Bow & Arrow

Bartender Scott Teague is currently based in London, but in his golden years the young mixologist had stints at New York cocktail bars Pegu Club, Death and Co., and Dutch Kills. It was at the latter in Long Island City that he perfected the prototype for the Bow & Arrow, a cocktail that landed on the opening menu at his short-lived and underrated Astoria, Queens, bar, Front Toward Enemy. It’s a drink that really sums up Teague’s style—and one that can be recreated at home with minimal fuss.

Mezcal and bourbon might not make the most obvious pairing in a sour, but Teague worked with the combo a few times over the years. Here the smoky and woody spirits are bridged by both pineapple and cinnamon, which as a team somehow keep the wheels from coming off this refreshing cocktail.

To make your cinnamon syrup at home you can simply macerate a cinnamon stick in simple syrup (equal parts sugar and filtered water). To make the best version you can, I recommend keeping the syrup away from the stove. You can blend the water and sugar in a blender until they reach solution and simply let the cinnamon sit overnight if you can wait that long. Cooking cinnamon sticks in a syrup tends to make your drinks taste like Big Red, which turns away from the subtlety they can lend to a complex cocktail like the Bow & Arrow.

Scott’s original presentation included a mist of cinnamon tincture lit on fire from a pump stray. You could make your own by floating a cinnamon stick in some 151-proof rum like LemonHart (go ahead and start it at the same time as your cinnamon syrup and you should be good) and then straining into a mister—the kind you’d spray a perfume out of. Channel your inner Teague by lighting a match and spraying a blast through the flame (carefully!) over the top of the cocktail for extra dramatic finishing move. If you’re not feeling flashy or in the mood for flamed cinnamon, the bar chef himself recommends garnishing the drink with an alternate “moment of silence.” —Al Sotack

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