In their 1968 hit Fan the Flame, The Temptations sing: “Always keep her hopes up high, make her laugh don’t make her cry / and don’t let her love die, so fan the flame.”
While these lyrics refer to keeping the flame of a relationship burning, modern cocktail bar Bridges & Bourbon takes a more direct approach with a flaming cocktail. Their creation, Fan the Flame, is, quite literally, on fire: a skewered lemon slice, soaked in rum and placed precariously across a coupe glass filled with their sweet, tart whiskey concoction, burns both energetically and artistically as the cocktail’s garnish – a foldable fan is served on the side.
More on Fan the Flame and Bridges & Bourbon
Bridges & Bourbon doesn’t always light cocktails on fire. They do, however, consistently bring the heat with innovative, out-of-this-world cocktail experiences, earning the nickname of a “mad scientist’s laboratory” by local reviewers. The restaurant tackles all five senses with their drinks – I’ll never forget my first visit, when a cocktail came with a small bonfire of wood chips next to it, giving the full experience of a campfire.
Try your hand at pyrotechnics by making Fan the Flame at home. Who knows, a combination of The Temptations and Bridges & Bourbon may be just the right recipe to keep the fire of your relationship burning hot.
Print
Fan the Flame
Description
A bold, sensory experience that pairs Japanese whisky, port, and bitters with a fiery rum-soaked lemon garnish.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ oz Suntory Toki Japanese Whisky
- ½ oz Penfold’s Tawny Port
- ½ oz honey syrup
- ½ oz Byrrh Grand Quinquina
- ¼ oz lemon juice
- 2 dashes apple bitters
Instructions
- Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake for 10-15 seconds, then double strain the cocktail into a coupe glass.
- For presentation, add a dehydrated lemon (a regular lemon will work as well). Soak the lemon in 151 rum and place on a metal pick.
- Lay the pick across the coupe glass and light the lemon for the flame effect. Serve with a hand fan.
Story and Photography by Maggie Weaver
Subscribe to TABLE Magazine’s print edition.
