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17 Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cocktails + Drinks

17 Easy St. Patrick’s Day Cocktails + Drinks

This article is packed with easy St. Patrick’s Day cocktails that don’t require hard-to-get ingredients or a a lot of skill to make.

Some of them, like the Irish maid, can be batch made for parties while others, like the Irish Trash Can, come with a warning!

I’ve only included St. Patrick’s Day drinks that I’ve 1, had many times before and enjoyed and 2, that are quick-and-easy to make. Cheers!

The best St. Patrick’s Day cocktails for 2024

st patricks day drinks

Photos via Shutterstock

Now, Irish drinks tend to fall into a few different categories: Irish beers, Irish whiskeys, Irish stouts, Irish gins and, our favourites, Irish cocktails!

In this guide, we’re bringing you a mix of elegant tipples, green drinks and wonderfully easy St. Patrick’s Day cocktails. Dive on in!

1. The Irish Maid

The Irish Maid

The Irish Maid is another well-known St. Patrick’s drinks and it’s quick to make and wonderfully tasty and refreshing.

Ingredients wise, you’ll need Irish whiskey, elderflower liqueur, simple syrup, fresh lemon juice and cucumber.

To make, gently muddle 2 slices of cucumber in a shaker and add whiskey, elderflower liqueur, simple syrup and freshly squeezed lemon.

To finish, 1/2 fill the shaker with ice, shake hard and strain into a glass with ice.

2. Irish Eyes

Irish Eyes

The Irish Eyes is one of the more popular St. Patrick’s Day cocktails and one glance at the photo above should reveal why – yep, it’s green (but not the tacky kind!).

You’ll need whiskey, Baileys, green Crème de menthe and cream. Some mint for garnishing also looks great!

To make, simply add your mixture to a clean shaker, shake hard and strain into a chilled glass.

3. The Irish Lemonade

The Irish Lemonade

I tend to make Irish Lemonade if we’re having friends over and I’m not sure what kind of drinks they’re into, as it tends to go down well with most people.

This is a refreshing drink that uses whiskey, ginger beer or soda, fresh lemonade, bitters, ice and fresh mint.

It’s one of my go-to St. Patrick’s Day drinks as you can easily make a big jug of it for the table.

4. The Irish Espresso Martini (with Baileys)

Irish Espresso Martini

Next up is the indulgent Irish Espresso Martini. Made with Baileys, vodka and freshly brewed espresso, this is a drink that looks and tastes impressive, and that’s surprisingly easy to make.

This is the perfect after-dinner drink and the Baileys Irish Cream gives it a lovely, velvety texture. Just make sure you use freshly ground coffee and not instant!

Now, you’ll need a cocktail shaker for this and for many St. Patrick’s Day drinks but, if you don’t have one, you can always use a protein shaker.

5. The Irish Slammer

Irish Slammer

The Irish Slammer is a bit of a party favourite (once it doesn’t curdle on you!). You’ll need three ingredients for this one: Guinness, Baileys Irish Cream Liquor and a good Irish whiskey.

To start, take a shot glass and 1/2 fill it with whiskey. Then add in 1/2 a shot of Baileys. You then need to 3/4 fill a large glass with Guinness. 

To drink, drop the shot glass into the glass and knock it back quickly otherwise the drink will curdle.

This is one of the most popular St. Patrick’s Day shots, but keep in mind this’ll hit you hard if you down it in one.

6. Irish Gold

Irish Gold

The Irish Gold is one of the easy St. Patrick’s Day cocktail recipes – it’s perfect for when you have friends over and you can’t be bothered with anything too complex.

Ingredients wise, you’ll need Irish whiskey, peach schnapps, orange juice, ginger ale and a few limes.

To make, you simply take a chilled glass and add ice, your whiskey, schnapps and orange juice and gently stir. Then pour in your ginger ale and garnish with a fat slice of lime.

7. The Nutty Irishman

sweet st. patrick's day drinks

There are few St. Patrick’s Day cocktails that can go toe-to-toe with the Nutty Irishman when it comes to decadence.

This is a gorgeous desert cocktail that’s made with Baileys Irish Cream, Frangelico Hazelnut Liqueur, whipped cream, smashed hazelnuts for garnishing and ice.

The Nutty Irishman is a heavyish drink that can be easily dressed up to make your guests ‘Ohh’ and ‘Ahh’ when you bring it to the table.

The fact that it can be made in under 2 minutes is the icing on the cake!

8. The Irish Trash Can

Irish Trash Can Cocktail

The Irish Trash Can can be served with a can of RedBull sticking out of the top but, in this day and age, having a potentially dirty can stuck in your cocktail isn’t overly appealing.

This is one of the strongest St. Patrick’s Day cocktail recipes in this guide and the drink contains gin, light rum, vodka, peach schnapps, Bols Blue Curacao Liquer, Triple sec and RedBull.

