Sláinte: three cocktails to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day
What better way to celebrate than with two legendary Irish alcohols?
Happy Saint Patrick's Day to those who celebrate!
With my Irish roots, I’m definitely enjoying corned beef and cabbage, Irish soda bread and green bagels (a family tradition we’ve started with our daughter, Lily) this weekend.
Am I forgetting anything on the menu? Oh yeah. Guinness and Jameson.
I hope that you too will be enjoying some Guinness this weekend. You might even have leftover—or, heaven forbid, a half-drank—can of Guinness, by the end of the weekend.
Let’s plan ahead… set a can aside. Why? This is a cocktail newsletter after all. Let’s turn the Guinness into a syrup to mix in some drinks.
Trust me, it’s amazing. And really simple to prepare.
Guinness Syrup
Combine 2 cups of room-temperature (and settled) Guinness and 2 cups Demerara sugar in a saucepan on the stove over low heat.
Stir constantly until the sugar dissolves—usually 5–7 minutes.
Important: Make sure you don’t cook the beer or boil it. You’re simply bringing in some heat to get the sugar to dissolve, nothing more.
Take off the stove and let cool. Use a funnel to pour the syrup into an airtight jar or bottle and refrigerate.
This syrup, refrigerated after each use, should last you about 3–4 weeks, but make sure to check for mold.
If you’re not looking to make a ton of syrup, that’s totally fine. Just make sure your measurements are equal parts Guinness and Demarara sugar.
Three essential Irish whiskey cocktails
Once you’ve prepared that delicious syrup, it’s time to level-up your celebrations with some cocktails.
Here are three cocktails—two Little Libations originals, and one from The Dead Rabbit—for you to try your hand at:
As you’d imagine, Irish whiskey is the star of the show this week. But even if you’re not the biggest fan of the spirit, I can almost guarantee that these three recipes will turn you into one.
Other than the whiskey, you’ll need two other bottles to make these cocktails: applejack (or apple Brandy) and blended Scotch whisky.
Ideally, you’ll also have two different bitters on hand: mole and Angostura.
Bitters, in general, are a great investment for your bar and they last forever, so it's worth stocking your bar with them now.
OK. Let’s get mixing.
Duck Boots
Casey Cavanagh | Little Libations, Virginia
If it’s still pretty cold out where you are but you’re craving something with a little bit of citrus, yet still pretty hearty, this drink is for you. Duck Boots is a riff on a classic whiskey sour with a combination of flavors. The egg white really brings some body and I love how the Guinness syrup shines.
Ingredients
1 ½ oz. applejack
½ oz. Irish whiskey
½ oz. Guinness Syrup
¼ oz. blended Scotch whisky
¼ oz. lemon juice
4 dashes mole or chocolate bitters
1 egg white1
Garnish: lemon peel
Directions
Dry shake all ingredients
Add ice and shake again
Strain into a chilled coupe glass
Drop the bitters on top of the foam
Garnish with a lemon peel
The Auld Fashioned
Casey Cavanagh | Little Libations, Virginia
You may have guessed it already by the name: The Auld Fashioned is a dead-simple Old Fashioned riff. That simplicity, with a slight modification, is what makes it work so well. By substituting the usual 1:1 simple syrup with Guinness Syrup, you get a completely different drink, which is an awesome and easy way to elevate your Old Fashioned experience.
Ingredients
2 oz. Irish whiskey
½ oz. Guinness syrup
2 dashes Angostura bitters
orange peel (garnish)
Directions
Add all ingredients to a mixing glass.
Add ice and stir until chilled.
Strain into a rocks glass over a large ice cube.
Garnish with an orange peel (preferably flamed2).
Dead Rabbit’s Irish Coffee
Jack McGarry & Sean Muldoon | The Dead Rabbit, New York City
No Saint Patrick’s Day celebration is complete without an Irish coffee. My hot take is that this is a far superior drink to an Espresso Martini (more on that in another post). This is one of the few hot drinks that I’ll have year-round.
Other than the swapping of Guinness syrup, this is the tried-and-true recipe of the greats at FiDi’s The Dead Rabbit. I would be remiss if I didn’t include them in a Saint Patrick’s Day newsletter because The Dead Rabbit is legendary in the industry from a cocktail perspective but still manages to make their spot feel like a local Irish pub.
Ingredients
1 ½ oz. Irish whiskey
4 oz. hot filtered coffee
½ oz. Guinness syrup
1 oz. whipped heavy cream
freshly grated nutmeg (garnish)
Directions
Add all the ingredients to an Irish coffee glass3.
Float an inch of whipped cream on top.
Grate some fresh nutmeg over the drink
There you have it, folks—three drinks for the Saint Patrick’s Day weekend.
I’d love it if you’d leave a comment on this post with what you think of the recipes if you try them out.
Get creative with the syrup, too. Anything that has a simple syrup in the recipe can be paired with it. I would lean on darker spirits like whiskeys and rums, but you do you. Go wild.
DM or tag me in a photo of it on Instagram if you make something awesome. I’d love to check out what you’ve mixed.
Slainte! Cheers! I’ll see you next Thursday.
Casey
An egg white substitution: If you’re vegan or would prefer not to use egg whites in your cocktail, you can substitute for Aquafaba, which is the liquid from canned chickpeas. The simple conversion is 1 egg white = 2 tbsp. Aquafaba.
On flaming an orange peel: If you’re unsure of how to flame an orange peel, check out this video from Cocktail Chemistry. It’s pretty easy to pick up but may take a few tries.
On Irish coffee glassware: The Dead Rabbit crew is adamant that you should serve the drink in a proper Irish coffee glass, but use what you have—a coffee mug will work just fine in a pinch.