St. Patrick’s day cocktails. The day when everyone pretends to be (or actually is) slightly Irish.
Now if we’re talking about Irish ingredients what do we have? Irish whiskey obviously, Guinness of course and maybe if we’re stretching a point : potcheen.
Irish whiskey isn’t very common as a cocktail ingredient, mainly due to it’s softness. The thing is that as soon as you add other ingredients, you drown out the whiskey. So what’s the point? Scotch and bourbon feature in a few cocktails, but even they’re not as common as gin, vodka or brandy.
I’ve been working on researching some great Irish whiskey based cocktails. I’ll write about this in a separate article.
Meantime, do you need any more excuses to celebrate, raise a glass and enjoy the craic? Of all the cocktail recipes out there for St. Patrick’s themed cocktails, I found these 2 first;
Everyone’s Irish
2 msrs Jamesons Irish whiskey
1 tbsp of Green Chartreuse
1 tbsp Green creme de menthe
Admittedly this is a full on whiskey based drink. The other 2 ingredients are principally there to provide a bit of colour. However, both the highly minty creme de menthe and the powerful green Chartreuse are big robust flavours so they add flavour and sweetness to the mix.
Prefer something more sparkly?
Our second tip is for something a whole lot gentler : The Avoca Sparkler – a champagne based cocktail (Cava or Prosecco work well as an alternative.)
Avoca Sparkler
15 ml Gin
15 ml Midori
topped up with chilled champagne
Midori is a sweet, melon based liqueur so works well with Gin. This is a fairly light and summery type of flavour being fruity and sparkly in nature.
Why is it called Avoca sparkler? Well for no reason other than I once spent an afternoon in Avoca, and loved the place.
I would also recommend that St Patrick’s day is also a great time to treat yourself to a quality Irish whiskey. Sip and enjoy. Why not try one of the well-regarded single pot still whiskies such as Green Spot or Redbreast? Redbreast 12 year old is the one I have, but Green Spot also has a great reputation.
Sip, enjoy and happy St. Patrick’s Day. Cheers.