The last time I can recall doing a shot, I was in college at a townie bar called Tom Cat's. The shots were being passed around in test tubes - a very novel idea to a 20-year-old who'd never consumed alcohol outside of Waco, Texas. I slugged back two Buttery Nipples - a shot made with butterscotch schnapps and Bailey's Irish cream, which is the shot equivalent of listening to Britney Spears - and promptly got kicked out of Tom Cat's because the bartender realized I was underage.
I'm not sure if it's the memory of ignominiously being kicked out of a dive bar or the fact that the slimy, sickly-sweet, throat-coating taste of the Buttery Nipples stayed with me for days, but I was never much interested in shots after that.
I realize, however, that I'm in the minority and that shots are just as popular as ever. Houston even has entire establishments that specialize in them, like the Shot Bar. Liquor company DeKuyper recently conducted a survey of Houston's favorite shots, and I can't say that any of the entries are shocking:
The Jägerbomb, it appears, will be eternally popular with the frosted tips and popped collars of the world. This is the kind of shot that's consumed by burly, overly tanned guys at the bar screaming "Bro!" at each other until the word loses what little meaning it once had.
The fact that two of the five shots on the list are pruriently named isn't surprising, either, as giggly ex-sorority girls the world over will happily slur their order for a Sex on the Beach to a cute bartender, hoping that he'll get her not-to-subtle message that she wants to make out with him in the parking lot after closing. The only real surprise is that my old nemesis, the Buttery Nipple, has seemingly faded into obscurity.
