One drink that tends to test the willpower of many drinkers winding up their evening is undoubtedly the shooter, a sneaky shot that brings a glow to the party just when everybody thought they had had enough fun and must go home.
And, while agonising about when to leave, they then find themselves ensnared by the charms of this miniature edition of cocktail. The rest is history as the concept of time gradually becomes rather hazy and elastic until that angry midnight call from home.
Indeed, dynamite comes in small packages - a realisation that often comes soon after throwing caution to the wind and already reaping the whirlwind for lack of willpower after downing too many shooters.
No bachelor party can credibly lay claim to notoriety without a decent arsenal of shooters to, not only rev-up the general mood, but also to prod the boys to shed off their inhibitions for that uproarious moment when they tease and rag the bridegroom-to-be down to his birthday suit.
For the record, Wikipedia describes a shooter as an alcoholic-mixed drink that contains 30ml of two or more spirits in a shot glass, and is "generally drunk quickly, rather than being sipped".
Local drinks expert Jan Laubscher recently listed five South African shooters he describes as slamming and popular among bar patrons nationwide.
The shooters are Melktert (Milk Tart), Soweto Toilet (guaranteed to slip down your throat like a taxi through peak traffic), Vinnige Fanie (named after speedy South Africa cricketer Fanie de Villiers), Bergie Bomb and Blind Bat (good for instant amnesia but definitely not for those afraid of the dark).
Interestingly, Laubscher has left out what I regard as the granddad of local shooters - Springbokkie - which is essentially a concoction of Amarula cream and peppermint liqueurs in equal parts.
Given that he lives in Cape Town, there might well be a regional influence in his choice.
Cocktail historian David Wondrich told the firstwefeast.com website that the history of the shooter dates back to 1976, when Kamikaze classic disco cocktail first hit the drinking scene. Drank mostly by pimpled druggies, it had no standard form but mainly consisted of equal parts of vodka, lime juice and triple sec, says Wondrich.
Wondrich says the drink's popularity shot up in 1991 when one Larry "Cutty" Cutsail opened a bar in the United States, serving up 170 different shooters, some with creative names like "The Training Bra" and "The Fat Rat's Ass".
No bachelor party without arsenal of shooters
One drink that tends to test the willpower of many drinkers winding up their evening is undoubtedly the shooter, a sneaky shot that brings a glow to the party just when everybody thought they had had enough fun and must go home.
And, while agonising about when to leave, they then find themselves ensnared by the charms of this miniature edition of cocktail. The rest is history as the concept of time gradually becomes rather hazy and elastic until that angry midnight call from home.
Indeed, dynamite comes in small packages - a realisation that often comes soon after throwing caution to the wind and already reaping the whirlwind for lack of willpower after downing too many shooters.
No bachelor party can credibly lay claim to notoriety without a decent arsenal of shooters to, not only rev-up the general mood, but also to prod the boys to shed off their inhibitions for that uproarious moment when they tease and rag the bridegroom-to-be down to his birthday suit.
For the record, Wikipedia describes a shooter as an alcoholic-mixed drink that contains 30ml of two or more spirits in a shot glass, and is "generally drunk quickly, rather than being sipped".
Local drinks expert Jan Laubscher recently listed five South African shooters he describes as slamming and popular among bar patrons nationwide.
The shooters are Melktert (Milk Tart), Soweto Toilet (guaranteed to slip down your throat like a taxi through peak traffic), Vinnige Fanie (named after speedy South Africa cricketer Fanie de Villiers), Bergie Bomb and Blind Bat (good for instant amnesia but definitely not for those afraid of the dark).
Interestingly, Laubscher has left out what I regard as the granddad of local shooters - Springbokkie - which is essentially a concoction of Amarula cream and peppermint liqueurs in equal parts.
Given that he lives in Cape Town, there might well be a regional influence in his choice.
Cocktail historian David Wondrich told the firstwefeast.com website that the history of the shooter dates back to 1976, when Kamikaze classic disco cocktail first hit the drinking scene. Drank mostly by pimpled druggies, it had no standard form but mainly consisted of equal parts of vodka, lime juice and triple sec, says Wondrich.
Wondrich says the drink's popularity shot up in 1991 when one Larry "Cutty" Cutsail opened a bar in the United States, serving up 170 different shooters, some with creative names like "The Training Bra" and "The Fat Rat's Ass".
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