Fire in the hole! That's something that you yell when you toss a grenade into a bunker. It's also something that I yell when drop a shot of hot sake into a glass of beer. The name of this shout worthy drink is the sake bomb.

The sake bomb is a fun party drink that can also be enjoyed in the comforts of a rowdy Japanese restaurant. You know the type of restaurant that I'm talking about. They're Benihana style and you sit around the table with a build in grill and the chef cooks right in front of you. They usually like to tell bad jokes and entertain you with their cutting and chopping skills. Well if you get a young chef and some willing diners at the table with you, then it might be a good time to try a sake bomb.

Traditionally, you're supposed to suspend the shot over the beer by laying two chopsticks across the top of the glass. Then you slam your two fists on the table to drop the shot into the beer. The beer of choice for the sake bombs that I drink would be Asahi Super Dry.

Although, when you're a home mixologist, the presentation is less important. You can get by without the chopsticks or the sake cup and just dump some hot sake into your beer. Even though I own a fancy set of sake cups, I'll usually drink sake from a coffee cup anyway. Hey why not? Coffee cups have nice handles on them so you don't burn your hand.

If you have guests though, then by all means get them pounding on the table. It's a lot of fun.

You could use either warm or cold sake but I prefer it warm. And don't forget that the proper temperature to serve sake is a little shy of 100°F (37°C).

If a sake bomb is a little too lowbrow for you, then why not try a saketini? Bartenders are making Tini drinks out of everything now a days, so why not sake? If the sake is dry, then it will act like vermouth in your martini. You'll want the best sake that you can find for this one. The better the sake, the better it will taste when it's cold.

Saketini Recipe

Add the following to a cocktail shaker filled with ice:

2 ounces sake
1 ounce vodka

Shake well and strain into a martini glass.
Garnish with a cucumber slice

A nice way to prepare the cucumber garnish is to buy a fresh one from a farm or even your own vegetable garden. This way you won't mind eating the skin. Supermarket cucumbers are covered in wax to make them look nice and last longer so you should definitely peel them. Take your farm fresh cucumber and run a fork length wise to dig small ridges into it. Then when it's sliced and sitting on the rim of the martini glass it will look a little like a pinwheel. You'll receive a A+ for presentation.

You can also make a saketini using gin and olives but I prefer the vodka saketini. Try them both and see which one you prefer.