St. Patrick’s Day is arguably one of the greatest beer-drinking holidays of all time. With Saint Patrick’s Day being so heavily associated with the color green and drinking, it comes as no surprise that green beer was created for this day. Green beer has become a staple of the increasingly popular St. Patrick’s Day celebrations all over the country. Just about any bar you walk into on March 17th will be serving the festive favorite. But where did this tradition come from, who invented it, and how is it made?
Green Beer History
Where did the tradition of green beer come from? More than likely it started as a take on the Irish tradition of dropping a clover in one’s drink then drinking it all down for good luck, according to Bucket List Bars. Fun Fact: The Flying Dog Brewery offers a craft beer brewed with real four leaf clovers in keeping with this Irish tradition. Another possibility is that green beer may have nothing to do with St. Patrick’s Day or the color green at all. Interestingly, some of the earliest references suggest that the term was used to reference beer that was not sufficiently aged. As for the connection between the color green and Ireland, most chalk it up to the lush landscape that earned the country’s nickname “The Emerald Isle.”
Actual green beer came a little later and seems to be an American-born invention, one that you won’t see people in Ireland partaking in on Saint Patrick’s Day. The first recorded incident of beer being turned green occurred in New York City in 1914, according to The Daily Meal. Records indicate that a New York social club was serving green beer at a celebratory St. Patrick’s Day dinner. The invention is attributed to Dr. Curtin, a coroner’s physician who achieved the effect by putting a drop of “Wash Blue” dye in the beer. Wash Blue appears to be a bluing agent possibly used for dying fabrics/textiles (and definitely not what you want to use to turn you beer green this year). Since then, the popularity of green beer on Saint Patrick’s Day caught on and grew every year. Today, Americans continue to dye their beer green as a nod to the Emerald Isle and a way to display their Irish pride.
How to Make Green Beer
Beer is not naturally green, so green beer has to be created. Green food coloring may seem like the obvious answer, but it’s actually blue food coloring that you will want to use when dying your beer green for Saint Patrick’s Day. The blue food coloring mixes with the light-yellow colored ale to create a lively and vibrant green beer, worthy of any Saint Patrick’s Day celebration. Only a few drops of the blue food coloring are needed per each pint of beer.
Green beer is one of the festive favorites and drinks of choice for many on Saint Patrick’s Day. Celebrate your Irish pride on March 17th and order your favorite, ice-cold draught beer made green! One thing’s for sure; beer should never be green coming right out of the tap! Clean Beer ensures the cleanest and best quality draught beer for superior taste and satisfaction, so that you are only drinking green beer because you wanted to! Contact Clean Beer to find out how our draught beer system installations and cleaning services can guarantee the quality and profitability of your draught beer.