Recently bottled a Peach Ginger mead that managed to get to 19% without permission. Tbf though I didn't try to stop it. I Have English breakfast, Chai, Black Currant, and Chocolate Vanilla meads that need to be bottled. Next plan is Pineapple Cayenne. I have Carolina Reapers growing that my friends want to try a mead of...might try a very small batch just to see if its feasible.
I've done a chilli mead once, with the honey slightly caramelized and used about 2 habaneros for 5 L (1.3 gal). Came out spicy enough that I felt some burning going down. Would be interesting to see how Carolina Reapers work.
I used D-47 for all of them and Orange Blossom honey. It's tolerance is 14% and thats around where I wanted it to stop but it had other plans. If you only used 2 Habaneros I can't imagine what Carolina Reapers will do.
Trying to imagine it. If it's too hot it might overpower every other flavor so I'd probably try to balance it out with something and maybe try to keep it from getting too dry. But that's just me. Do give an update whenever this is done!
I think they're hoping it will be too spicy. They're the kinda guys who go out to find the hottest thing just to say they tried it. One of them found a 9mil Scoville pepper extract. They just want to say they tried a spicy mead. So I'm just going to keep to a very small batch so I don't waste any liquid gold.