14 Deliciously Green Cocktails To Sip On St. Patrick's Day

Ever wonder why we drink green beverages on a certain day in March? What started as a Catholic religious observance, the feast day of St. Patrick, has evolved over the centuries to become a rollicking holiday full of revelry and cheer. For Catholics, it's a welcome break from the austerity of Lent. For folks of Irish descent, it's a chance to celebrate their heritage. For everyone else, it's a day to let loose and enjoy beverages one might not normally drink, many of them colored various shades of green.

Green is the color of shamrocks and much of the lush, verdant landscape of Ireland, but its association with St. Patrick's Day has more to do with Irish history. In the late 18th century, green became the color of the Irish Rebellion, and wearing it symbolized resistance, pride, and freedom. The color's significance lasts to this day. Green clothing, green decorations, and, of course, green drinks all tie back to Ireland's independent spirit.

Many St. Patrick's Day drinks that you might come across are just the usual beverages dolled up with a few drops of green food coloring. But there are plenty of cocktails that come in vibrant shades of green thanks to their ingredients, like fresh green herbs, liqueurs such as Midori and Chartreuse, or even avocados. Try one of these green cocktails and raise a toast to Ireland.

The classic gimlet, a three-ingredient cocktail made from gin, lime, and sugar, has a long and fascinating history. In an attempt to ward off scurvy, the British Navy began requiring ships to have a supply of lime juice on board starting in 1867. In order to keep the juice from spoiling, it had to be preserved with alcohol or sugar, and the sugar-lime mixture became the product that's still a bar staple to this day, Rose's Lime Cordial. Naval officers, whose spirit of choice was usually gin, combined it with the cordial, and the gimlet was born.

Because the gimlet is such a simple, elegant cocktail, it's conducive to all kinds of flavor variations, one of which is the cucumber gimlet. Cucumber and lime create a refreshing combination, and both meld well with the bright, herbal aromatics of gin. Both the lime and cucumber give this drink a gentle light green tone, making the cucumber gimlet a sophisticated cocktail to enjoy on St. Patrick's Day.

Cocktails might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of avocados, but the fruit's creamy texture and unique, mellow flavor make it an intriguing ingredient to add to drinks. Avocados are a big part of Mexican cooking and have a natural affinity with other ingredients in Mexican cuisine, and that goes for both food and beverages — which is why the avocado is right at home in a margarita.

There are many variations on the classic margarita, but the basic formation consists of tequila, lime juice, and orange liqueur. Salt on the rim is traditional but optional. Blended or frozen margaritas, which came about in the 1950s, are the perfect vehicles for avocados, as the fruit's flesh becomes smooth when pureed, giving the drink a silky, velvety texture and a satisfyingly rich mouthfeel. For a cocktail with even more flavor and bright green color, try this avocado-cilantro frozen margarita.

To make a smash, you need four ingredients: your base spirit, sugar, ice, and a fresh herb. While mint is commonly used as the herb component, fresh basil is also well suited to a smash cocktail and will give your drink a vibrant green hue, perfect for St. Patrick's Day. Basil's robust, peppery flavor matches nicely with gin's herbal character and helps punch up its bright aromas, making the two a formidably flavorful base for a smash.

While citrus may not have been a traditional ingredient in the smashes of olden times, it's a common addition these days. Either fresh-squeezed lemon juice or muddled wedges of lemon are great options — if you opt for the wedges, you'll get the aromatic oils from the lemon rind in addition to the brightness from the juice. The creator of the Gin Basil Smash, Jörg Meyer, recommends muddling the basil to get the most intense color from the leaves. Try this Gin Basil variation, which uses honey as its sweetening component and adds fresh cucumber to the mix.

The Grasshopper is part of New Orleans' distinguished cocktail history. The three-ingredient drink was reportedly invented right before Prohibition by restaurateur Philibert Guichet, and it survived the nation's dry years and grew in popularity around the U.S. in the following decades. Rich, sweet, and dazzlingly bright green, the Grasshopper is a dessert, drink, and visual showstopper all in one.

Because it incorporates so few ingredients, each element of the Grasshopper must be top quality for the drink to be a success. The first is heavy cream — make sure you're using a good brand and that it's fresh. Crème de cacao and crème de menthe, the two main flavoring ingredients, can be either store bought or homemade, although you'll need to plan ahead if you're going the DIY route. Homemade crème de menthe takes at least 24 hours, and crème de cacao requires a few weeks to infuse. If using store-bought liqueurs, make sure you get white crème de cacao and green crème de menthe to give the drink its signature glowing green color.

