The Best St. Patrick’s Day Cocktails

Haley’s Comet

Created by: Jack McGarry

Ingredients:1.5 oz Knappogue Castle 12 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey.75 oz Lillet Rose.5 oz Creme de Framboise (Esprit du Vin)1 tsp Campari 1 tsp Vanilla syrup*

Glass: Coupe

Garnish: Orange twist

Directions:Add all ingredients to a mixing glass and fill with ice. Stir and strain into a chilled coupe glass.

Vanilla Syrup*

Ingredients: 1 Tahitian vanilla bean, split down the middle and cut into quarters1 cup Water1 cup White sugar

Directions:Add all ingredients to a pot and simmer over medium heat. Stir continuously until the sugar is dissolved. Let the mixture come to a rolling boil then remove from heat. Let cool and sit overnight before straining off vanilla beans with a chinois or cheesecloth.

“We looked at the Hanky Panky (gin, sweet vermouth, fernet) & Don’t Sink The Ship (gin, sweet vermouth, fernet & curaçao) when riffing on this. I wanted to showcase the malty notes that dominate Knappogue 12 Year Old Single Malt and offset that with a fruit and bitter note. So we added fruit liqueurs and Campari as the bittering agent. A lovely malty styled Manhattan with all the flavors of Spring.”

Joan of Arc

Created by Jack McGarry

Ingredients:1.5 oz Chamomile Infused Clontarf Irish Whiskey* .5 oz Celtic Honey Liqueur.5 oz Lemon juice.25 oz Cucumber juice .75 oz Rich honey syrup (2 parts honey, 1 part water)2 oz Champagne

Glass: Flute

Directions:Add the ingredients, not including the Champagne, to a shaker and fill with ice. Shake and strain into a flute and top with Champagne.

Chamomile Infused Clontarf Irish Whiskey*

Ingredients:1L Clontarf Irish whiskey10g Chamomile flowers

Directions:Add the chamomile flowers and the whiskey to an empty container. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Strain into a bottle and store at room temperature.

“One of my favorite drinks during the time I was working at Milk & Honey in London was a Rum Honey Sour finished with Champagne. So simple but so sophisticated. I wanted to reintroduce that style of drink with a more fragrant angle to it. So we’ve worked in an infused Chamomile Irish Whiskey, with Celtic Honey Liqueur, honey syrup and a touch of cucumber to bring it in a slightly different direction.”

Fighter Pilot

Created by: Jack McGarry

Ingredients:2 oz Boru Irish Vodka.75 oz Fresh lime juice.75 oz Sugar snap pea cane syrup*2 oz Ginger beer

Glass: Highball

Directions:Add all ingredients, not including the ginger beer, to a shaker and fill with ice. Shake and strain into an ice filled glass. Top with ginger beer.

Sugar Snap Pea Cane Syrup*

Ingredients: 125g Sugar snap peas.5L Rich cane syrup*

Directions:Add the sugar snap peas and the rich cane syrup to a blender and blend for 1 minute. Strain through chinois or cheesecloth and bottle. The syrup should be stored in the refrigerator.

Rich Cane Syrup*

Ingredients:2 parts Organic Pure Cane Sugar (Organic Evaporated Cane Juice)1 part Filtered water

Directions:Add both ingredients to a pot and continuously whisk over high heat until mixture comes to a boil. Set aside and let cool.

“Coming into the spring season, I thought it would be great to focus on the prerequisite flavors of spring and one of those flavors is peas. Doing some flavor pairing research, I’ve seen peas & ginger work quite well and I thought utilizing that pairing in a simple Moscow Mule riff would be accessible and delicious. The Boru here just adds a nice backbone allowing the other flavors to flourish.”

Ventriloquist

Created by: Jack McGarry

Ingredients:1 oz Clontarf Irish Whiskey.75 oz Brady’s Irish Cream Liqueur.75 oz Crème de Cacao.5 oz Half and Half1 tsp Ancho Reyes (red)

Glass: Coupe

Garnish: Grated nutmeg

Directions:Add all ingredients to a mixing glass and fill with ice. Stir and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a dusting of grated nutmeg.

“I recently had a chocolate and chili chocolate bar and I absolutely loved it. I really dug the flavor match and I thought it would be great if worked into the right type of drink. When working on a Brady’s Irish Cream drink, I thought this flavor pairing would work really well in the frame of a Brandy Alexander variant. So instead of brandy we went with Irish whiskey with Brady’s and obviously chocolate and chili. We added a bit of half ‘n half just to take the edge off the viscosity. A lovely after-dinner drink.”

Emerald Old Fashioned

Created by: Joaquín Simó

Ingredients: 2 oz Knappogue Castle 12 Year Old Single Malt Irish Whiskey1 tsp Honey syrup (2 parts wildflower honey, 1 part water)1 tsp Green Chartreuse1 tsp Dolin Genepy Des Alpes

Glass: Rocks

Garnish: Mint sprig

Directions:Add all the ingredients to a rocks glass and fill with ice. Stir and garnish with a mint sprig.

“The Emerald Old Fashioned is my attempt to bring civility and deliciousness back to a holiday desecrated with green beer and disrespectfully named shots. Knappogue 12 year’s fruit and spice notes serve as a rich base to layer upon whispers of herbal complexity and lashes of floral honey. The whiskey remains front and center in the elegant ode to the original cocktail, with only a refreshing sprig of mint to add brightness to the nose and eye while echoing the alpine herbs and modifiers.”

She-lei-lei

Created by: Joaquín Simó

Ingredients:2 oz Knappogue Castle 12 Year Single Malt Irish Whiskey3 oz Vita Coco Coconut Water.5 oz Rich cane sugar syrup (2 parts sugar to 1 part water).25 tsp Matcha tea

Glass: Rocks

Garnish: Grated cinnamon and a cinnamon stick

Directions:Add all the ingredients to a shaker (add the tea last) and shake for 10 seconds without ice. Add ice and shake again. Strain into a rocks glass and fill with fresh ice. Garnish with fresh cinnamon and place a cinnamon stick across the top.

“A light and refreshing cocktail perfectly suited to the long day of drinking that St. Patrick’s Day traditionally implies. The coconut water adds a pleasantly earthy, tropical note that plays beautifully with the honeyed malt notes of the whiskey. The green tea provides a gentle grassiness (and a vivid green tint), with the cane syrup mellowing the tea’s vegtal notes while echoing the soft confectionary spices of Knappogue 12 Year. The grated and inserted cinnamon stick over the top both echoes and contracts with the flavors to come, while also adding a lovely color contrast.”

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