I think that when I get back to school I shall do a wee bit of experimenting with this. I have some 200 proof ethanol and volumetric equipment to dilute it down with…
I remember in high school at least one guy walking around with his face all covered in bandages. He had attempted a “flaming shot.” Idiot.
** Just to be clear, no, you do not. peace, this is not “just the web.”**
What, do you think, is it? I can delete “just” and say: “a highly respectable web site which seeks to eradicate ignorance”. I do my contribution. I always post in good faith. If you think otherwise, show the proof to me.
** Here at the Straight Dope, we seek to eradicate ignorance. To do that, we have to be convinced that everyone is posting in good faith.**
How can I convince you, if you do not believe me? Tell me how and I will.
This is not the first time you have tried to kill our customers with bad advice, and I will have no more of it.
I never tried to kill anyone, anywhere. I am not sure that you understand what you are saying. How is it possible to kill anyone “with bad advice”? I never even gave “bad advise”, consciously, at least. I put a disclaimer when my posts could be interpreted as “advice”.
From this point forward, you will post in good faith,
As I said, I always post in good faith.
as if you were answering a question from your mother or best friend.
Actually, it is even more here. When I am answering to my mother, I may use “white lies” to protect her feelings; I am less likely to do it here.
This is an instruction, not a request.
An instruction should be written as a clear order, i.e.
1…
2…
3…
This one is written in prose. And give me a single proof of my “bad faith”.
Ishmin, I saw it too. The guy hesitated too long, the stuff was burning, the shot glass became hot, when he touched his mouth, he got burned, his hand shook, it got spilled, still burning… terrible.
Peace
peace, I don’t want to hijack this thread any further, meet me in the Pit.
Sheesh. Well, assuming that the Mad Poet is still with us, and is still interested in making Spanish Coffee, I realized in the middle of the night that I should have said “warmed” the alcohol, not “heated”. If you get it too hot, the alcohol evaporates. Duh.
Also, I’ve never actually made Spanish coffee, but I do think that it may be best to pour the warmed alcohol gently over the back of a spoon so that it’s more or less floating on top of the coffee. If you just dump it in–glug–it would probably mix and might not burn as well.
Let us know if it works. 
I too, have been a bartender and whenever I was required to light a drink on fire I simply floated a little Bacardi 151 (that’s 151 proof) on top.
BTW…here’s a good flaming shot:
In a shot glass, layer equal parts Kahlua and Bailey’s. Float 151 on top and ignite. Drink with a coctail straw from the bottom up.
Baccardi sounds perfect to me. Sugar and the “flavours” in it will probably color the anemic ethanol flame.
Happy Holidays!
It’s not available here in Minnesota, or at least in the liquor stores I frequent. Maybe it varies from city to city (or county to county perhaps?).
Sue is right about the Bacardi 151 rum. I also was a bartender for many years. To answer the OP, I will relay how I made Spanish coffees. Many places get confused between the Spanish coffees and the Mexican coffee…and in fact, many bartenders will argue for days about them. LOL
To start use a strong glass mug.
Run a wedge of lime around the rim and then dip the rim in sugar to coat it.
Pour a half shot of Bacardi 151 rum and light with match.
Twirl and tilt while burning to start to carmelize the sugar.
Set glass down and while still burning quickly pour half a shot of Cuantro.
Fill will coffee, add straw and serve.
Enjoy!
Btw, this IS the correct way to make a Spanish coffee.
Just to add…
while the rum is burning, when I say tilt and twirl, I mean tilt the glass and turn a full turn. Do this quickly and just let the rum and the flame touch the sugar as you turn the glass.
If you still need more flames when serving just use a Bacardi float.
(Jeez…i wish everyone would wake up so we can have Xmas here)
Everclear is available in Kansas. Heh.
As to the facts re: alcohol, combustion, et al. Do I really need to enter this thread too, or should I go to the Pit, or what?
Sigh.
That sounds like a fetching way for me to lose my flaming drink cherry there Sue. I just might have to try one of those at the party.
To elaborate upon what Chronos mentioned about the origins of the term “proof”.
Before the days of seals on bottles and bonded producers, people hawking booze to the pioneers needed to offer some demonstration of “proof” that the product was not watered down.
