Colour Theme - Green Cocktails

It's become a tradition to drink green beer on St Patrick's Day but if that's not to your taste - and really, why would it be?! - we have loads of cocktails, ranging in colour from palest turquoise to emerald, you can enjoy instead. And we've included a couple of non-alcoholic ones as well, so no-one is left out of the party.

And they don't have to be restricted to once a year! In today's environmentally-friendly age, it's easy to find a reason to have a Green party! So start practising now …

Appletini

• 2 oz vodka
• 1 oz apple schnapps
• 1 oz melon liqueur
• Squeeze lemon juice

Place vodka, schnapps and melon liqueur in an ice-filled shaker. Shake well, then strain into a cocktail glass. Add a squeeze of lemon juice. Garnish with a thin slice of green apple.

• To prevent apple slices turning brown, toss them in lemon juice.

Greentini

• 1 oz gin
• 1 teaspoon crème de menthe (green)
• 2 dashes bitters

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add all the ingredients and shake well. Strain onto ice in a cocktail glass.

Green Swizzle

(From the 1940s)

• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon icing sugar
• soda water
• 2 dashes bitters
• 2 oz white rum
• 1 tablespoon crème de menthe (green)

Squeeze the lime juice into a long glass filled with crushed ice. Add the icing sugar and 2 oz soda water and stir. Add the bitters, rum and crème de menthe. Top up with soda water. Serve with a swizzle stick.

Green Tequila

• 1½ oz tequila
• ¾ oz melon liqueur
• Squeeze of lime
• Lime to garnish

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the tequila, liqueur and a squeeze of lime. Shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a slice of lime.

Mint Frappe

• 1 shot crème de menthe (green)

Fill a cocktail glass with cracked ice cubes. Add crème de menthe and allow the green colour to penetrate the ice before serving.

After Eight

• 2 oz vodka
• 1 oz crème de cacao (white)
• ½ oz crème de menthe (green)
• ½ oz vermouth

Fill a shaker with ice. Add the ingredients and shake well. Strain into a cocktail glass.

• Dip the rim of the glass in crème de cacao and then in cocoa and allow to dry before using.
• For an After 8 shooter, use ½ oz each of vodka, crème de cacao and crème de menthe.

Irish Green

• 2 oz Irish whiskey
• 1 tablespoon crème de menthe (green)
• 1 tablespoon Chartreuse (green)
• Olive for garnish

Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with an olive.

• Olive and whiskey may sound like a strange combination but it works well here.

Green Glacier

• Handful seedless green grapes
• 4 oz white grape juice
• soda water

Freeze the grapes until hard. Put the grape juice and most of the grapes in a blender and whiz until smooth. Pour into a long glass filled with ice cubes. Top up with soda water. Serve garnished with remaining frozen grapes.

Green Goodness

• 2 handfuls spinach
• 1 handful parsley
• 1 stick celery, roughly chopped
• ½ cucumber, roughly chopped
• ½ green apple, roughly chopped
• ½ ripe pear, roughly chopped
• Apple juice

Place all the ingredients in a blender and whiz until smooth. Add apple juice to taste. Serve in a long glass with ice.

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