The irony of luck. Alas, something we just can’t spot anywhere but can’t get enough of. In Thailand, they wear red for luck on Sunday but never on Monday. If you rock an empty chair in Cuba, death is near. As the clock strikes 12pm in Spain on New Year’s Eve, eating twelve grapes will usher in a year full of luck. For Irish fishermen, it’s unlucky to whistle at sea unless you “whistle up a storm.”
Potlucks, mascots, and lucky charms. The word luck, coming from gheluc, is actually Middle Dutch, but Irish Americans usurped the word when the gold and silver rush of the 19th century spawned the most famous and successful miners, naturally, of Irish and Irish American birth.
If you’ve lost a bit of your mojo this winter, if your New Year’s resolution has you couched, if you got your scarfs all up in a windy tussle, Beverage Universe has five St. Patrick’s Day drinks to get you back on the lucky track.
Quick Like a Bunny
And sweet like a charm. Add a few treats to the classic gin and tonic. Mix Maine Root Lemon Lime or any green juice with your favorite gin, Aquavit (if you can score it), a spoon of orange marmalade, lemon juice, and topping with tonic. Inspired by bartender Stuart Jensen.
Leaf and Spear
Prior to spearing, infuse a jalapeno in the simple syrup to warm up your lucky date. Then mix rum and lime juice or lime soda with the syrup, and garnish with a spear of Tuscan kale. Inspired by bartender Christiaan Rollich.
Shamrock Juice
Mix everything together and add the orange juice at the end for a lucky effect. This drink wields gin, tequila, rum, vodka, Blue Curacao, and finishes with orange juice or Stewart’s Orange & Cream Soda.
Grasshopper
Supposedly invented by Philip Guichet at the historic Tujague’s bar in New Orleans, minty classic Grasshopper was popular when folk slid up to milk bars for shaky treats in the 50s and 60s. Shake equal parts creme de menthe, creme de cacao, and cream and pour in a martini glass. Garnish with mint.
Lucky Leprechaun Rum Punch
If none of those drinks seem to loosen the gates of good times, try some Lucky Leprechaun Rum Punch. Mix pineapple juice, white rum, lemon and lime in a big jug. Top with lemon-lime soda and garnish the rim with crushed Lucky Charms.
Offer your company these sprightly drinks on St. Patrick’s Day and hope they know you’re hosting a potluck, which originally meant “what may chance to be in the pot...no special preparation has been made for guests.” They might be enough to spark some auspicious surprise on the luckiest holiday of the year. And who knows what little folky tweedy golden-pocket friends will show up at the end of the tasty rainbow.
