IRISH COFFEE MARTINI - An Irish Whiskey and Espresso Cocktail

    What would St. Patrick's Day be without a classic Irish Coffee (Caife Gaelach)? Absolutely nothing! So, I have adapted that wonderful and historical beverage here as a cold version for your St. Patrick's Day happy hour pleasure. If you prefer your Irish Coffee hot simply used hot coffee in place of the cold espresso and serve it up in a mug.
This Irish Coffee Martini is a lovely adaptation of one of my favorite cocktails of all time. I lived in the Bay Area for several decades and was lucky enough to have enjoyed the original, hot version of Irish Coffee many times at The Buena Vista Cafe in San Francisco - where the original owner, Jack Koeppler, made this cocktail famous!
There's a fascinating history behind Irish Coffee at The Buena Vista's website - yes, that lovely pub is still there at Hyde and Beach on Fisherman's Wharf and I encourage you to drop in and enjoy one of their famous Irish Coffees if you're ever in San Francisco!
The IRISH COFFEE Martini
INGREDIENTS: 1 Oz. Irish Whiskey
1 Tsp. Sugar
1 Oz.Chilled Espresso
1 Oz. Heavy Cream
Whipped Cream
Garnish: Whipped Cream, Green Sprinkles, Shaved Chocolate Curls
Tools: Cocktail Shaker
Glass: Cocktail (Martini)
DIRECTIONS
Chill your martini glass in the freezer.  Pour the sugar and whiskey into your martini shaker before the ice, mix well to dissolve the sugar, then add about 1 cup of ice cubes, the chilled espresso and the heavy cream and shake until your shaker frosts over. Pour this into your chilled martini glass, top off with your green whipped cream, add your sprinkles and chocolate curls, then serve.
Prefer yours hot? Authentic Irish Coffee
National Irish Coffee Day is celebrated every January 25th.
A good friend is like a four leaf clover,
hard to find and lucky to have! ~ Olde Irish Saying
Updated 1-2019 PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

The ABSINTHE MINDED LEPRECHAUN, A Gin, Basil & Mint Fizz Cocktail

I have a thing for Ramos Fizzes. I love them. I've said that before, but it bears repeating because this is my St Patrick's Day riff on two New Orleans classics, the Ramos Fizz and the Absinthe Frappé. It's really more of a Fizz than a Frappé and there's no orange flower water in the recipe, which kind of defines a Ramos. They were my inspiration because if there's ever a city for celebrating St. Patricks Day, outside of NYC, it's The Big Easy.

I played a LOT fast and loose with the ingredients, well sorta. Just remember I'm not calling this any kind of Ramos or a Frappé and those aren't very Irish names anyway.

TheABSINTHE MINDEDLEPRECHAUNFizz
INGREDIENTS:1-1/2 Oz. Gin1/4 Oz. Absinthe1 Oz. Lemon Juice1 Tbsp. Basil Mint Syrup*1 Oz. of Half & HalfPasteurized Egg White1 Oz. Club SodaIce
Garnish: Fresh Basil and Mint Leaves 
Tools: Blender, Cocktail shaker 
Glass: Collins
DIRECTIONS:Chill your glass.Add all the ingredients except the soda and ice to a blender (yes, this is a dry shake cheat) and blend for 25 -30 seconds.Add the ice to the cocktail shaker, transfer the drink from the blender and shake for 30 seconds more to chill.Pour into your Collins glass SIMULTANEOUSLY with the soda.Garnish, add a straw and serve.
*Here's a great recipe for Basil Mint Syrup.  I cut it in half and used equal amounts sugar and water for a slightly thicker syrup.
Voiceover Video with Ingredients & Directions:

CAUTION: Have too many and your cat might sneak a sip while you're busy doing other things ...

