Last call for bravado in a bottle! Here’s a shot to remember when the lights dim
up and down. This dark liquor is always a sight for sore eyes: square and green,
resting in the ice, or leaving its viscous trail across the bar from your glass.
Ever the bartender’s friend, Jäger (a.k.a. “the safety meeting,• or “the
coffee break•) requires no mixing. One shot makes the waiter grimace less when
his table of four is sharing one salad and two glasses of wine. Appeases even
the surliest kitchen. Can be sipped as an expensive cordial after a filling
meal (makes an effective aperient), or slammed from plastic cups at a rock show.
Jäger reigns as the intended intoxicant.
“Jägermeister,• “Jägermonster,• “Jäge-weggs,• or simply “Jäger•–call
it what you want. But don’t think for a second that in this world of cognac
and Coca-Cola, there aren’t Jägermeister cocktails. Jäger puts the
bite in an Oatmeal Cookie. In the Surfer on Acid, Jäger adds motion to
the ocean. It butches up the Leather Margarita, and kills the Dead Nazi. On
the rocks it’s a Rorschach Test; add a splash of Baileys and it’s a Dark and
Stormy Night. However you drink your Jäger–or even if you never have–next
time you’re in that “Ricola!• mood, order up a shot. Tip your bartender, and
tip your glass to that green bottle and its dark insides. I hope it’s good and
cold.
Bartender Chris Beard, a six-year veteran, sets ’em up at Bandoleone on
Eastlake.