Irish Goodbye Cocktail

So, have you ever been at a party, bar, social gathering, what-have-you...and just wanted to leave? You don't want to get caught up in the 30-minute goodbye, so you quietly duck out the side door (the back door or the front door will work, too). Yeah, me too. Apparently there's a name for this—several, actually: ghosting, the French exit, and the Irish Goodbye.

In honor of the upcoming St. Paddy's Day festivities, Smirnoff has created a cocktail inspired by the tradition called (you guessed it), the Irish Goodbye. Intrigued by the two simple ingredients, I was delighted to mix one up for myself when Smirnoff sent a bottle of their Kissed Caramel flavored vodka for me to experiment with.

This caramel-kissed glass of hard cider definitely lives up to its name. It's fun and refreshing, and since it's incredibly easy to drink, it's got some mad sneaking abilities—so enjoy with care!

Shrimp Fettuccine in Creamy Hard Cider Sauce

I have this lofty goal of streamlining my liquor shelves. Although I've always cooked and baked with booze without a second thought, I started making a point of doing so a while back. You see, one of the benefits of being a food and beverage writer is that oftentimes, free bottles of booze show up at your front door. The (very small) downside of that is that those bottles can start to take over.

So yes, adding the booze to the food I'm making has become quite deliberate. Yet, the amount of bottles seem to be increasing instead of decreasing. Of course, the fact that I also buy booze of my own accord doesn't help. But you can hardly blame me for not being able to resist a good deal.

The grocery store that I go to most often will sometimes have a cart near the check-out that is filled with marked down bottles of wine or beer. Would you be able to pass up a 6-pack of Hard Cider for $5.00? Crisp, bubbly, and refreshing...yeah, obviously I'm not.