Drinks

Creme de Menthe Frappe

labeled cocktail

St. Patrick’s Day is next week and I wanted to make sure you had plenty of cocktail options for the big day. Now if you want to stick with beer, that’s totally fine. But there are quite a few a green cocktails that are nice alternatives to Guinness.

Last week I made a Last Word which showed off its green thanks to the liqueur, Chartreuse and some lime juice. The green in this week’s cocktail comes from another green liqueur: Crème de Menthe. Now, you may be used to seeing Crème de Menthe in white, but it also comes dark green, and since it’s the green holiday, I of course am using the dark green version.

close up

Unlike some of the other cocktails on this blog, this one is made with only one liquid – the Crème de Menthe. Only one liquor means you’ve got a drink that’s pretty easy to make. The only thing you have to do is crush the ice, pile that crushed ice high and pour the Crème de Menthe on top. By the time you’re finished it should look like a pretty alcoholic snow cone. There’s just one problem with this cocktail – it’s pretty strong. It kinda tastes like mouth wash. Now, that’s not to say it’s not worth a sip or two, but I’d taste this cocktail and then move on to something better.

You’re probably wondering why I’m doing a post on a cocktail of which I’m not a big fan. Well, turns out there are a lot of cocktails from the past, and the Prohibition specifically, that should stay in the past. But knowing those failures make the ones that survived all that more satisfying. I stand behind all the classics on this blog, and every so often even I need a reminder that not all cocktails are worth sipping, because while the originals may not have been great, they did lead to better cocktails. Something tells me the Grasshopper wouldn’t be the popular drink it is today if the Crème de Menthe Frappe hadn’t fallen out of favor. So, taste the Frappe, then move on to the Grasshopper or Last Word and have a very happy St. Patrick’s Day.

over head

Crème de Menthe Frappe

Ingredients:

  • 2 oz. green Crème de Menthe
  • crushed ice

Directions:

  1. Fill a cocktail glass with crushed ice.
  2. Pour the Crème de Menthe over it. Add a straw and serve.