Why do you drink beer on Saint Patrick's Day?

The feast of Saint Patrick is very well known. We have all seen the famous parade, with green as the main color and a lot of beer, in television series or movies. Even our neighborhood Irish pub throws a party that day full of shamrocks, leprechauns, and stouts. But, do you know what is celebrated and what relationship they have with beer?

Who was Saint Patrick?

What is really commemorated on this day is the death of Saint Patrick , the patron saint of Ireland , who died on March 17, 461.

We start with a curious fact: Saint Patrick was not Irish. But he became the patron of this island and one of the most important religious figures in its culture.

He was born in Great Britain, and legend has it that at the age of 16 he was captured by pirates and taken to Ireland as a slave. He spent 6 years there, tending a herd and learning Celtic language and culture, but managed to escape and reach France. There, already a priest, he had a vision in which the people of Ireland called him, and he returned to this region to convert its inhabitants to Christianity (who until then were pagans and polytheists).

It is also said that he expelled all the snakes from the island (although it seems to be more a metaphor about the spread of Christianity than a fact) and that  He taught the Irish how to brew beer, which is why it is drunk in his honor in his day.

From religious celebration to beer festival

What initially started as a religious celebration turned into a very pagan celebration. St. Patrick 's Day usually falls in the middle of Lent (the Christian period in which there are restrictions in preparation for Easter), but this day was a "free" day of food and drink. Perhaps it is one of the reasons why the party became so popular.

Another reason is that at the beginning of the 19th century the Irish community emigrated to different countries, and this holiday became a moment of national pride, that is, a “ I am Irish and I am proud ”. A very significant fact is that the first St. Patrick 's parade was not in Ireland, but in the United States, in the 1840s, when thousands of Irish people arrived in the country.

This tradition spread throughout the world, and since 1996 a festival has been held in Dublin and other cities, which can last up to five days in the Irish capital.

Saint Patrick's Shamrock

If they asked you, would you know how to say typical Irish things? You cannot miss the color green, clover (green), leprechauns (dressed in green) and a good beer… green. And these are the elements you'll find in a good St. Patrick 's celebration.

The story of how the shamrock became the symbol of this festival is quite curious. Saint Patrick , in his evangelizing phase, had to explain to the Irish pagans what the Holy Trinity was and, for this, he resorted to a three-leaf clover. This symbol used by the saint ended up becoming that of an entire country, Ireland, and it is also green.

Another symbol of Saint Patrick's Day is the leprechaun, that leprechaun from Celtic mythology, who is usually seen with a good pint in hand.

Green beer?

Yes, you read it right. Green beer. On March 17 it is typical to drink beer of this color. This may come from the practice of putting a shamrock in your drink for good luck, which would end up slightly tinting the beer.

It was also in the US where totally green beers began to be drunk. The idea came from an Irish-American doctor in 1924 in  New York City: Dr. Thomas Hayes Curtin, who unveiled his invention at a Bronx club.

To achieve that color, Dr. Curtin added a blue industrial coloring (“ Wash Blue ”), to the beer and, if you remember the combinations of primary colors we studied at school, blue + yellow = green. This is how the famous green beer was born. Negative point? That it was a bit toxic . Over time, these blue colored powders were exchanged for food coloring.

Beers to celebrate Saint Patrick

At Beer Sapiens we do not advise you to repeat this mix at home. If you want to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day, it's much easier: we have this pack of delicious black beers (in other words, the Guinness style, the quintessential Irish beer), such as La Ribera Robus Porter or Dawat Coffee , which everyone will bring the malt and roasted flavors of Ireland to your living room (without mixing with rare blue powders).

To continue with the Irish theme, you can accompany these beers with traditional dishes such as roast chicken and Guinness stew . Corned beef with cabbage is another recipe that goes very well with this style of beer.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!