Green Beer or Traditional Irish Beer for St. Patrick’s day – Take your pick

Photo from SpaceAgeSage via Wikimedia

There are countless ways to celebrate today’s St. Patrick’s day holiday. If your plan is to keep things low key by staying home, that doesn’t mean you have to skimp on some of the traditions.

What better way to celebrate than with a less expensive and safer option – you can do it yourself. You can still enjoy the festivities of the day with some beer and Irish food. Afterall, there’s no better way to explore a country’s culture than by their food and drinks.

Beer is the drink of choice for many celebrating St. Patrick’s day. If you’re going to partake, you have a few options: Green beer, traditional Irish beer, or other festive cocktail?

If you want to be adventurous and try a green beer, there’s almost nothing to it. Take your pick of any light beers at the grocery store, venture down the baking isle and pick up some food coloring, and add color to your liking.

There’s some variation in recipies for what colors and how much to use. Because beer is slightly yellow, blue food coloring may be enough to tint your beer to your liking. To be safe, you may also want to pick up some yellow – if your elementary school education serves you correctly you should know that blue and yellow make green.

If you don’t want to run the risk of dying your teeth (or clothes) green, you can stick to a traditional Irish beer. There is no shame in drinking a good beer, imported from Ireland, on this special day. There are many Irish beers to choose from, and many liquor stores and grocery stores should be well stocked. One of the most popular Irish ale’s in America is Guinness. There are many other options out there that are just as good and just as authentic.

Dark Beers & Stouts

Guinness: This is a lighter tasting stout that won’t leave you too full. There is a slight bitterness that comes with the aroma and flavor of roasted malt. The beer finishes somewhat dry.

Murphy’s Irish Stout: Smooth and balanced mocha flavor that blends the best of coffee and chocolate without a bitter finish.

Beamish Stout: Not to be chugged, that’s for sure. This dense, malty, dark and chocolaty stout is full-bodied and should be savored slowly.

Murphy’s Irish Red (Photo from Man77 via Wikimedia)

Light Beers, Ales and Lagers

Harp Lager: This light tasting beer is similar to domestic lagers, so if you don’t usually step out of your comfort zone, this could be the one for you. It has a slighly bitter start but is clean and refreshing. If you plan on induldging in a few beers on St. Patty’s day, you will not be disappointed if you stick to Harp.

Smithwick’s Irish Ale: Smooth red ale with caramel maltiness and a hint of hops.

Murphy’s Irish Red: Dry, crisp, and hoppy with undertones of fruit and caramel.

Although it is tradition to stick to beer, some don’t like the taste – or worse yet, are allergic (blasphemy!). For a sweeter taste that will leave you feeling festive here are a few cocktail suggestions:

Green Apple Whisky-tini

2 parts Irish whiskey
1 part sour apple schnapps
2 parts white cranberry juice
(For the kids, omit the whiskey and swap out the apple schnapps with apple juice or cider. Float a caremel appel pop in the drink for a treat they’ll love)

Irish Buck

1 1/2 oz. Irish Whisky
Ginger Ale to taste
Lemon peel for garnish

Lucky Charm

2 parts Midori
1 part Vodka
Top with Orange Juice

Cup O’ Agave Gold

2 oz. Cabo Wabo Reposado Tequila
4 oz. Lemon-Lime Soda
1 Lemon Wedge

For more recipies, check out DrinkOfTheWeek.com.