Cafe Brulot

Brulot refers to a coffee cocktail served with liquor and certain spices. The term is French comes from Quebec. It also means a scathing (scorching?) report, and is used to describe a fire ship, a ship loaded with explosives and set on fire to be directed toward an enemy fleet.

It's very fitting when referring to this most fiery cocktail. The liquor, spices and sugar are set fire before being extinguished by coffee. The effect is a nice charred flavor imparted to the liquor and coffee, like burned spices.

It goes without saying that making a Brulot is dangerous. Hot liquor on a stove can combust at any time and it will spread quickly as evaporation is causing more alcohol vapor to leave the liquid and ignite. This is part of the fun, but part of the danger as well. Make this your first drink of the evening, just to be safe.


This recipe makes 6-8 servings:

• 8 oz. cognac (Remy Martin 1738 used)
• 2 oz. curacao
• 32 oz. black coffee
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 12 cloves
• 2 lemon peels
• 2 orange peels
• 4 sugar cubes (8 small cubes)

Combine cinnamon, cloves, fruit peels and sugar in a saucepan. Stir in cognac and curacao and warm on medium heat. Ignite the mixture and allow it to burn for several seconds, carefully stirring with a long spoon (bar spoon recommended). Slowly fill with coffee and stir while the flames are extinguished. 

Alhambra Royale

Alhambra is a Moorish palace in Spain, which is a fitting name for this hot chocolate drink. It has flaming cognac added to it. When you make an Alhambra Royale you feel like an alchemist making alcohol in the middle ages. It looks magical.

The flaming cognac is mostly for show. It doesn't add flavor. But the addition to the orange peel produces this orange cognac effect similar to Grand Marnier. The heat really gets the orange oils out of the peel. 

I had to learn how to flame cognac for this drink. Initially I thought the 40 percent spirit wouldn't burn, but you have to warm it to cause evaporation first. Burning evaporating alcohol produces a ghostly blue flame that only appears in a dark setting. Observe the photos below: 

Igniting the cognac warmed over hot water in a ladle. Pouring the dark blue flaming liquid into the hot chocolate mix.

• 1 1/2 oz. cognac
• 1 cup hot chocolate
• wide sliced orange peel
• whipped cream

Fill a mug mostly full of hot chocolate and twist the orange peel and drop it in. Warm cognac in a ladle over hot water (not quite boiling). Ignite the cognac and allow it to burn several seconds before pouring it into the hot chocolate. Take care while pouring that the fire is extinguished while mixing the liquids, which may require stirring. Garnish with whipped cream. 

Blue Blazer

The Blue Blazer is a funny hot drink that is designed to burn before it is extinguished by hot water. I can see Jerry Thomas tossing the flaming liquid from glass to glass as the instructions suggest. The problem with the recipe that I encountered is that most scotches don't burn. The closest I could come to a combustible scotch was Cutty Sark Prohibition Edition, which flashes briefly and dies.

This is a showmanship cocktail for sure, and the original recipe describes using two glasses to toss flaming liquid from one glass to the other. Scotch won't do it, but a dash of 151 rum, about 1/4 oz. will do the trick, along the edges of the glass gives you the right light show that we are looking for. Moving the glass much puts this all out, so just appreciate the flame--which is very blue, of course--and pour the hot water to get things going. This is a great winter drink when you feel a warming cocktail will improve your health.

• 2 1/2 oz. scotch (Cutty Sark Prohibition Edition used)
• 1/4 oz. 151-proof rum
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
• boiling water
• lemon twist

Pour scotch (and 151 rum) into a mug and ignite with a lighter. If you are feeling brave, pour flaming concoction into another mug, moving them back and forth to create a tossing fire effect. Add sugar and boiling water to put out the flame and garnish with a lemon twist.