Irish mixologist reveals three delicious Irish cocktails you can make on St. Patrick’s Day.
Just because you can’t get to the pub to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy St Patrick’s Day in the traditional Irish fashion – with a drink in hand. You can spend the day trying out these delicious Irish cocktail recipes.
An Irish mixologist, The Irish Cocktail Guy, has revealed three delicious Irish cocktails to make this St Patrick’s Day – and we bet you’ll want to try.
So, here are three delicious Irish cocktails to make this St Patrick’s Day.
1. Blackberry Smash – a twist on the classic Bourbon Smash
A twist on the classic Bourbon Smash using Dubliner Irish Whisky.
Dubliner whisky was born in the Liberties Distillery in Dublin and aged in bourbon barrels. Their aim being to create a dram that perfectly captures the warm nature of the capital.
The blackberry smash takes the warmth of the whiskey and adds sweet, refreshing notes to bring it into spring. Perfect for sipping with friends on St Patrick’s Day!
Glass: Short/Rocks
Ingredients:
- 50 ml Dubliner Whiskey
- 25 ml Lemon Juice
- 10 ml Sugar Syrup
- 12 Mint Leaves
- 6 Blackberries
- Crushed Ice
- Cubed Ice
- Ginger Beer
Method:
- Fill the glass halfway with ice
- In a mixing glass, add lemon juice, blackberries, mint, and sugar syrup
- Muddle gently to release the essences and blackberry juice.
- Add whiskey.
- Add cubed ice to the glass and stir to chill and dilute.
- Strain into short glass.
- Top with ginger beer and crushed ice.
Garnish:
- Garnish with a mint sprig and lemon slice.
- Gently slap mint sprig off your palm to release the oils and create a minty experience when drinking.
2. T’apple DEW 2.0 – staple of most pubs in Offaly
Using Tullamore D.E.W and Cloudy Apple juice, you’ll see many people switching from pints to this as a night out progresses or sipping it on a rare hot summers day in Tullamore – and for good reason, too!
Tullamore, with its triple distilled and triple blend, is a smooth Irish whiskey that sets itself apart from its competition.
Trying to redo something that is already a perfect serve is no easy feat, but given that it’s St Patrick’s Day and we’re all stuck at home, I had to give it a go, and I think I might just have done it justice.
Taking advantage of the Caribbean Cask edition, which has all the positives of the original and some Caribbean charm, I knew exactly what I was going to do.
Glass: Short/Rocks
Ingredients:
- 50ml Tullamore D.E.W Caribbean Cask
- 25ml Lime Juice
- 15ml Honey
- 1 Barspoon (Tsp) Brown Sugar
- Cloudy Apple Juice
- Crushed Ice
- Cubed Ice
Method:
- Half fill the glass halfway with crushed ice.
- In a shaker, add everything except the cloudy apple juice.
- Shake with ice for 30 seconds.
- Strain into the glass.
- Top glass with crushed ice and cloudy apple juice.
Garnish:
- Garnish with a slice of lime
3. Mint Irish Coffee – a twist on an Irish classic
For this, we travel to the North to the oldest Licenced Distillery in Ireland: Bushmills!
In particular, using its Black Bush variety, being finished in mainly Oloroso Sherry and some ex-bourbon casks, this is a smooth, sweet, and fruity dram that unexpectedly marries well with the fresh minty flavour of this drink.
Glass: Irish Coffee glass or any coffee cup will do!
Ingredients:
- 25ml Black Bush
- 25ml Double Cream
- 15ml Creme De Menthe
- Conatum Coffee
- 1 Barspoon (tsp) Brown Sugar
Method:
- Prepare a cup of piping hot coffee (instant, pods, cafetiere, or machines is fine).
- Pour coffee into glass and add brown sugar.
- Add Black Bush.
- Stir until sugar is dissolved
- Then in a protein shaker, add cream and Creme De Menthe (most definitely not your standard way of preparing cream but trust me, it gives amazing results. Credit to Mickey from Malones Bar in Glasgow for introducing me to this!)
- Shake 5-10 times as it is really effective!
- Place a spoon facing upwards to the edge of the coffee and slowly pour cream over.
Garnish:
- Garnish with two squares of Dairy Milk Mint Crisp!
Other tools you can use – alternatives to a cocktail kit
If you don’t have a cocktail kit at home, don’t worry, there are a few things you can use instead:
- For a cocktail shaker, you can use a large glass jar or a protein shaker.
- For a barspoon, use a teaspoon
- For a measuring jigger, use a bottle cap or egg cup (just make sure to maintain the approximate ratios)
- For a muddler, you can use a wooden spoon
- For a cocktail strainer, use a protein shaker or glass jars lid to control the flow of the drink and stop any ice from falling out.
- If you don’t have crushed ice and can only get your hands on cubed ice, you can use the side of a hammer to crush ice in the bag or pour it into a wine cooler and use the flat end of a rolling pin.
Follow The Irish Cocktail Guy – for more delicious recipes
Like many Irish teens, The Irish Cocktail Guy started his bartending journey picking up glasses and pulling pints in the family pub. He continued to work in the hospitality industry and learnt the cocktail trade in a bourbon bar in Columbia, South Carolina, while on a J1.
After university, he worked as an engineer in a premium spirits distiller and was even involved in two major new distillery builds, one Scottish Gin and the other Single Malt Whisky.
Having experienced making premium cocktails for high-end customers and working withing the industry, he decided to start his Instagram page, The Irish Cocktail Guy, to educate alcohol fans on the distilling process and share delicious cocktail recipes.
He aims to create Irish cocktail recipes using ingredients that can be picked up in the usual high street supermarkets or online.
In his own words, “Cocktails should be for everyone. There never will be any pretentious cocktail ingredients in my recipes.
“Some of the recipes out there require the maker to climb two hills and swim an ocean to get to an island to pick up some berries, which you’ll need to roast under a full moon to get the perfect syrup. That won’t happen on The Irish Cocktail Guy”.
You can follow The Irish Cocktail Guy for more delicious Irish cocktail recipes on Instagram: @theirishcocktailguy
For cocktail recipe videos, you can subscribe to his YouTube channel.
Sláinte!
@theirishcocktailguy
