A Pair of Green Cocktails for St. Patrick’s Day

I set out to create a drink for St. Patrick’s Day with the following goals. It’s main ingredient had to be Irish and the final product had to be green. As it turns out, the green part is a bit challenging. I tried Green Chartreuse, but the amount required to turn the drink green became overpowering in the cocktail. I quickly resolved to using Midori melon liqueur or Creme de Menthe. Neither very Irish, but both create great tastes and are better than using food coloring to achieve my goal. After experimenting  with each, I came up with two drinks. One using each ingredient.

I used Bushmill’s Irish Whiskey as my main ingredient. Both drinks are tasty, very different and appropriately perfect for celebrating St. Patty’s Day.

The first one, which I call Irish Thin Mint, has a milky, green texture that comes mainly from the second ingredient in the drink, another Irish product, Irish Cream. The chocolate and mint combine to create a Girl Scout Thin Mint flavored drink that still let’s the Irish Whiskey stand tall. A nice mellow combo.

• 1-1/2 oz of Irish Whiskey (I used Bushmill’s)
• 1 oz Irish Cream (I used Bailey’s)
• 1/2 oz Creme de Menthe

The other drink was a big hit in a not so highly regulated Consumatorium taste study. I call it the Celtic Shamrock. Again, I used Bushmill’s and added Midori and a few dashes of Angostura Bitters. This drink is a bit sweet, but is nicely balanced by the strong taste of the Irish Whisky. The bitters make a big difference in the drink. Try it with another dash of bitters and taste how much the drink changes.

• 1-1/2 oz Irish Whisky (again, Bushmill’s)
• 1-1/2 oz Midori
• 3 dashes Angostura Bitters

Why drink green beer on St. Patrick’s when you can have a great green cocktail? Erin go Bragh!