DEL.ICIO.USThis St. Patrick’s Day, you don’t have to mix beer and artificial coloring to drink green
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Oh, how the green cocktail has been maligned. Such derisive comparisons. Scope. Mylanta. Dishwashing liquid. Such visceral reactions. A silent sneer. You’re kidding? EEEewwww!
Who knows what brought all this on: too many Friday nights fueled by candy-sweet appletinis; the memory of one too many green beers; a shot of wheat grass at a ’90s juice bar?
Chris Hunt/AJC
Dublin Dart (above, from left), St. Patrick’s Day Cocktail, the DD (Designated Driver), Absinthe Cocktail and Bubblin’ Dublin are notable potables from local mixologists and a venerable cocktail guide.
“The inherent danger in an all-out green drink is that people hold it as synonymous with cheap booze, kitsch or a wild college party,” says Greg Best, mixologist at Restaurant Eugene. “A cocktail is 60 percent visual. You drink with your eyes before you even put it to your lips.”
And it’s rare that we drink something Kelly green.
The very hue transmits the message, “What’s going to happen when I drink this stuff?” says Leatrice Eiseman, author and executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, the international authority on the use of color in industry.
For a green cocktail (or any brightly colored liquor, for that matter) to work, it has to be in context, she says. “You can’t think of it in a vacuum. You’ve got to give a reason for the color,” because otherwise, “it doesn’t say natural, it says artificial and that’s not necessarily a good thing these days.”
So what better context than St. Patrick’s Day?
We asked a couple of local bartenders to come up with a few green cocktails, including one that’s nonalcoholic, for the holiday. Kysha Cyrus of Repast in Atlanta and Ian Macken of Meehan’s Public House in Vinings took on the challenge and came up with a couple of surprises.
We also turned to the recipes of a vintage master, Crosby Gaige, to round out the list. (One of Gaige’s cocktails impressed Best so much that he’s offering it, despite some good-natured ribbing from his bar staff.)
And while it may be near impossible for something so boldly complected to achieve a state of grace, “it doesn’t matter as long as it tastes good,” says Cyrus.
IRISH DRINKS RIPE FOR HOISTING
In honor of St. Paddy’s Day, we were challenged to come up with mostly green drink ideas. Maybe they are a little kitschy, but isn’t kitsch a big part of the celebration? So here are a few worth raising a glass for — and there’s not a mug of green beer or an appletini in sight. • The drinks
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