5 green cocktails in honor of St. Patrick’s Day By Justin Kennedy

Green beer is easy. Just a little food coloring and voila. However,these are some really good cocktails from nypost.com. Enjoy.

Forget the green beer and celebrate St. Patrick's Day with these exotic emerald cocktails.Photo: Astrid Stawiarz/NY Post

Partying on St. Patrick’s Day doesn’t have to mean swilling astringent Irish whiskey or cheaply dyed suds. Instead, use the holiday as an excuse to explore some unusual green concoctions: Think herbaceous gin and cucumber or tequila with celery juice. These five emerald cocktails created by some of the city’s best bartenders are boozy gems well worth raising a glass to. Sláinte!

The Close Haul

The Drink bartender Allie Zempel goes green with a cucumber juice cocktail called the Close Haul.Photo: Astrid Stawiar

$5 at The Drink, 228 Manhattan Ave., Williamsburg; 718-782-8463
This festive punch is a perfect beverage to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a crowd; the Drink serves it both by the glass and by the bowl for groups to share. The bar’s Frank Cisneros says that Damrak gin has pleasantly sweet notes of honeysuckle that go well with chamomile and cucumber, while Meyer lemon bitters make the whole drink “pop.”

Recipe: Combine 10 ounces of Damrak gin, 7 ¹/₂ ounces of cucumber juice, 5 ounces of lemon juice, 5 ounces of chamomile syrup* and 1 bar spoon of Meyer lemon bitters in a decorative bowl. Add large ice cubes, stir and garnish with lemon slices. Serves 4. *For chamomile syrup, brew 1 cup of strong chamomile tea and combine with 1 cup of superfine sugar. Allow sugar to dissolve and cool before mixing with other ingredients.

Tipple trivia: The Drink has a nautical theme and most of the owners are sailors. The Close Haul’s name refers to a speedy configuration in sailing. “Hopefully, it reminds you of a breezy day by the seashore,” Cisneros says.

Salty Monk

Freemans’ Yana Volfson mixes it up with tequila and celery juice.Photo: Astrid Stawiarz

$13 at Freemans, 191 Chrystie St., #2F; 212-420-0012. This springy cocktail combines savory celery juice and refreshing citrus with the herbaceous sweetness of yellow Chartreuse. “It’s a cheery riff on some flavor profiles that tickle my palate,” says Freemans beverage director Yana Volfson.

Recipe: Combine 1 ¹/₂ ounces tequila blanco, ¹/₄ ounce yellow Chartreuse, ¹/₄ ounce simple syrup, ¹/₂ ounce lime juice and ³/₄ ounce of celery juice in a tin canister and shake hard. Serve up in a cocktail coupe with a lightly salted rim. Makes one cocktail.

Tipple trivia: Like the more common green Chartreuse, yellow Chartreuse is made with 130 varieties of herbs, plants and flowers. It clocks in at just 86 proof though — compared to 110 for the green stuff — and is marked with distinct notes of citrus, honey, saffron and licorice.

The Green Dragon

Poteen, a special unaged Irish whiskey, is new to the US.
Photo: Anne Wermiel

$14 at The Dead Rabbit, 30 Water St.; 646-422-7906
Cocktail star Jack McGarry’s take on a traditional tiki swizzle showcases poteen, a type of unaged Irish whiskey that’s only recently become available in the US. “We wanted to really show off its versatility,” says Dead Rabbit bartender Pam Wiznitzer.

Recipe: Combine 2 ounces poteen, ¹/₄ ounce anisette, ¹/₄ ounce absinthe, 1 ounce lime juice, ³/₄ ounce pistachio syrup and 3 dashes of bay leaf tincture in a shaker. Shake and strain into a chilled highball glass filled with ice. Top with DRY cucumber soda and grated nutmeg. Makes one cocktail.

