The hollow sound of your 10th empty tequila shot slamming against the bar top and the quick flicker of the overhead lights signal the end of your 21st birthday and what has been a booze-fueled night out on the town. At this signal, your buddy and drinking partner, who keeps falling off that stool right next to you, leans over and, with a sly smirk, says, “I’m gonna order you somethin’ that’ll really make this a 21st to remember.” He then calls the bartender over, whispers something in his ear, and two minutes later what amounts to a glass full of frothy sludge shows up in front of you.

“Whathahell is this?” you ask, half repulsed, half intrigued by the multi-colored concoction sitting in front of you. “It’s a suicide,” he says. “Drink up!”

Feeling like you are up to the challenge, partly because it’s a special night, partly because you have 10 shots of the Mexican cousin in your stomach to back your capricious decision, you agree and quickly start to down what’s in front of you. Halfway through the challenge, you realize that you can’t finish it. The clashing alcoholic tastes of sugary-sweetness, spiciness and pale ale bitterness make you want to puke. You slam down the mug, turn to your buddy and demand to know the drink’s ingredients. “Everything that was left over on the bar,” he says with a grin.

A similar, though arguably less exciting version of this scenario happened to me on the eve of my 22nd birthday when a group of my friends ordered a “Mexican Prairie Fire” and coaxed me, in my half-drunken, “Why the hell not?” state, into downing it. The rancid, burning combination of Tabasco and tequila slammed against my taste buds, and this repulsive shot that had just gone down my throat came right back up all over the bar. I was embarrassed but definitely more cautious from there on out in my alcoholic undertakings.

A Lawrence bartender who wished to remain anonymous says he’s been on the other side of this scenario. He says he used to work at a bar where there was a mat underneath the beer taps that caught all of the spilled beer and mixed ingredients for shots. At the end of the night, he would drain the mat into a beer mug and serve it up to any bar patron brave enough to down the contents.

Chad Landis, head bartender and manager at Astro’s Bar, 601 Kasold Drive, says it’s not uncommon to receive requests for out-of-the-ordinary cocktails and shots from bar patrons. He says some of the requests are for novel mixes of unusual types of alcohol combined with different juices, while others are for more extreme mixes of alcohol and ingredients that people wouldn’t ordinarily associate with a mixed drink or shot, like Tabasco sauce and olive juice. Landis says one of the more exotic shots that is currently very popular is called a “Starburst,” which contains five Bacardi flavors in one shot. For the strong of stomach, the “Tour of Germany,” a spicy, peppermint-flavored shot containing four German liqueurs — equal parts Rumple Minze, Goldschlager, Barenjager and Jagermeister — is also very popular, he says.

Across town at the Jazzhaus, 926 Massachusetts St., on a Tuesday night, bar opener Troy Pomeroy says bar patrons prefer a variety of exotic cocktails and shots ranging from the different “bombs,” such as Irish Car Bombs (one-half pint Guinness, 1 ounce Jamison whiskey, one-half ounce Bailey’s Irish cream) and Jager Bombs (same recipe as Irish car bomb, substituting 1 ounce of Jagermeister liquor in place of Jamison) to what is called the “Pussy shot,” a Jazzhaus specialty named after it’s sweet taste and pungent smell, which he says is a crowd favorite at the bar.

Exotic cocktails can also be crafty confectionary treats, appealing to the specific tastes of a courageous cocktail connoisseur. Such is the case for Kerstin Florman, St. Louis junior, who says she has a sweet tooth and likes to drink as well. During winter break, Florman had a chocolate martini at a restaurant and got hooked on the smooth chocolaty taste with an alcoholic kick. After encountering this drink, Florman asked her parents for the ingredients to make chocolate martinis: Godiva liquor and Crème de Cacao. Now she makes chocolate martinis all the time, from when she is getting ready to go out to when she’s doing homework or just chilling out, she says. “My roommates think it’s kind of funny because I’m kind of obsessed with them,” she says. “I just love chocolate, and I love drinks, and it’s the closest thing you get to liquid alcoholic chocolate.”

Although she loves the “chocolate milk with a kick” taste of chocolate martinis, Florman says this isn’t a cocktail to drink in excess in one sitting. “It’s not like I’m gonna make six and get tanked,” she says. “It’s a one-serving deal.”

cbrown@kansan.com