No Quarter

No Quarter by Keith Corwin

Here’s a toast to the 8 Bit era, when pixelated possibilities were exciting and new, for the low low price of admission. The drink was created by Brooklyn bartender Keith Corwin while at the Thelonious Bar in Berlin, back around 2016. Keith was looking to put “an amaro or kräuterlikör cocktail on the menu.” Jägermeister is likely the most famous of the kräuterlikör family, a brooding bunch of dark, rich and bitter German herbal liqueurs akin to amaro. It’s not Jager’s fault that it was brilliantly marketed to American collegiate party goers in the Eighties, possibly while they were playing Pac Man.

give no quarter

Once again I realized I did not have any Jägermeister in my well stocked cabinet, and relied on a homemade substitute I came up with a while back that captures the basic flavors if not the true “spirit” using Averna amaro and Underberg in a 2:1 ratio. Corwin explains the structure and provenance of his tasty cocktail: “I wanted to take a classic (Vieux Carré in this case) and swap in Jägermeister to show off its refined side. To do that, I needed something to stand up to its intensity. So Smith & Cross [a Jamaican pot still rum full of personality and “hogo”] it was. The name was a later modification. The Smith & Cross gave “no quarter” to the Jägermeister. And of course, Vieux Carré means “Old Quarter”.” Cheers!

a playful pairing

No Quarter by Keith Corwin

1 oz Smith & Cross rum

1 oz Jägermeister

1 oz sweet vermouth

1 bsp Benedictine

1 dash Angostura bitters

1 dash Regan’s orange bitters

Stir ingredients with ice and strain into a favorite glass over a large cube. Orange twist.

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