9. The Irish Whiskey Ginger

Irish Whiskey Ginger

The Irish Whiskey Ginger is arguably one of the best-known Jameson cocktails. This is super simple to make and it’s both beautifully refreshing and easy to sip.

It’s made with whiskey, ginger ale, fresh lime and ice. To make it, you simply add whiskey, ginger ale and the juice of 1/2 a lime into a glass 1/2 filled with ice, and you’re ready to rock.

10. Irish Coffee

Irish Coffee cocktail

The Irish Coffee is the most popular of our St. Patrick’s Day drink recipes, and it’s been around since 1943, when it was invented in County Limerick at Foynes Airbase.

The perfect Irish Coffee has just 5 ingredients: A great Irish Whiskey, high quality ground coffee, demerara sugar, fresh cream and nutmeg and dark chocolate for garnishing.

Although pouring in the cream can look a little tricky, you’ll get the hang of it easily.

11. The Irish Margarita

Irish Margarita

The Irish Margarita is a good option for those of you in search of green cocktails for St. Patrick’s Day.

It’s easy to make and you only need whiskey, lime juice, orange-flavoured liqueur, simple syrup and green food colouring.

You start by dressing-up the rim of your glass with sugar. You add the mixture to a shaker, shake hard and strain into a glass. Garnish with lime or mint and you’re ready-to-rock.

12. The Irish Mule

Irish Mule

The Irish Mule is one of my favourite St. Patrick’s Day cocktails. An Irish take on the popular Moscow Mule, it uses 4 ingredients (Irish whiskey, Ginger Beer, lime and ice) and it’s beautifully refreshing. 

This is a tasty drink that’s very quick-and-easy to whip up and it’s a great option for those that don’t fancy some of the stronger Irish whiskey cocktails.

13. The Irish Mudslide

sweet st. patrick's day cocktails

The Irish Mudslide is an absolute beaut of a drink and it’s perfect as a desert cocktail (it’s also easy to make, despite its fancy appearance!).

Ingredient wise, you need whiskey, Baileys, Kahlua, chocolate syrup, cream or ice cream and some chocolate for garnishing.

If you’re looking for impressive St. Patrick’s Day cocktails, you can’t go wrong with the Irish Mudslide.

14. The Irish Martini

Martini

The Irish Martini is one of the stronger St. Patrick’s Day drinks in this guide, and I’d avoid making it for anyone other than those used to a strong drink.

It’s easy to make and looks gorgeous when garnished with a twist of lemon.

Ingredients wise, you’ll need vodka, whiskey, dry vermouth, a lime and ice. Add a ring of sugar to the rim of the glass and you’re ready to rock.

15. The Irish Negroni

Irish Negroni

The Irish Negroni, sometimes called the ‘Rosie Negroni’, is another impressive looking St. Patrick’s Day cocktails that can be made in under a minute.

You’ll need whiskey, Campari, sweet vermouth, a fresh orange and ice. Then, you simply add all of the ingredients to a mixing glass with ice and stir.

Strain the mixture into a fresh glass 1/2 filled with ice and add a twist of lemon.

16. The Irish Mojito

Irish Mojito

The Irish Mojito is packed full of flavour and it’s perfect for those sometime rare hot Paddy’s Days.

Ingredient wise, you need whiskey, lime, fresh mint, sugar and either ginger beer or club soda.

You need to be careful that you don’t over-muddle the mint and lime at the beginning but, aside from that, this is one of the easier St. Patrick’s Day drink recipes.

17. The Irish Old Fashioned

Irish Old Fashioned

The last of our St. Patrick’s Day drinks is the Irish Old Fashioned. This is a classic cocktail that looks great and that’s perfect for sipping pre-or-post-dinner.

To make, simply pour 2 ounces of whiskey, 1/2 an ounce of sugar syrup and 2 dashes of Angostura bitters and orange bitters into a chilled glass that’s 1/2 filled with ice. Sir and garnish with a twist of orange.

FAQs about Irish drinks for St. Patrick’s Day

We’ve had a lot of questions over the years asking about everything from ‘What are the strongest St. Patrick’s Day cocktails?’ to ‘Which St Patty’s Day drinks are the most impressive?’.

In the section below, we’ve popped in the most FAQs that we’ve received. If you have a question that we haven’t tackled, ask away in the comments section below.

What are the best St. Patrick’s Day cocktails?

The Irish Gold, the Nutty Irishman, the Irish Espresso Martini and the Irish Mule are 4 delicious St. Patrick’s Day cocktail recipes.

What are some easy and tasty St. Patrick’s Day drinks

The Irish Martini, the Irish Maid and the The Irish Whiskey Ginger are 3 easy-to-make Saint Patrick Day drinks.

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