St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday when you can wear as much green as you want while enjoying a few rainbows and gold as well. You can turn your food green, and even prepare a few drinks to sip on during the day either by yourself or with a few friends. Here are a few green drink ideas that are fun to look at and drink at the same time. If there’s alcohol in the recipe, you can adjust the amount or leave it out altogether if you don’t want an alcoholic beverage.
Beer Colors
Your ordinary glass of beer probably has a golden color. You can transform your beer into a green drink by adding only a small amount of green food coloring. Start with one or two drops to see what shade you’re going to get as you want it to react well with the color of your beer.
Smoothies
There are a few ways that you can make a green smoothie depending on the ingredients that you like. You can use a variety of fruits including grapes and kiwi as well as cucumbers or peppers if you want a spicy note in your smoothie. Combine the ingredients that you use with yogurt or ice cream and a small amount of honey to balance the flavors that you’ll taste. Spinach and kale work well in smoothies and can deliver a brilliant green color. Top your smoothie with lime or kiwi slices.
Sour Treat
A whiskey sour might be just what you need to perk yourself up after a long day. You can turn this drink into a festive St. Patrick’s Day treat by adding green food coloring, mint, and a lime wedge.
Lucky Charms Shakes
This is a treat that you can make with or without alcohol. Prepare a vanilla milkshake as you normally would but with enough food coloring to turn it green. You can also add a small amount of mint flavor to match the green color. Top the milkshake with whipped cream and the colorful marshmallows from cereal. You can add just about any kind of alcohol that you want to the milkshake, starting with small amounts as the milk can sometimes alter the flavor of the beverage.
Apple Martinis
When you make your favorite martini, add a few Granny Smith apples to the mix. You can puree the apples before adding them to the drink or find the juice of this kind of apple so that your martini has a bright green color. Add an apple slice to the side of your glass to complete this festive drink.
Jello Shots
Who says you have to completely drink your St. Patrick’s Day beverage? You can make green Jell-O in shot glasses, adding your favorite alcohol before the gelatin treat sets. Make the shots colorful for the holiday by putting a small amount of gold leaf on top of them or small mint leaves. This is a treat that you might want to make if you have a party for the holiday. You can also make this kid-friendly by not including alcohol.
Lucky Leprechaun
This is a fun drink that you can make with a variety of types of alcohol as long as they are clear. Tonic water is the base of the beverage as it will make the drink bubbly. Add a small amount of Irish whiskey to the drink for a golden hue. After stirring the drink, the tonic water will usually settle near the top of the glass while the whiskey sits at the bottom, giving you a golden drink. Add a slice of lemon on the side of the glass for an added golden touch.
Irish Shots
Combine mint, alcohol, and green food coloring in shot glasses for an Irish treat. You can top the glasses with chocolate shavings for a sweet note.
Guinness Floats
Combine vanilla ice cream, Guinness, and chocolate together to make a boozy float for St. Patrick’s Day. Top the float with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, drinking the float with a green straw. You can add food coloring to the whipped cream or the ice cream that is in the beverage for a green drink.
Shamrock Sparkles
Enjoy an elegant St. Patrick’s Day beverage by putting green food coloring in a glass of champagne. You’ll have a bubbly drink that can be enjoyed with a candle-light dinner or while you’re relaxing in front of a roaring fire. Add green sugar to the rim of the glass and a hint of watermelon or apple flavoring to the beverage as well if you want a drink with a kick.
Green Tea
This is a drink that can be healthy or that can include a little alcohol. Prepare a glass of green tea before adding the alcohol that you want. If you’re not adding the booze, you can put kiwi slices in the tea and a lime wedge on top of the beverage.
