Whiskey, Green Underwear, Whiskey, Bacon – All The Essentials For St. Patrick’s Day

You see it coming. You’ve been preparing since February 3, 1999 – some of you longer than that – and now St. Patrick’s Day is only a single day away. The vast majority will likely not be waiting until Sunday and will instead be celebrating on Saturday, St. Patrick’s Day Eve. For those living in Ireland, UK or most of Europe, there will be no shortage of pubs to locate your next whiskey cocktail – Sean’s Bar in Ireland, The Tipperary in London, Kitty O’Shea’s in Paris and the Fiddler’s Elbow in Rome. However, for those who happen to find themselves residing in the America, there are really only two places you can go – the oldest continuously operating saloon in the colonies, McSorley’s Old Ale House in New York City or the oldest Irish-style pub in the States, the ironically-named Patrick’s of Pratt Street in Baltimore. Maybe if you know somebody, you can hook up with Kitty’s sister pub in Boston. But, if you are in the Midwest, then it’s either green beer or buy your own Irish whiskey because there is no heavy Irish presence in Kansas – unless you consider a green basketball as a classic Irish symbol. If you find yourself on the Pacific coast, at least there is bacon – in the form of the Bacon Paddy cocktail at the Langham Tap Room in Pasadena.

What on Earth is the Bacon Paddy, we hear you saying? That would be Jameson Irish Whiskey [or whatever brand you prefer, really], maple syrup and muddled strawberry with bacon bits liberally strewn and clinging tenaciously to the rim margarita style. Good luck to you and your housemates waking up in the morning after five or six of those – that might not be green underwear on the floor after all…