If you look up St. Patrick’s Day drinks, you are likely to find recipes for green beer, day-glow concoctions, and sickly sweet Irish Cream drinks. Where have all of the well-made cocktails for this Irish holiday gone? In an attempt to populate the interwebs with better options (like last year’s coktail) we whipped up this Pot O’ Gold cocktail to incorporate into your classy St. Paddy’s Day celebrations.
As an Irish lass (my great grandmother’s brogue was something of beauty), St. Patrick’s Day has always meant more then hitting the pub for an ungodly number of Irish Car Bombs. We used to get together and make traditional family recipes of corn beef and cabbage with potatoes, soda bread, and Irish Potato Candy (ok, those are more of a Philly Irish tradition, but so good!). Chugging pints at the family dinner was not the most appropriate, so we required more, erm, civilized drinks to sip on while feasting!
As a culture known for their drinking, there are great whiskeys and beer from the Emerald Isle that can be the base for some amazing drinks. Whiskey sours are one of the simplest and most delicious styles of cocktails to make and, if there is anything the Irish are known, for it’s our whiskey. Citrus, whiskey, and some sweetness is all you need to make a tasty tipple. I added in some ginger to a honey syrup here to bring some heat and compliment the bite from Jameson. If there was a rainbow, this would be the pot of gold I would like to see at the end!
Oh, and I forgot to mention: I added a touch of edible gold! Sprinkle some flecks into your drink or paint it onto the glass with a clean paint brush. Can we make St. Patrick’s Day into all-gold-everything day instead of nothing but green and more green??
Pot O’ Gold
- 2 oz Jameson Whiskey or other Irish Whiskey
- 3/4 oz lemon juice
- 3/4 oz ginger honey syrup (recipe below)
- edible gold leaf, garnish
Make the honey ginger syrup. Add all ingredients into a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a glass with large ice cube. Garnish with gold leaf.
Ginger Honey Syrup
- 4 oz ginger
- 1 cup honey
- 1/3 cup water
Add all ingredients into a pot over high heat. Bring to a boil and turn to low to simmer for 10 minutes. Take off the heat and let cool. Strain into a container. Refrigerate for up to month.
Sláinte!
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Original recipe, styling, and photography by Craft + Cocktails for Jojotastic.