Since the U.S. celebrates Irish heritage annually through “cultural” overindulgence on St. Patrick’s Day, I’m going to give you some easy recipe choices for your home bar that are neither green nor lame. Let’s start this list with a Simple Cocktails first: a beer cocktail!

Caramel Guinness

• 1 1/2 oz caramel liqueur, such as Lovoka or Godiva
• fill remainder of a pint glass with Guinness Extra Stout

Benjamin Guinness single-handedly saved St. Patrick’s Cathedral from ruin in 1860 with a £150,000 donation (roughly $15 million in 2013 money), paying for the entire cost of a full restoration of the church.

Potato Famine (by Greg Mays)

• 2 oz of potato-based vodka (like Karlsson’s Gold or Portland Potato)
• 1/4 oz Fernet Branca
• 1/4 oz simple syrup
• stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Irish Old Fashioned

• Add 1 tsp of simple syrup to an old fashioned glass
• Douse with 3 dashes of orange bitters
• Add a splash of club soda and stir well
• Fill glass with ice, add 2 oz of Irish whiskey, stir until cold
• Take a piece of orange peel, squeeze over the glass and rub it around the rim
• Top with another splash of club soda
• Garnish with the orange peel