhut Jolokia is dangerously hot and can cause serious damage to the liver and mouth if ingested raw. However, it didn’t stop manufactures in creating one of the hottest drinks known to man.

“It is costlier than the price of scotch but it has very different taste,” Aunkush Bahari, an importer of various drinks in Jaipur, told this citizen journalist . He further added that this time Naga Chilli Vodka comes with a special health warning but it is not going to stop Vodka fans with an adventurous side, and it can definitely add a bit spices to their lives.

The company has launched this Vodka just months after it released 100,000 Scovilles Naga Chilli Vodka bottles. It is possible to grow this type of chilly but rates are higher on Scoville scale (a metre that estimates the 'chilly factor') than other law-enforcement grade pepper sprays. The people tasting a Jalapeno in pizzas have estimated 5,000 Scovilles while the Naga Jolokia can exceed 1,000,000 Scovilles. Each Scoville unit denotes that a chilli must be thinned by its own mass of water until the heat in it just measureable, and the process repeated many times. The 1,000,000 Scoville units ranking means the that Naga Chilli Vodka is twice as hot as Tabasco, and equally hot as the Habanero and Scotch Bonnet Chillies.

Bahari added that most people in India still consider Jalapeno peppers as hot while Naga Chilli is hottest and tastier. How is the drink prepared? The drink is made by fermenting litres of vodka with 18 kgs of Bhut Jolokia fiery peppers and concoction is left for several weeks for infusion before vodka turns dark caramel in colour.

However, the workforce must wear protection gas masks and gloves while handling the Bhut Jolokia to protect their bodies especially skin, eyes and noses. These chillies can hurt anyone's lungs when in open contact. Mixologists recommended it as a mixer and suggested it be used for cocktails like Bloody Mary because it would just burn through intestines if consumed straight. The vodka will be available online from October 2, 2012.

“I recommend that people should use it in limitation as its peppers have long-term side effects on the body. One can take maximum 10 millimeter with glass of vodka to avoid harmful cause. If consumed more than this amount, the consumer will recover from loss in taste sensitivity only after two days," Dr. Sankiya Jain, Neurologist with private hospital, told this citizen journalist.