How to Make Green Beer

did you know??
March 17th is National Green Beer Day

If you happen to be bottling a light ale or lager or even preparing to keg one why not add a touch of blarney. This will even work as well with white wine. Prepare a solution of fresh water (about 1 oz) and 4-8 drops of green food coloring. If your beer is amber to red you may need more coloring. Mix the solution in a microwavable glass dish. Heat it in the microwave until it boils. Cool it and then add a few drops to a six pack.

Once conditioned, offer it to friends of homebrew and tell them its is the oldest Irish Ale ever made and let them open it and pour. The results should be a vivid green head, just like the hillsides around Patty O'Brews back porch.

It's beginning ...

Green Beer Day's origins are about as clouded as your brain after too many green-dyed draft beers. Many have speculated that this tradition was begun in Oxford shortly after World War II. A Miami Student article, dated march 8, 1946, discusses the grain crisis that gripped the country and resulted in a shortage of grain for use in beer production. The article says nothing of a green beer celebration. It does however point out that Mac and Joe's did not have carry-out beer to sell...at that time it was not yet a bar. So, we are left to ponder again the origin of this day of green-tinged revelry.

Since at least 1952, green-dyed draft beer has been a tradition around St. Patrick's Day in Oxford. We know because another Miami Student article dated March 14, 1952 says that the day was celebrated by Oxford restaurants selling "traditional dark green beer" on March 17. This is the first known source to state its celebration, but this still does not pinpoint the origin of its specific celebration by students. March 14 was a Friday and March 17 was a Monday. The Thursday before Spring Break is the key to its mystery. While most of the country is drinking a dark pint of Guiness or a Harp with a few drops of food coloring on March 17, University students are usually cooking under the Sun's UV rays and hooking up, at the popular Spring Break destinations.

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Last Updated: March 13, 2006