Bright, zesty, and effervescent, the mojito first appeared in a Cuban cocktail book in 1927. The classic recipe is still made the same way: muddled mint, sugar, lime, rum, and ice, topped with soda water. Nothing hits quite like a mojito when you want a lively, refreshing drink to sip on, and there are countless variations on the classic to keep things interesting. One of the most intriguing riffs is the mojito Nihongo, which takes the Cuban creation on a flavor journey to Japan.

The Nihongo swaps out rum for sake, which is Japanese wine made from fermented rice. This substitution makes the Nihongo variation much lower in alcohol content than the traditional rum-based mojito, a bonus when drinking on occasions like St. Patrick's Day. The featured herb in this drink, shiso, is a relative of mint which shares some of its flavor but has a complex character all its own that adds a unique dimension to the cocktail.

The Last Word is a cocktail that has existed since the days of Prohibition. A four-ingredient cocktail, this classic consists of equal parts gin, maraschino liqueur, and the two ingredients that give it its green hue: lime juice and green Chartreuse. Created by French monks in the 18th century, Chartreuse is a mysterious herbal liqueur with a very secret recipe, known only to two monks at a time, who pass it down to their successors. Thus, Chartreuse has never been truly copied and is an exceptionally rare and precious ingredient.

If you're making a Last Word at home, make sure you get your hands on the green variety of Chartreuse — its sweeter counterpart, yellow Chartreuse, is also delicious but has a very different flavor profile and is not as intense. Green Chartreuse brings just the right spicy, herbaceous, punchy flavors to balance the other ingredients and provides the drink with its luminous green shade.

The Irish Julep may not be as green in color as many of the other cocktails featured here, but its Irish pedigree certainly makes it an appropriate drink to enjoy during St. Patrick's Day festivities. While the mint julep, best known as the official Kentucky Derby tipple, is made with bourbon as its base, the Irish julep swaps that American spirit out for Irish whiskey. Mint and crushed ice are crucial ingredients, along with something sweet to round out the cocktail — sugar, simple syrup, or honey are all good options. In this Irish julep recipe, Averna, an amaro from Sicily, provides sweetness as well as warm spice and a bitter finish.

There are lots of techniques that can be used to make a mint julep. Many recipes call for muddling the mint to release its flavor, while others recommend adding the mint whole and shaking it with the rest of the cocktail. You can also put all of your ingredients together in the shaker and chill it ahead of time, which gives the mint a chance to gently imbue the liquid ingredients with its flavor. Whichever technique you use, make sure to garnish your Irish julep with a bright, fresh sprig of mint on top to give it a festive green adornment.

The Negroni is a simple, elegant drink with an air of romance. It's easy to sip on one and imagine yourself sitting in an Italian café overlooking a bustling piazza. Its ingredients balance one another perfectly: strong gin, aromatic vermouth, and bittersweet Campari. These three simple elements give this drink endless possibilities for variations, from the whiskey-based boulevardier to the smoky Oaxaca Negroni. But for St. Patrick's Day, a green Negroni is the obvious choice.

To craft a Negroni with a lucky green tint, you'll start by making a white Negroni and then adding one or two other ingredients for flavor and color. Instead of sweet vermouth, use white or dry vermouth. White, sometimes labeled "blanc" or "bianco," is rounder and sweeter, while dry vermouth is drier and sharper. Then, instead of Campari or another red bitter, you want to use a light bitter liqueur, such as Suze or Salers. This will get you to white Negroni territory.

To go green, you have a few options. Green Chartreuse is a great addition which will bump up the herbal aromatics and flavors while adding its otherworldly green color — just be careful, as a little of this intense liqueur goes a long way. Another option is to add melon liqueur for a sweeter, fruitier cocktail. Or you can add a bit of both.

Iconic San Francisco bartender Marcovaldo Dionysos invented the Chartreuse Swizzle in the early 2000s, and it's become a modern classic. Bursting with herbs, spices, and tropical flavors, this unique drink prominently features green Chartreuse as its main ingredient. It's partnered with falernum, a Caribbean liqueur packed with spicy intensity from ingredients like cloves, allspice, and ginger. Fresh lime and pineapple juice round out this cocktail's ingredients to create a sophisticated tiki-inspired tipple that sports a lemon-lime color, making it a delightfully unconventional St. Patrick's Day libation.

