The Spiciest Cider On Earth?

The Imperial Ghost could be the spiciest cider in existence today. Named after the infamous ghost pepper, the Imperial Ghost is a beverage that seems too spicy to be true. But why create such an extraordinary inferno for the mouth? In the words of Bee Well Mead and Cider co-founder Jeremy VanSice, “whoops.”

Silly puddy, super glue, penicillin, potato chips, popsicles, pacemakers, all of these remarkable things were made by mistake. Now the Imperial Ghost can be added to the list. “This is how it happened,” VanSice explained. “We used to get all our peppers from the restaurant down the road, but they closed down so we had to find another source. We had our production staff scour every grocery store in a 30 mile radius. They came home with about 80 lbs of habañeros and a few scotch bonnets, but no ghosts.”

Of course, the ghost pepper is the star of the show, but is unavailable even in the most exotic grocery stores in rural Northern Michigan. “We’re smarter than we look,” VanSice quipped. “When we made our first batch of the original Ghost, we got all our peppers from a small farm just west of town. We had tons of ghost peppers, too many to use in a single batch, so we dried some of them.”

The ghost pepper is currently the 8th hottest pepper in existence, according to the website Pepperhead.com. It weighs in at a frightening 1 million Scoville Heat Units (SHU). For context, the average jalapeño is about 5,000 SHU and US-grade pepper spray is 2 million SHU.

“We just put them all in there,” VanSice explained. “It was probably too many, but we didn’t know. We’d never used dried peppers before, and I don’t know what the thought process was, but we put them all in there and then we piled probably 80 lbs of fresh habañeros and scotch bonnets on top. It wasn’t our normal strategy. We usually make small batches of spicy cider and sort of inoculate the larger tanks before it goes in the keg or can. This time we just put all the peppers in the tank and let them ferment together.”

For 90 days, 80 lbs of the world’s hottest peppers married themselves to a crisp Northern Spy cider, and the Imperial Ghost was born. When it came time to taste the finished product, VanSice and his production staff quickly realized that they were sitting on 250 gallons of a nearly undrinkable inferno cider. Most production teams would have diluted it into a more drinkable beverage, but that just isn’t how the Bee Well operates. 

“We did use some of it to make our regular Ghost cider, but most of it we put straight into kegs,” VanSice said. “We have a lot of spice lovers up here and we figured they might want to try it out.”

He was right, they did want to try it out. In the court of public opinion, the Imperial Ghost reigns supreme. Local Bellaire resident and amateur pepper farmer Andrew Branaum was in the Bee Well’s tasting room filling a 64oz growler with the Imperial Ghost. “The first time I tried it, it was really spicy,” Branaum said. “Now, it’s not so bad. This is actually how spicy I want it to be.”

Kai Kuo, an engineering student from Taiwan had tears running down his face, sweat was forming on his upper lip. “I can take this,” he proclaimed. “I don’t know if other people would be able to, but I can take this.”

Cider enthusiast Jacqui Murphy said, “it’s dangerous because I want to keep drinking it. It’s like Flaming Hot Cheetos, you know? I can’t get enough.”

“It cleaned out my sinuses really well,” added Sarah Vano from Oakland County, Michigan. “I feel a lot better now.”

Although it is likely one of the spiciest ciders available in U.S. markets today, once you’ve acclimated to the heat, the Imperial Ghost becomes a far more complex beverage than its scorched earth mouthfeel. Alongside the peppers is a hint of peach and passionfruit that acts almost like a fine mist, cooling the surface of the tongue just enough to make you feel okay about it. By the end, when your whole mouth is ablaze and you’re sweating and your eyes are watering and your face feels inside out, a light honey afterglow takes the stage and you realize you might actually want more. You might need more. 

Or maybe you’re like longtime Bee Well regular Curtis Bitterly who said, “they should have made it hotter.”

ABOUT THE BEE WELL

Dug deep in the village of Bellaire, Michigan, The Bee Well has been crafting one-of-a-kind meads and ciders using ingredients from local farmers since 2014. Our tasting room features 20 rotating taps, a food truck out back, and all the local charm you could ask for. So congratulations, you are now formally invited to come up north, try a flight, sample our limited releases and meet our friendly, hard working team. Don’t be shy, we are ex-cider-ed to mead you!