How to Make A Flaming Jack O’ Lantern Tiki Garnish

The difference between the garnish that you find on a “regular” cocktail and the garnish that you find on a tiki drink is simple: flair. A tiki drink might come with a simple garnish from time to time, but you’ll never see a “regular” cocktail piled high with pineapple wedges, sugar cane swizzle sticks and cocktail umbrellas. As much as we love the Jack o’ Lantern cocktail garnish we made for our Halloween drinks, it’s not really a tiki drink garnish until you light it up.

Fortunately, we love playing with fire.

To get this effect, you first need to carve a jack o’ lantern face into a thick piece of orange peel using our tutorial as a guideline. Then, take a half a lime and hollow it out, scraping out the pulp of the fruit with a small knife or a spoon. Make sure that the lime will fit comfortably underneath the pumpkin face.

Next, make the drink of your choice. Drinks that are filled with cubed or crushed ice provide a more stable surface for placing the garnish, which should be placed pumpkin-side up on top of the drink. Fill the lime half up with Bacardi 151, replace the pumpkin face and carefully use match or a lighter to ignite the 151. The flames should shoot up around and through the jack o’ lantern, giving your drink a fantastic Halloween effect!

For safety, blow out the flame before drinking and either add the 151 to your drink as a float or simply transfer the whole garnish to another drink (assuming you’re serving this at home, and not at a bar!) to start the show again.