Updated 3-2022 PLEASE DRINK RESPONSIBLY

The ENCHANTED FAERIE - A Gin & Absinthe Cocktail

Tales of woodland fairies are rampant in Ireland so when I decided to do a green cocktail for St. Patrick's Day the liqueur that came to mind was absinthe. Often referred to as the Green Fairy, Absinthe is an herbal liqueur with a strong presence of licorice flavor and it goes very well with a nice botanical gin and fresh lemons. It makes a pretty soft green cocktail as well. Exactly the color of fairies wings.

This is a decidedly herbal drink, with lovely lemon notes, a touch of woodsy floral from the lavender and a soft sweetness from Honey Ridge Farm's Honey Créme Lemon, and it's beautiful as well.

The

ENCHANTED FAERIE

Cocktail

INGREDIENTS:

2 Oz. Hendrick's Gin

1/4 Oz. Fresh Lemon Juice

1/4 Oz. Lime Juice

1/4 Oz. Pernod Absinthe

1-1/2 Tbsp. Honey Lemon Creme Syrup*

2 Tablespoons Pasteurized Egg White

2 Dashes Scrappy's Lavender Bitters

Ice

Garnish: Lemon Twist, Lime Twist

Tools: Cocktail Shaker

Glass: Coupe

DIRECTIONS:

*Prepare the Honey Créme Lemon Syrup by combining a tablespoon of water with a tablespoon of Honey Ridge Farms Honey Créme Lemon. (Trust me, you WANT this honey!) Nuke this for 15 seconds and let cool.

Chill your glass in the freezer.

Add the gin, lemon juice, lime juice, lemon honey syrup, absinthe and egg white to a cocktail shaker. Cover and vigorously dry shake the ingredients for 30 seconds to a minute to emulsify and build the foam.

Add the ice to your cocktail shaker then shake vigorously again until chilled.

(You can cheat here and use a blender to dry shake, then transfer to an ice filled cocktail shaker to chill.)

Strain into the chilled glass, tap on the lavender bitters, express the lemon twist over the top, garnish and serve.

Voiceover Video with Ingredients & Instructions:

Watch out for cat enchantment, cats are mesmerized by fairies!

Updated 3-17-2022

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The LUCKY CHARM - A Spinach and Cucumber Cocktail

The big cocktail challenge for Saint Patrick's Day is creating a naturally green cocktail. Without using the artificially colored green liqueurs like green creme de menthe, Midori or apple puckers you have to think outside the box a little bit. So I went with what is naturally green in nature, green vegetables and fruits. Then I added booze!
Not only is this cocktail green, it's refreshingly delicious and healthy!
The LUCKY CHARM Cocktail
INGREDIENTS: 1-1/2 Oz. Crystal Head Vodka  1 Oz. Spinach Juice 2 Oz Cucumber Juice 1 - 2 Tbsp. Honey Créme Lavender Syrup 2 Tsp. Fresh Lime Juice 2 Dashes Frape & Sons Arugula Bitters Ice
Garnish: Cucumber peels, Lime wheel, Spinach leaf
Tools: Juicer, Cocktail shaker, Strainer
Glass: Old Fashioned
DIRECTIONS: Juice 5 ounces of spinach to get an ounce of spinach juice. Juice 1/2 a small unpeeled cucumber to get 4 ounces of cucumber juice. Prepare the Honey Créme Lavender Syrup by warming 1 heaping tablespoon of Honey Ridge Farms Honey Créme Lavender Syrup with 1 tablespoon of water for 15 to 20 seconds in the microwave, let cool. Fill the cocktail shaker with ice then add the vodka, spinach juice, cucumber juice, lavender honey syrup and arugula bitters. Shake until chilled then strain into an ice filled glass, garnish and serve.
Tips: I didn't bother to clean the juicer after doing the spinach because I wanted all that green color. Besides the two juices were going to be mixed together in a few seconds anyway. I live out in the country so I take the pulp from the juicer that's left over and I feed it to the bunnies outside. They love it.
By the way, Bailey is turning into a very respectable happy hour wing man:

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BLACKBERRY MOJITO COCKTAIL RECIPE

