The Grasshopper: A Year of Cocktails - March

Today's classic cocktail had its start, interestingly enough, during a prohibition-era cocktail contest in New York City.  While I'm not so sure how you hold a cocktail contest whilst the selling of alcohol is illegal, I guess it's the fine line between creating and selling... Nonetheless, this iconic drink was created during the romanticized era of speakeasies and jazz musicians.  Philibert Guichet, Jr., the owner and proprietor of Tujague's in the French Quarter of New Orleans, created the Grasshopper for the above mentioned competition sometime during the 1920's (dates vary in the sources I found...). After his creation received second prize in the contest, Guichet brought it home, began to serve it, and it grew in popularity over the next half century. The history of the the Grasshopper, combined with it's electric green color, make it a perfect drink for a Mardi Gras celebration! 

Although Mardi Gras was yesterday, we chose this as our March cocktail because its green, frothy color also works well for upcoming St. Patrick's Day celebrations (think an adult version of the Shamrock Shake!) and as a general welcome to Spring. It's also a great replacement when you run out of Thin Mint cookies. 

Due to the strong mint flavor of the drink, we chose to play up the creme de cacao flavor by rimming the glass with semi-sweet melted chocolate (chilling while the drink was mixed) and topping with some chocolate shavings. In my book this created to the perfect blend of chocolate and mint flavors, and a very refreshing drink. We used the classic recipe (below); there are many variations created by modern mixologists, but Christine and I feel that the original has stood the test of time and does not need improvement. 

Recipe: 

1 oz. green creme de menthe    

1 oz. white creme de cacao 

1 oz. light cream

Mix all ingredients with cracked ice in a shaker and pour into a chilled cocktail glass. 

Share with us in the comments how you will use the Grasshopper to celebrate spring, or which variations you like best! 

Cheers

Stacy