Hop into Warm Weather with this Cool and Minty Classic: The Grasshopper
Recipes
Over the past decade or so, the cocktail world rapidly moved away from the decidedly un-craft cocktails of previous generations. The brightly colored, simply flavored, and sweet drinks of the previous three decades were shunned for the complex, esoteric, and oftentimes scientific beverages ubiquitous to current bar menus around the globe. But, slowly and surely, intense mixology is circling back around to the old days, when drinks were fun and frothy, and imbibing wasn’t quite such serious business. And nothing says fun, frothy, and not serious like the Grasshopper.
The Grasshopper
Like most cocktails considered classic, the birthplace of the Grasshopper is none other than New Orleans. Cocktail lore suggests that the drink was created sometime around 1919 by Philibert Guichet, second owner of Tujague’s, a famed restaurant that was, by that time, nearly 65 years old. Technically, Guichet created the Grasshopper during a cocktail competition in New York, but he brought it back home to Tujague’s where it’s held its place as the restaurant’s most popular cocktail ever since.
The Grasshopper stood out in a sea of brown and boozy brandy and bourbon cocktails; it’s simple recipe of crème de menthe, crème de cacao, and cream made it a unique, brightly colored, low-alcohol option. In the 70s and 80s, it became a staple of Midwest supper clubs and home cocktail parties. Who doesn’t remember seeing those bright green bottles of crème de menthe in their parents’ liquor cabinet? The recipe was often altered to accommodate regional tastes; but the essence of the creamy, minty drink stayed the same.
Served up or occasionally over crushed ice, the Grasshopper makes a fun, all-seasons cocktail. So next time you’re hanging out in your folks’ basement, crack open their liquor cabinet and try the recipe below:
Grasshopper
1 oz crème de menthe
1 oz crème de cacao
1 oz heavy cream
Shake ingredients with ice, strain into favorite cocktail glass. Garnish with fresh mint sprig, grated nutmeg, chocolate crumbles – whatever you want!