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
- 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.