Respect Authority

Only a few short weeks after a New York woman joined the ranks of ladies suing bars for their mechanical bull standards, this woman has an issue with the drinks themselves.

An Upper West Side bar left one woman “engulfed in flames” and — according to the New York Post, which apparently didn’t think being engulfed in flames encompassed this — “horribly burned,” after a bartender poured Bacardi 151 on the bar and then set it on fire.

Really, I’m surprised no one thought that would end badly.

Apparently the bar-fire gimmick comes into play whenever “Great Balls of Fire” comes on the jukebox, which is kind of a bizarre reason to put the lives of your entire patronage in jeopardy. Brother Jimmy’s pulled the drink of the shelves in all of its locations the next day and the victim’s lawyer said she’s trying to rid the city of 151 altogether.

While I can’t imagine I wouldn’t be more than a little pissed off if I was set on fire simply for trying to knock back a few beers, I have to believe someone will eventually tell this woman that more or less any liquor could be set on fire with a lighter, regardless of its potency. So knocking 151 off shelves won’t solve whatever fire bar-stunt epidemic there is out there. That said, after a brief flirtation with 151 in my youth, I have absolutely no problem with it being abolished in New York, or frankly the world. Even without a lighter that drink sets fires – in my throat.

In fact, I’m not entirely confident that a 151-hangover is any less severe than a third-degree burn, so perhaps I should look into a lawsuit against Bacardi for physical and emotional distress caused by getting tore up in freshman year of college. I’ll aim low: $15 million.