What do you do when you have fresh blackberries you need to use? Yeah, eating them is good, making a blackberry mojito is better.
BLACKBERRY MOJITO
INGREDIENTS : 2 Oz. Gubba Silver Rum 12 Blackberries  12 Large Spearmint Leaves 1 Tbsp. Honey Creme Lemon Syrup* 1 Lime, Quartered Club Soda Crushed Ice
Garnish: Mint Leaves, Fresh Blackberries, Lime Quarters
Tools: Muddler, Straw
Glass: Collins or Pint
DIRECTIONS: Place the blackberry, 4 lime quarters and the lemon honey cream syrup in the bottom of the glass and muddle to release the juices. Add the mint leaves and give them a light muddle, do press too hard or you'll release the bitterness of the herb. Fill the glass with crushed ice, add the rum then top off with soda. Garnish and serve with a straw.
* Honey Créme Lemon Syrup: Thin 1 tablespoon of Honey Ridge Farms Honey Créme Lemon with hot tap water until you get a syrup consistency. 

Updated 4-2025
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DRUNKEN OREO TRUFFLE COCKTAIL

I've done an Oreo Inspired cocktail before, but it's been a while so I decided to revisit and revamp a bit. Back in those days I was heavily into flavored vodkas and used vanilla vodka with creme de cacao. This time I thought it might be fun to try with bourbon and a favorite coffee liqueur. I was also a little inspired by the Drunken Oreo Truffles I'd made a few months back.
I added a dash of sea salt and a some chocolate bitters to tone down the sweetness. These also give the cocktail additional depth of flavor.

The DRUNKEN OREO TRUFFLE Cocktail
INGREDIENTS: 1/2 Oz. Four Roses Bourbon 1 Oz. Caffè Borghetti Coffee Liqueur 1 Oz. Dark Crème de Cacao 1 Oz Heavy Cream Dash of Scrappy's Chocolate Bitters Pinch of Sea Salt
Garnish: Equal parts dark cocoa powder and espresso powder for rim, whipped cream, Drunken Oreo Truffle stuffed Oreo cookie. Optional: Extra chocolate pieces of the Oreo cookies minus the cream centers sprinkled on the whipped cream.
Tools: 2 small plates for rimming, cocktail shaker
Glass: Cocktail
DIRECTIONS: Prepare the Drunken Oreo Truffles mixture from my recipe link above. Spread this on scraped off Oreo cookies then sandwich them back together. Dip half the rim of your glass in some of the coffee liqueur, then into the cocoa and espresso powder mixture. Chill glass in the freezer. Add all the ingredients to a cocktail shaker filled with ice and shake until chilled. Strain into your chilled glass, top with some whipped cream, dust on some of the crumbled Oreo cookies and slide a Drunken Oreo Truffle stuffed Oreo cookie onto the rim. Serve and enjoy.
Voiceover Video with Ingredients & Directions:

The great thing about this cocktail recipe?  You have all that great Drunken Oreo Truffle mixture left over to make truffles with.

Updated 3-2022

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KAHLUA COCKTAILS

Below are some wonderful ways for you to enjoy Kahlua including my recipe for making your own homemade Kahlua and my signature recipe for the White Russian.

KAHLUA

COCKTAILS 

BLACK COW MOO-TINI

CAPPUCCINO MARTINI

CHOCOLATE  MARTINI

COLORADO BULLDOG

DRUNK RUSSIANS

EARTHQUAKE-A-TINI

ESPRESSO MARTINI

Han Solo Has a Rocket in His Pocket Shooter 

MISSISSIPPI MUD PIE MARTINI

MOCHA ESPRESSO EDIBLE COCKTAIL

NOT SO WHITE RUSSIAN

WHITE RUSSIAN

Homemade Kahlua Style Coffee Liqueur Recipe

Kahlua Chili Chocolate Cupcakes 

White Russian Truffles with Espresso Caviar

And, of course, many of my

COFFEE and ESPRESSO COCKTAILS

that call for coffee liqueur are perfect for using your Kahlua.

National Kahlua Day is February 27th.

Updated 2-2022

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