St Patrick's Day

St Patrick's Day is March 17th, what will you be doing to celebrate?

So what is St Patrick's Day?

St Patrick's Day pays homage to St Patrick, one of Ireland's beloved patron saints. He was responsible for ministering Christianity in Ireland during the fifth century. The St. Patrick's Day tradition began as a Roman Catholic feast day, honouring this patron saint, held on the day of his death. It was originally only celebrated in Ireland.

Although originally an Irish holiday, it was those who had emigrated to the United States who transformed St Patrick’s Day into a feasting day and holiday of revelry in 1700s - the first St Patrick’s Day parade was actually held in Boston in 1737. Since then, it has evolved into a celebration of Irish food, music, dancing, drinking and as much green as possible!

Traditionally, those who celebrated Chistian holidays held huge feasts to commemorate St Patrick, when Lent restrictions on food and alcohol consumption were temporarily removed - which is why drinking has become so intrinsically linked to the celebration. Due to mass emigration around the world, it is now celebrated globally with many monuments like the Sydney Opera House shining green to commerate the day!

How can I celebrate it?

Therefore, to celebrate St Patrick’s Day and Irish culture what you really need is a quintessentially Irish beer. Murphy’s is an internationally recognised Irish stout. It is dark in colour, silky smooth with toffee undertones, almost no bitterness, and a mouth-watering creamy finish. 

For those of you that aren't the biggest stout fans, there is another way to make your beer choice festive - make it green! While it sounds like you will need to go make a deal with a wizard to make this, luckily there is a much cheaper way. 

There is no magic, no alchemy, no swanky mixologist needed to make green beer, all it requires is a light-coloured beer and some green food colouring. Don’t worry, it won’t affect the taste, it will just make it emerald green. 

The best beer to use is a pale lager, which can be tapped from your personal home bar or just a regular bottle out of your favourite beer case such as those found in our Lager and Pilsner Case or a 24-beer Value Case of lager for the best value. 

If you're still looking for lagers to choose, you can read our recommendations in Lager and pilsner for even more inspiration. You can of course opt for darker beers, but the results will not be as vibrant in colour -  it’s a bit fun and silly though, so play around with any beer you like. Just add one teaspoon of green food colouring to whatever beer you choose, and drink up!

If you plan to load up your SUB for St Patrick's Day then we recommend the following options which will taste delicious and are sure to be crowd pleasers!

Why green?

It is thought that blue was the first colour associated with the Irish holiday, however it changed in the 17th century. Why green? Well, green is very linked to Irish identity, it features in the flag and Ireland is known as the “Emerald Isle,” on account of its lush green landscape. Green is also the colour of the shamrock!

What other beers can I enjoy on St. Patrick's Day?

If you would rather celebrate the patron saint with craft beers, then fill your fridge with one of our delicious beer cases. You can't go wrong with crowd-pleasers like Fourpure, Lagunitas, BrewDog and Heineken.

St. Patrick’s Day is all about the beer and having fun, after all. What we are really celebrating is an opportunity to come together and enjoy some beers, so whatever you choose, make sure you have fun with it!