The method at that time was to place a small amount of gunpowder in a dish and pour some of the alcohol over it. When the alcohol was ignited it had to be able to burn long enough to touch off the gunpowder. Only liquor that was 50% alcohol or greater in concentration was capable of providing this “proof”. Consequently 50% alcohol was refered to as 100 proof in that is was able to provide 100% proof that is had not been diluted.
No!
200 proof ethanol (which I use every day for DNA precipitations) is made by adding benzenes to 190 proof ethanol. I don’t know if the benzenes are removed – in theory they should be, because they are advertising it as an ultrapure reagent (and should have had contaminants removed). But, in practice you may be drinking benzene, which are carcinogenic.
A slight hijack on why benzenes are added. Ethanol can be fractionally distilled to 190 proof or around 95% w/v. At that point, the remaining 5% water forms what is known as an azeotrope – the structure of the ethanol is somewhat stabilized and the boiling point rises to close to that of water. This makes distillation impossible. Benzene is added to get rid of the azeotrope.
Oh, and peace. Isopropanol, or 2-propanol (left) and ethanol (right).
H
/
H O H H H
| | | | |
H-C-C-C-H H-C-C-OH
| | | | |
H H H H H
That looks ugly. I don’t know how to fix it.
FWIW, I entered the search phrase “spanish coffee” light into Google.
another recipe (scroll down a bit)
All of these start by lighting a fire in the glass. Most start a Bacardi 151 fire; the second one does it (apparently) to carmelize Grand Marnier to the glass before finishing the drink.
Hope this helps.
Several of the regular patrons at the bar I wok at have lately taken to drinking “Dr. Pepper’s”. For those who don’t know (or call them something else) you take a half pint glass full of beer (a light pilsner will do, thank you) then you get a shot glass 3/4 full of Amaretto, top it with 151 rum, set it on FIRE, drop it into the beer and chug the resulting beverage.
I refuse to allow them to ignite the rum when I am working.
Someone managed to spill burning rum all over his hand and the bar top last month!
Sorry folks, drinking and fire=Bad!
Oh man, I love Flaming Dr. Peppers! It’s amazing how much it actually tastes like Dr. Pepper, too. I’d order it more if it wasn’t such a pain for the bartender to make. That’s why I usually stick to gin & tonic or scotch & soda (or occasionally a martini).
Re Spanish Coffee: I just want to point out, once again, that I think you need a really heavy glass for this, not just a restaurant-type water glass, especially if you’re following the procedures outlined in Cornflakes’ links. The people in the links are using the phrases “the rim of the glass” or “tip the glass on its side”, without making it clear what kind of glass.
Myself, I would prefer stoneware or a really heavy china mug, just to be on the safe side. How much fun would it be to be holding a water glass coated with flaming rum when it breaks?
Ryan’s account of “Flaming Dr. Peppers” sounds like they’re using beer mugs for that, and a shot glass.
They are using pint glasses, not heavy beer mugs, but as the rum is extinguished by the beer the glass is not subjected to much thermal stress.
Of course, when some fool drops the shot glass in from more than an inch or two above the level of the beer in the glass, I cringe, expecting it to shatter!
They aren’t too much trouble to make, or clean up after, especially if you omit the fire!
“Car Bombs” on the other hand…yech!
No fire, but take a half-fullpint glass of Guinness, and drop in a shot glass of half Bailey’s and half Jameson’s.
Chug the resulting mess.
Of course, no one EVER drinks either of these alone, there are always a group of at least 3 guys who all must have one.
hey Kev,
Don’t forget that once you flame it you want to sprinkle on a little cinnamon over the flames. It makes pretty colors. I may have a copy of “The American Bar” somewhere around my place, drop me a line and I’ll look for it for you.
Well I checked the links provided by Cornflakes just for fun. This has been a pet peeve of mine for years. Where do people come up with these? Do they just pour some alcohol in a glass and then decide to name the mixture whatever? There have been standard receipes for these drinks for well over 50 yrs. (Of course many drinks for over 200 yrs but I am talking about this group of coffee drinks in this post.) In the interest of fighting ignorance…
coffee with Kahula and tequila is a Mexican Coffee.
coffee with Kahula and Tia Maria is a Jamacian Coffee.
coffee with Kahula and brandy is a Keoke Coffee.
Spanish coffee does NOT have Kahula in it.
I realize that there are regional differences and some names are used only in certain localities but these are very well known.