Afterburner Shot

Cinnamon schnapps and peppermint schnapps — Goldschläger (late 1980s), Fireball (Sazerac, 2011), and Rumple Minze, TRPV1 heat and TRPM8 cold firing in sequence.

The Afterburner shot takes its name from the jet engine component that injects additional fuel into the exhaust stream to produce a burst of extra thrust — a raw, forceful technology whose defining characteristic is intense, immediate heat. The shot's name is justified: the combination of cinnamon schnapps and peppermint schnapps creates a layered thermal sensation in the throat that moves in stages. Cinnamon schnapps — popularized by Goldschläger, the Swiss product introduced in the late 1980s that contains genuine 24-karat gold leaf flakes, and more aggressively by Fireball Cinnamon Whisky, which re-entered the American market under Dr. McGillicuddy's parent company Sazerac in 2011 and became one of the fastest-growing spirits in American retail history — delivers a wave of sweet-spicy cinnamon warmth. Peppermint schnapps, led by Rumple Minze (produced by Borco at 100 proof) and DeKuyper Peppermint, follows with a menthol cold blast that briefly cools what the cinnamon inflamed. The two sensations — heat and cold, arriving in sequence in the same sip — create a disorienting and memorable physical experience that explains both the name and the shot's persistent popularity at bars where dramatic sensory novelty is the point. The hot-cold contrast sensation is a genuine physiological phenomenon: the TRPM8 receptor that senses cold is activated by menthol, while the TRPV1 receptor that senses heat responds to cinnamon compounds.