"Cucaracha Flameada" news and stories

I often say that a bartender should be a little bit of a magician. Taking a fresh slice of orange peel and drawing out the oils from the skin via a lit match makes a nice spark in a darkly lit bar, and always captures guests' attention. Besides introducing flavorful orange oil into your cocktail, the trick also releases the delicious scent of orange into the air.

This trick is baby play compared to the antics of the grandfather of bartending, Jerry Thomas. To entertain his guests back in the late 1800's, he'd pour flaming high-proof whisky back and forth between two mugs. Cocktail historian David Wondrich (author of a book on Thomas' life, called IMBIBE) has taught many bartenders how to make a famous fired-up drink called the Blue Blazer. He even has an instructional video on You Tube. Slow Food NYC's Slow Drink Week has featured a Blue Blazer competition with some of the biggest names in the business, including Gary Regan, Dale Degroff, and Mr. Wondrich himself.

The only flamed drink I was taught in my early bartending days was a Flaming Dr. Pepper: A shot glass of amaretto topped with Bacardi 151 rum, lit on fire and then dropped into a glass of beer somehow tastes like a Dr Pepper soda.