When I was young and adventurous (or
was it stupid?), I was a consumer of flaming shots. It was naturally
exciting and obviously carried a high degree of risk. At the time, I
was in my early twenties. I recall many years later in Miami talking
to a fashionable Colombian couple, then, in their early thirties where I was
lamenting about my flaming shots. To my big surprise, they mentioned
that they had done some just a night or two before! This caught me
off guard, honestly. Here was a sophisticated, highly personable, up
and coming couple, who drove a Jaguar and they were talking to me
about doing flaming shots? How could this be?
The flaming shot isn't all that far
removed from Russian Roulette. The consequences are perhaps not as
severe, but they certainly, under no uncertain terms can be very
severe. Tales of
participant's flaming shots going awry causing permanent
disfigurement, were abundant. Actor Dan Haggerty had some sort of
miscue where his beard caught fire. While doing flaming shots is, no
doubt, adventurous, I wouldn't recommend it to those who are sporting
beards of any kind, or anyone for that matter.
So,
here's this very attractive couple telling me how they were doing
flaming shots a night or two before. By this time I hadn't done a
flaming shot in years and the thought of these two doing flaming
shots just didn't settle well with me. I was trying to picture it. A
young attractive couple at a party in an upscale, very modern Miami
home, dressed to the nine's and doing flaming shots? Something didn't fit.
They
went on talking about how exciting it was! The woman was
exceptionally beautiful. I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of
her doing flaming shots!
“You
guys are doing flaming shots???”
“Oh
yes! We love them!”
“You
drink them?”
“Of
course!”
“You
drink the flaming shot while it's on fire?”
“WHAT??? DRINK IT ON FIRE??? ARE
YOU CRAZY??? No, we blow it out
and then drink it! On fire? Man! That's like the guy at the circus!!
I
breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God they weren't drinking real
flaming shots!
Myself,
I drank flaming shots for around two years or so. It certainly wasn't
every time out, as I was predominantly a beer drinker. It was either
my friends Jeff Fisher, or Dan McGovern who first mentioned it to me.
You take a shot of alcohol, light it on fire and send it down the
hatch while it's burning.
Now
that was exciting! Jumping out of a plane isn't for me. Driving an F1
car, or an Indy car would be exciting, but one needs millions to do
so. Here, I could do a death defying thrill for just a few bucks!
Sold! Sold for me, that is. I do not encourage this for anyone! Live it vicariously here on the blog and go no further.
One of
the main criteria for a flaming shot is that the alcohol must be at
least 100 proof. Anything less than that won't burn. The alcohol
itself burns a beautiful blue flame. I understand why my friends back
in Miami loved lighting it on fire, as it's truly a breath-taking
sight!
My
first flaming shot was at a bar in Westwood, New Jersey named “What
Ale's Ya?” I believe Jeff and Dan were at the bar with me doing
likewise. I do not recall what it was we were drinking, but I'm
leaning towards Wild Turkey?
In
life I have been blessed with a rarity. I was given a brain that is
both analytic and artistic.
Those who read this blog would be acquainted with my artistic sides
of me being an author, a songwriter, and musician. In the case of the
flaming shot the analytic side kicked in.
I'm
thinking “Let's use some common sense here”, at least as far as
common sense goes when one is about to down a flaming shot, which is
anything but common sense!!!! A flaming shot/common sense? HELLO!
The first thought
that goes through my mind is that fire needs oxygen to burn.
With that in mind,
I draw the conclusion that I need to deprive the flaming shot of
oxygen as quickly as possible.
This is something
that requires swiftness. Obviously, one is not going to sip a flaming
shot! What was required was a very swift, rapid movement, which puts
the shot into the mouth and and one closes their mouth as fast as
possible, depriving the flame of oxygen and putting it out inside the
mouth.
The other thing
required is precision. None of the flaming shot can go
anywhere other than inside the mouth. The consequences of error can
be catastrophic. Picture a small amount of flaming liquid lands on
the shirt of the imbiber. This causes mayhem, naturally. The first
thing they do is attempt to put out the fire on their clothing. In
their panic the first thing they do is say something like “OH
SHIT!!!” and in doing so the alcohol in their mouth comes out and
reignites all over them, clothes, face, arms. So yes, precision is
paramount.
That evening at "What Ale's Ya?", all of this went through my mind and I completed my
first flaming shot successfully! As a matter of fact, every flaming
shot I took after that was successful. Over the next two years or so, I would do
flaming shots in bars, parties, and camping trips. Mind you, it
wasn't every time out, but I'd say between one and three times a
month and there were a lot more one's than three's.
Then one evening it
was either at "What Ale's Ya?", or maybe "The Barn", in Wyckoff, NJ, I lit a
flaming shot at the bar. I lifted it and looked at the beautiful
flame. It was beautiful indeed! I blew it out, then downed it.
The Barn
The Barn
I believe it was my
guardian angle whispered in my ear at that moment saying “Stop!
Your luck has run out. Never drink another flaming shot again. Ever!”.
Twice, many, many years later, I thought after already having some alcohol inspired
confidence and bravado “Well that's phooey! I'm going to have a
flaming shot!”
And on both
times the exact same
thing happened. My guardian angel said “No! Your luck ran out all those years ago. You're done! You've used it all up! Put it out!”
And
in both cases, I took heed and blew out the flame.
I
do not recommend that anyone
do flaming shots. You've
read the blog, smile and live vicariously. Do not do flaming shots.
Your guardian angel might not be as good at this as mine!
Cheers
Thank you for reading my blog!
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