If you saw yesterday's photo of flaming drinks you may be thinking they are too beautiful to drink. Another reason you might not want to drink them is because I suspect the liquid in those glasses is wax and not alcohol, since alcohol in a glass usually burns with a blue flame. If you want glasses of golden flame to use as a decoration, pour some oil for liquid candles into a glass and ignite it. On the other hand, if you want flaming drinks you can actually drink, you can ignite any high-proof alcohol. Most commonly this is 151 rum, but any alcoholic beverage 150-proof or higher will work. Many flaming drinks today are flaming shots, but you can set most drinks on fire:

Basic Flaming Drink Directions

• Prepare your drink.
• Warm a little liquor in a spoon. Hold your hand steady so that the flammable vapor can collect right over the liquid.
• Ignite the alcohol in the spoon and pour it onto your drink.
• Dim the lights to enjoy the show, then blow out the flame before taking a drink. Be careful! The glass and drink may be hot.

Flaming B-52

If you're ready for something a little more advanced, try my personal favorite, a flaming B-52. This is a layered drink. If you make it correctly, you will have a tricolored drink topped by a flame.

B-52 Ingredients

• Kahlua
• Irish Cream
• Grand Marnier or Cointreau
• shot glass
• spoon or a maraschino cherry
• match
• 151 rum

• Fill the shot glass about a third full with Kahlua.
• You form layers with the lighter alcohols by slowly pouring them over the back of a spoon (or a cherry), touching the side of the glass just above the liquid. Use this technique to slowly add a layer of Irish Cream over the Kahlua.
• Add a layer of Grand Marnier on top of the Irish Cream.
• Pour a couple of drops of 151 on top of the Grand Marnier and light the drink on fire.
• If you use warmed Grand Marnier, you don't even need the 151.
• You can drink the lit drink using a long straw, from the bottom of the drink. It's more prudent to blow out the flame before drinking the B-52.

Here's a nice YouTube video you might want to watch if you want to see how to form the layers. Once you learn how to layer drinks, you can try this technique with other liqueurs (or sugar water, if you want something non-alcoholic with even more layers). Combinations to try (heaviest to lightest) include Tia Maria, Irish Cream, Absinthe or Amaretto, Irish Cream, and rum.

Flaming Drink Safety

Fire is fun and all, but you need to be safe.

• Don't mix or drink flaming drinks if you're intoxicated.
• You really ought to blow out the fire before drinking the drink. In my opinion, it's not worth burning yourself.
• Don't add spirits to a flaming drink.
• Use heavy glassware to minimize the chance of the glass cracking.
• Short or rounded glasses tend to work better than tall, narrow glasses.
• Don't prepare or serve flaming drinks near open bottles of liquor.

Fire State of Matter | Fire Projects
Photo: This bartender is making five flaming martinis at once. Usually you make the drinks and then ignite them... I guess he is using a different technique. (Tom Purves, Flickr Creative Commons)