Spice Up Home Cocktail Time With This DIY Chili Liqueur
Ahead of our upcoming Hot & Spicy Fest this weekend, we have all things spicy on our mind, and sometimes, a drink with a bit of heat is neat – if you like spicy like us, at least. One way to get a cocktail at home with a bit of pep in its step is by throwing in a bit of chili liqueur.
Unfortunately for us, chili liqueur like Ancho Reyes, a US-made liqueur made with ancho chiles, is hard to come by in China. There are alternatives to Reyes, but they’ll set you back for a bottle, with some brands costing over RMB 380 on Taobao and from other sellers.
For a less expensive detour to Spicy Margaritaville, the answer is DIY.
Thanks to the popularity of Ancho Reyes, most chili liqueur recipes online call for ancho chiles, but you can substitute any dried chili pepper you want. For this recipe, we mixed ancho, chipotle, and dried guajillo chili – another mellow pepper with a smoky bite.
You can find all on Taobao by searching 干辣椒 gàn làjiāo or by searching the pepper's name in English.
Besides the dried chili, you’ll need a base spirit. Spirytus Rektyfikowany, a Polish rectified liquor, works well if you want the chili pepper flavor to shine, but overproof white rum or plain silver tequila also work well. After that, all you need is simple syrup (made with equal parts sugar and water) to bring it all together.
You can also use erjingtiao or other dry Chinese chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns with baijiu as the base spirit to keep things local. If you do this, though, it's probably best to use a local sweetener in place of sugar.
Ingredients:
- 25g dried chili peppers (stemmed, deseeded, and cut into small pieces)
- 300ml spirit of choice
- 175ml simple syrup* (by weight)
Method:
1. Weigh out the stemmed and deseeded dried chili pepper pieces and place them in a clean mason jar. You can also place a few seeds inside to help with heat.
2. Fill the jar with the spirit and cap it off. Shake everything up, then store in a cool, dry, dark place for one to two weeks, shaking the mixture daily to incorporate everything.
3. Once you’ve reached your desired maceration time, strain out the chili peppers using a fine mesh sieve or coffee filter.
4. Top off the liqueur to 300ml if it’s lost a bit during the maceration process, then add in the simple syrup and stir to combine.
5. Bottle the mixture and put it to use!
*To make simple syrup:
- Combine 50g of granulated sugar with 50g of water in a saucepan over low heat.
- Stir until sugar has completely dissolved, being careful not to let the syrup boil.
- Let cool to room temperature before bottling. Will keep in refrigerator for one month.
Notes:
Test the chili liqueur on a weekly basis before removing the chilies for the desired heat. If it's not hot enough after two weeks, you can add chili pepper flakes or chili powder and test it again after a day or two. Then just proceed from step three.
Now that you have your homemade chili liqueur, it's time to put it to good use. Here's a recipe you can test it out on:
Rosita Caliente
Ingredients:
- 45ml gold tequila or unaged mezcal
- 30ml Campari
- 15ml sweet vermouth
- 15ml dry vermouth
- 15ml chili liqueur
- 3 drops spicy or chocolate bitters (optional)
Method:
Combine all the ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir for 20 seconds or until the glass begins to chill. Strain into a chilled whiskey glass with ice and garnish with a fresh chili pepper.
If you're hungry for more heat, then head to the 2025 Hot & Spicy Fest this weekend to sample hot eats and other treats from 40+ vendors!
Hot & Spicy Fest will be taking place at FFC South Square on Jun 20 from 4pm to 9pm and on Jun 21 and 22 from 11am to 9pm. Standard Early Bird Tickets are RMB 25, Magnet Early Bird Tickets are RMB 35, VIP Tickets are RMB 100 and Standard/On-Site Tickets are RMB 35. You can purchase tickets by scanning the QR code in the poster above.
FFC South Square 北京财富金融中心(FFC)南广场
5 Sanhuan Zhonglu, Hujialou Jiedao, Chaoyang District
朝阳区呼家楼街道东三环中路5号
READ: Mandarin Monday: All About Chili Peppers
Chili liqueur recipe adapted from a recipe by Truffles on the Rocks
Images: Unsplash, Vincent R. Vinci