Tipple trivia: The Dead Rabbits were a mid-19th century New York City gang lead by roustabout Irishman John Morrissey. Born in Tipperary, Ireland, in 1831, Morrissey immigrated to New York with his parents when he was 18. The Dead Rabbits’ name derives from the Anglicized Irish word “raibead,” which was slang for a “big, hulking fellow.”

The Last Word

Joaquin Simó prepares The Last Word at Pouring Ribbons. Photo: Anne Wermiel

$14 at Pouring Ribbons, 225 Avenue B; 917-656-6788
Ordering this drink was once a sort of secret handshake within the cocktail industry. “If you ordered it at a bar, it flagged you as a sophisticated drinker,” says Pouring Ribbons barkeep Joaquin Simó. In recent years, the powerful cocktail has gone more mainstream and is now something of a modern classic.

Recipe: Combine ³/₄ ounce each of London dry gin, fresh lime juice, Green Chartreuse and Luxardo Maraschino liqueur in a mixing tin. Fill with ice, and shake vigorously until very cold. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Makes one cocktail.

Tipple trivia: Pouring Ribbons has the most extensive selection of vintage Chartreuse in the country, with bottles dating back more than 70 years. They even offer Chartreuse flights, a chance to taste different vintages side by side.

Pour Vida

Go for smoke with a mezcal cocktail.
Photo: Astrid Stawiarz

$14 at Raines Law Room, 48 W. 17th St.; no phone
Head bartender Meaghan Dorman says this house creation provides a clean, citrus-driven backdrop for earthy mezcal, tequila’s smoky cousin and currently all the rage with American mixologists. According to Dorman, it’s a great cocktail for special occasions like St. Patrick’s Day because of its unusual flavor profile.

Recipe: Combine ³/₄ ounce each of lime juice, Del Maguey Vida mezcal, Cointreau and Bénédictine (an herbal French liqueur) in a shaker with grapefruit peel. Shake. Serve up in a coupe. Makes one cocktail.

Tipple trivia: Mezcal is available at most boutique wine and spirits stores, but if you can’t find it — or don’t have it handy — you can substitute tequila.

http://nypost.com/2014/03/13/5-green-cocktails-st-patricks-day/

Happy St Patrick’s Day everybody!!! Drink some green beer and have some corned beef, cabbage and potatoes for me. #2014SaintPattiesDay

A Simple Corned Beef & Cabbage Recipe

By JULIEVR from babble.com

Corned beef and cabbage is a pretty traditional St. Patrick’s Day meal – and a perfect midwinter feast, when there’s not much in season yet but there are still potatoes and carrots in cool storage. I had been noticing corned beef brisket in the meat section of the grocery store for years, idly thinking it would be something my Ukrainian (and carnivorously salt-loving) husband would like, but not really knowing what to do with it. It turned out to be brilliant for the slow cooker – all I did was upend the package into the pot, cover it with water, and set it for 6 hours. At that point we pulled the brisket out of its broth and set it aside, added some baby potatoes, chunked carrots and wedges of cabbage to the broth – this is also called New England Boiled Dinner – and cranked the slow cooker up to high to cook them. Alternatively you could cook the brisket on the stovetop, or pour the broth into a pot and do the same thing – you wind up with these fantastically salty, seasoned veg to go with the meat.

Corned Beef & Cabbage

2-3 lb corned beef brisket
4 large or 10 new potatoes, thin skinned, quartered if large
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 small head cabbage, cut into small wedges

Place corned beef in large pot or Dutch oven and cover with water. Cover pot and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 45 minutes per pound, or until tender. Alternatively, do the same on low in a slow cooker for 6-8 hours.

Add potatoes and carrots and cook until the vegetables are almost tender; add cabbage and cook for 10 more minutes, until everything is tender. (If you’re using a slow cooker, remove the meat and let it rest; add the vegetables to the broth, turn it up to high and cook for 20-30 minutes, until the veg are tender.) Pull the meat apart with forks or slice it across the grain; serve with the vegetables, covered in broth. Serves 8.

http://www.babble.com/best-recipes/a-simple-corned-beef-cabbage-recipe/