9 of the Best Green Cocktails to Drink on St. Patrick’s Day

When we asked Twitter about the best green cocktails, The Last Word was by far the most mentioned drink. It employs Chartreuse, a criminally underused herbal liqueur that is green in color. The combination of the Chartreuse and the gin makes for a bitter yet herbaceous sip, with lime and cherry adding a perfect amount of tartness.

Ingredients:

• 1 oz. Chartreuse
• 1 oz. gin
• 1 oz. maraschino cherry liqueur
• 1 oz. lime juice
• lime wedge
• brandied cherry

Add all liquid ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice, then shake and strain. Garnish with lime and cherry.

Many bartender friends have told me, if you make a margarita correctly it shouldn’t be that green. But the suggestion of the green hue in the liquid itself is enhanced when you garnish with enough limes, so go nuts with those wedges! Any excuse to sip on a margarita is good enough for us.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. tequila
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 1 oz. triple sec
• lime wedges (as many as you like)
• salt (as much as you like)

Add all liquid ingredients to shaker with ice, then shake. Rim a glass with salt and add fresh ice; strain mixture into the glass. Garnish with lime.

The grasshopper, a supper club classic, is the perfect dessert drink to end your day of ingesting green liquids—in fact, this recipe can easily be altered to be blended with some vanilla ice cream to become something of a homemade boozy Shamrock Shake.

Ingredients:

• 1 oz. heavy cream
• 1 oz. crème de menthe
• 1 oz. crème de cacao
• mint leaf

Add all liquid ingredients to shaker with ice, then shake and strain. Garnish with mint.

The traditional gimlet does in fact pass what I will now refer to as the shamrock test, getting its green from one of its only two ingredients: lime juice. But if you want to amp up the green hue and add a layer of refreshing flavor, bring some cucumbers into the mix—elderflower liqueur is a nice complement to that in this particular recipe. An added bonus: You’re sneaking some vegetables (read: much-needed nutrients) into your day of partying.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 oz. gin
• 1 oz. St. Germain
• 1 oz. lime juice
• 2 cucumber slices (more for added garnish)
• lime wedges (as many as you like)

Muddle cucumber slices in the bottom of shaker. Add all liquid ingredients to shaker with ice, then shake and strain. Garnish with lime and/or cucumber.

This tequila drink is for kicking the green up a notch with the help of some jalapeños. But if spice isn’t your thing, worry not—the core of this cocktail is an extremely drinkable, sweet mixture, with a rich honey flavor coming through.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 oz. lime juice
• 3/4 oz. honey syrup
• 2 oz. tequila
• sliced jalapeño
• sparkling water to top off

Add lime juice, honey syrup, and tequila to shaker with ice, then shake and strain over fresh ice. Top off with sparkling water and garnish with as many jalapeños as you like.

The Basil Smash is yet another gin-based green cocktail, this time relying on some herbaceous leaves to bring the desired hue and a strong savory taste. Who knows, maybe those basil leaves can channel the energy of their flora cousins the four-leaf clovers for a little luck mixed in as well.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 oz. lemon juice
• 1 oz. simple syrup
• 2 oz. gin
• 5-10 basil leaves

First add basil leaves to shaker, as many or as few as you like. Add all liquid ingredients to shaker with ice, then shake and strain over fresh ice. Garnish with more basil leaf.

This cocktail may well be the sweetest one on this list, but also one of the prettiest to look at. Midori is a neon green melon liqueur that instantly transforms any other ingredients it mixes with, and here with the pineapple makes for a tropical cocktail.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. Midori
• 1/2 oz. vodka
• 1/2 oz. triple sec
• 1/2 oz. lemon juice
• 1 oz. pineapple juice

Add all liquid ingredients to shaker with ice, then shake and strain over fresh ice.

The caipirinha (the national cocktail of Brazil!) highlights cachaça, a cane-juice-based liquor that’s akin to rum. This is the kind of sweet and summery cocktail you might want to stick a little paper umbrella into, if you feel so inclined.

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. cachaça
• 1/2 oz. lime juice
• 3 lime wedges (more for optional garnish)
• 3/4 oz. simple syrup

First add limes then pour in liquid ingredients and lightly muddle. Then add ice, shake, and strain over fresh ice. Garnish with lime.

The green goblin is the perfect hair-of-the-dog cocktail to either revive you after a night of downing mint-tinted booze or help you kick things off nice and early (with a healthy twist). The heft of the cocktail can be whatever combination of greens and sweeteners you prefer (though the below ingredients are what’s suggested), so this can really be a green drink just for you. It answers the important age old question: What if green juice also got you drunk?

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. tequila
• 3 Persian cucumbers
• 1 green apple
• 1 green pepper
• 1 bunch of cilantro
• 1 lime
• 2 sprigs of mint
• lime sparkling water
• agave to taste
• Tajín

Chop all fruit, veggies, and herbs, then toss in a blender with agave. Blend. Strain blended mixture into a bowl and set aside. Rim glass with Tajín and add fresh ice. Pour in tequila and fill glass 3/4 full with sparkling water. Top with green juice mixture. Garnish with any green veggies you like.