Drinks Masterclass: St Patrick's Day special edition

In celebration of the occasion on Sunday 17 March, the Morning Advertiser (MA)​ has looked back at serves from the Drink Masterclass​ series and the Top 50 Cocktail Bars​ website that are sure to impress.

This comes as figures from DesignMyNight earlier this week predicted a “bumper weekend”​ for St Patrick’s Day, which also coincides with the Six Nations, with a 42% rise in ticketed events for Sunday.

First up, we have an Irish Coffee recipe from Penny Royal cocktail bar in Cardiff, which is number 48 on the Top 50 Cocktail Bars list.

The venue’s owner, Alexander Taylor, told the MA​ how to create its annual St Patricks day speciality, which costs around £1.60 to make and last year retailed at £8.50 per serve.

Read more about this recipe here​.​

Ingredients: ​​​

• 35ml Single Pot Still Irish Whiskey
• 35ml Cold brew coffee concentrate
• 20ml 'Dosed' Demerera Syrup
• 50ml Oat Cream
• Fresh nutmeg
• Sherry 

Method:​​​

Dosed Demerara syrup mix:​​​
(Can also be used to make an Irish Old-Fashioned)​​

• Make a 2:1 Demerara sugar syrup
• Combine two parts syrup to 1 part oloroso sherry
• Bottle and refrigerate

The cocktail:​​​

• Add hot water to your chosen glass to warm it up
• Separately combine all ingredients except the oat cream
• Once the glass is warm, remove the water and add ingredients
• Add 100ml boiled water from kettle
• Shake oat cream without ice
• Carefully later cream on top using the back of a spoon
• Garnish with a generous grating of fresh nutmeg

For something a little different, try this Guinness Martini recipe from BBC Good Food.

• 25ml dark rum
• 12.5ml cold espresso
• 12.5ml vodka
• 12.5ml crème de cacao
• 50ml stout​

• Pour the rum into a jug with a handful of ice
• Add the remaining ingredients
• Stir with a long spoon until the outside of the jug feels cold
• Strain into a Martini glass and serve

Next, we have a Whiskey Smash cocktail from Homeboy cocktail bar in Islington, London, created by Aaron Wall.

Read more about this recipe here​.

• 40ml Roe & Co Irish Whiskey
• 20ml Noilly Pratt
• 20ml Mint & Greens Syrup
• 3 Dashes Orange Bitters

• Combine all ingredients into a shaker
• Shake
• Use a fine strainer and pour over ice

This cool twist on the classic Manhattan cocktail is from Satan’s Whiskers bar in Bethnal Green, London, which is number 2 on the Top 50 Cocktail bars list.

The serve offers a thicker consistency by freezing the ingredients at a 20:35 room temperature to frozen ratio.

Read more about this recipe here​.

• 55ml bourbon
• 25ml sweet vermouth blend
• 1 dash of Angostura bitters
• Maraschino cherry to garnish

• 20/35 room temperature/frozen (20ml room temperature and 35ml frozen)
• Fill a mixing glass with ice
• Give it a dash of bitters
• Add the vermouth
• Add the bourbon
• Stir for around 30 seconds until
• Garnish with the cherry

Closing our St Patrick’s Day round up, we have a classic Old Fashioned, a simple yet effective serve.

Read more about this recipe here​.

• 50 ml of Whiskey or Bourbon
• 2-3 dashes of angostura bitters
• 1 cube or teaspoon of sugar
• Ice cubes
• 1 orange peel twist to garnish

• Add the sugar and bitters into a chilled glass and stir together until mixed
• Add some of the whisky or bourbon along with a few cubes of ice and stir for 20 seconds
• Repeat this process until you have used all of the whiskey or bourbon
• Serve garnished with a twist of orange peel