If you make your way to Amor y Amargo, Sother Teague’s bar just off of St. Marks Place in Manhattan, look up and see how the roof is doing. When we stopped by the place, it was a patchwork of particle board — the original, he explained to us after arriving wiping his sweaty brow, had collapsed the previous afternoon. With just a couple hours before opening, he’d had to clear off every meticulously stocked shelf of bitters, bar tools and rustic miscellany, clear the debris from above, and then carefully restock said shelves, which line every wall in the bar. Soon thereafter came the given rigors of running one of the top-rated bars in arguably the most competitive neighborhood block in the whole wide world of mixology.
Fittingly, Teague’s original cocktail, the Stag’s Leap, utilizes as a base ingredient that cornerstone of harried collegiate late nights: Jägermeister. For anyone who recalls next-day due dates, unintended property damage and feeling as though the roof is caving in, the correlation here is no leap (sorry). But rather than dredge up memories, the Stag’s Leap highlights the good amid the once shameful, drawing out complexities from the spirit that might just wipe your memories of the Jägerbomb years — if you have any to begin with. If not, then you can probably find something better to reminisce over, be it a leisurely day or a hard day’s night.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 ounces Jägermeister
1 1/2 ounces sweet vermouth
3 dashes root beer bitters
Seltzer water
Orange peel
Ice
Tools:
Highball glass
Jigger
Bar spoon
Preparation:
1. Pour Jägermeister, vermouth and bitters into a highball glass.
2. Add ice — three large cubes.