Mastering the swizzle technique is a must if you're making this drink at home. This process, and the style of drink, hail from the Caribbean islands. Crushed ice is needed for this cocktail to work — once the ingredients are added to the glass with the ice, a barspoon or specialized swizzle stick rotating between your palms churns the ingredients in a way that's totally unique from shaking or stirring. Swizzling creates an even dilution and a pleasantly cold cocktail with a frothy texture. The Chartreuse Swizzle is a refreshing delight on any holiday.

The Shamrock Sipper is a mojito-inspired cocktail that's perfect for any St. Patrick's Day festivities. Instead of rum, this drink features cucumber-flavored vodka for a light, refreshing flavor, mixed with muddled fresh mint and lime juice and topped with soda water for a bit of fizz. The bright green color and zesty flavor are sure to invigorate your palate. To give the drink extra visual appeal, carve cucumber slices in the form of shamrocks as a garnish — and a good luck charm — to place on the rim of the glass.

There are many cucumber-flavored vodkas on the market, from major brands like Stolichnaya and Skinnygirl to smaller producers like organic distiller Hanson. If you're planning ahead, you can also create your own cucumber-flavored vodka by making a vodka infusion, which lets you control the quality and flavor of the spirit. Either way, you'll have a bright green refresher to toast to St. Paddy.

If you're looking to spice things up this St. Patrick's Day, look no further than the Luck of the Irish. Imbued with heat from jalapeño peppers and a savory seasoned rim, this margarita-inspired cocktail will bring fiery freshness to your holiday festivities. To make things simple, this recipe calls for pre-made margarita mix.

If you prefer your margaritas from scratch, start with muddled jalapeños and continue making your favorite classic margarita recipe. Depending on your heat tolerance, you can adjust the amount of chiles shaken into the drink, removing the seeds and membranes if you prefer things mellow. For the spiced rim, a mixture of chili powder and sea salt brings another dimension of heat and flavor. Use more salt if you want a subtler intensity, or more chili powder for an extra kick. To blaze things up even more, add some cayenne pepper to the rim mix.

One of the easiest ways to get a bright green color in your cocktails is to include a melon liqueur, such as Midori. Sweet, fruity, and vibrant green with an almost neon glow, melon liqueurs show up in a lot of cocktail recipes, like the Lucky Leprechaun, which mixes Midori with ginger ale and lime juice to give the drink tartness and effervescence. Midori's green shade is so intense that it holds up even when diluted with other ingredients, lending drinks an intense hue that's perfect for St. Patrick's Day.

Melon liqueur can also be made from scratch, although it won't have the same glowing color. The advantage of homemade melon liqueur is that you can use whichever variety or varieties of melons you like best, and you can adjust the sweetness level to your taste. Whichever type of melon liqueur you use, the Lucky Leprechaun is sure to be a hit with lovers of fruit-forward cocktails.

No beverage is quite as festive as a glass of sparkling wine. To create a vibrant green sparkling wine cocktail ideal for St. Patrick's Day, add some fresh kiwi purée to create a Bellini variation that's brimming with fruity, sweet tropical flavor and lively bubbles. A little bit of fresh-squeezed lime or lemon juice can brighten up the flavors to add more dimension. These bright green bubbly cocktails are a great way to start off your holiday festivities with a toast.

Kiwi purée can be purchased, or made by blending fresh kiwis. Passing the fresh purée through a sieve will give your cocktails a light texture and clean elegance, while keeping more pulp in the purée will give you drinks with more mouthfeel and body. Kiwis can sometimes be on the tart side, so the addition of sugar or simple syrup can balance out your flavors. Don't break the bank when choosing the sparkling wine to use for these cocktails — a fruity Prosecco or crisp Cava are great options.

Because of their bright colors and candied flavors, Jell-O shots are sometimes looked down upon by hardcore cocktail enthusiasts. But there's no day like St. Patrick's Day to enjoy the sweet, boozy fun of this college party favorite. Jell-O shots must be made several hours in advance to properly set, so be sure to plan ahead if you're making batches for a party.

Packaged lime Jell-O, Irish whiskey, and boiled water are the only ingredients you need for these treats. If you don't have enough shot glasses for a crowd, small plastic containers are a good option. The brilliant green color of lime Jell-O makes them perfect for St. Patrick's Day, and you can add to their visual appeal by adding fun garnishes, too. Edible gold leaf sprinkled in the Jell-O, or placed around the shot glass rims, adds a festive touch reminiscent of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Or try a topping of whipped cream and orange sprinkles, bringing in all three colors of the Irish flag.

Static Media owns and operates Daily Meal and Tasting Table.