Tease your palate with Irfan Ahmed’s sipping shots between courses or his special cocktails at Fortune Select Loudon. Pic by Subhendu Chaki

Once there was just tequila. Today you won’t know where to begin an evening of slamming shooters at your favourite nightclub. How about an extreme shot? The helpful bartender will simply pour a sambuca shot in your mouth. Swirl the spirit around your tongue for a few seconds, open your mouth and let your barman flame it for you — in your mouth! The flame will be doused fast and you can gulp down the fiery spirit. Or if you aren’t that adventurous, settle for the comparatively saner sparkling wine shooter.

You must be in a time-warp if you’re still demanding vodka shots, B52s (with Kahlúa, Baileys Irish Cream and Cointreau) or Jagerbombs (Jägermeister with energy drink, Red Bull). The shooter menu has just gone smoother, more sophisticated and is higher on flavour than ever before.

Shooters are anything between 30ml to 90ml of alcohol quaffed in one gulp — sometimes neat or teamed with fruit juices or infused with unusual flavours. “They are popular amongst the youth because they’re flavourful and very cool,” says Rajnish Rao of Tantra at The Park, Calcutta.

Go with fruity flavours of strawberry, peach and pineapple juice served with your shooters at Tantra, The Park Pic by Rashbehari Das

There’s more. The latest doing the rounds are infused ‘sipping’ shots that you sip on rather than toss back and jell- shots, thickened using gelatin. And hear this: the rather wicked absinthe has just made its debut in Calcutta. For those who came in late, this anise-flavoured spirit achieved great popularity in late 19th— and early 20th-centuries. Known as ‘the green fairy’, it was however, banned in the US and most of Europe by 1915 for its harmful hallucinatory effects. The 1990s saw its revival.

With lower alcohol content, you can knock it back at Plush at The Astor and all the bars at The Park Hotel. It will be served the traditional way — water poured over a cube of sugar straight into a shot glass filled with absinthe.

There are other interesting concoctions to look forward to. Maaya, the Swissôtel bar, is all for shooters made with molecular mixology — using equipment and techniques derived from molecular gastronomy like gels, powders, foams, atomised sprays and more. According to Mayank Tiwari, manager, “Our jell- shots made with fruits like mango, watermelon and kiwi are very popular and we’re looking forward to introducing molecular mixology shots over the next few months”.

Rao is also going heavy on fruit flavours. One of his favourites is a set of six test tube shooters, called Six Beauties in a Row, where alcohol is alternated with fruit juices. “We cut down on alcohol content by serving three tubes of spirits and three fruit juices which must be consumed in the order suggested by the barman,” says Rao. So, first you down the chilled vodka, followed by strawberry crush, next have the chilled gin and douse it with apricot or peach crush and finally the rum, followed by pineapple juice.

Nocturne is re-inventing tequila and vodka shots by infusing them with everything from jalapenos, bell peppers, Gandharaj lemon chunks, fruits, chillies and even white chocolate. Says Sovan Mukherjee, a partner-owner of the club: “Calcuttans have always been open to experimenting in a big way.” Nocturne also offers house specials like a flaming shot of Cointreau and Jagermeister or an ice-cold shot of Cointreau and Ecstasy (a pomegranate-flavoured liqueur).

Experiment with shots flavoured with pear, green apple and Blue Curaçao at Plush, The Astor; (below) treat yourself to (from top) chocolate-based shooters and mango jell-o shots at Swissôtel or Bourbon shots with a citrus twist at Shisha Reincarnated

If you’re wondering whether you can have whiskey shots, then know that it’s not sacrilege to skip the whole whiskey-on-the-rocks routine anymore. Shisha Reincarnated serves Bourbon shots with a citrus twist and Scotch with hints of strawberry and Tabasco. Faruk Hussain, bar manager, says: “People are bored with the old stuff and whisky shots have become very popular.”

It’s also the day of some daring flambéed shots. Take the flaming vodka with a non-alcoholic Blue Curaçao shot at Shisha. Just lean across the bar and let the bartender pour the flambéed drink into your mouth. The flame goes out as soon as you gulp the shot.

You have the chance to experiment with neat shots, infused or flavoured shots or even flaming shooters at Plush at The Astor. “Vodka shots infused with pepper, vanilla, aniseed, pear and apple, rum infused with cinnamon or vodka mixed with syrups like bubblegum, watermelon, blackcurrant and chocolate are going down very well with guests,” says Amar Ibrahim Mollah, senior bartender. They also swear by the flambé-in-your-mouth shots, he adds.

These shots are priced between Rs 200 and Rs 750 per shot, depending on the ingredients. Flaming shooters and jell- shots are more expensive.

But if you don’t fancy tossing back shots, Irfan Ahmed has taken care of it at Fortune Select Loudon. “I’m introducing sipping shots that will be served either between cocktails or with the food,” he says. As the name suggests, you sip on these shots as they are actually meant to tease the palate between drinks. So, if your poison for the evening is whisky, then two pegs down, you could try a whisky shot that’s mixed with various flavours like cigar, burnt orange or Maraschino (cherry-flavoured liqueur).

He also plans to shake up sipping shots with meals. “If someone orders a Margharita with a Thai dish, the cocktail will come infused with herbs like lemongrass or galangal. Along with this, I’ll serve a sipper that may be infused with Thai curry, basil or even red chillies,” he says. Sparkling wine shots are also high on Ahmed’s list of innovations.

A word of caution: shooters must be consumed responsibly and in moderation as they could hit you hard. But once that’s taken care of, the time is right to go on a colourful shooting spree.