Bring On The Beer!

On St. Patrick's Day, March 17th, some will raise a pint of Guiness and wish their friends "Slainté", pronounced SLAN-cha, for "health."

Who is St. Patrick, and why do we celebrate him? In this day and age, it's a very convenient excuse to drink beer. I, for one, am in great favor of throwing back a cold one - so I thought that a little trivia might add to the festivities.

[It's also a great base for a new drinking game: Ask a trivia question about St. Patrick, the Irish, or Beer. Answer the question wrong, drink a sip. Answer it right - drink a pint!]

Saint Patrick's real name was Maewyn Succat. Bring on the beer!

Saint Patrick is well known for driving the snakes from Ireland. Bring on the beer! (Ireland never had a snake population! Bring on the beer!)

Saint Patrick's jawbone was preserved in a silver shrine and was often requested in times of childbirth, epileptic fits, and as a preservative against the "evil eye." Bring on the beer!

St. Patrick was kidnapped at 16 and brought to Ireland. He was sold as a slave in the county of Antrim and served in bondage for six years until he escaped to Gaul, in present-day France. Bring on the beer!

Upon his escape he returned to his parents' home in Britain. Here he had a vision, and claimed that God had hand picked him to preach to the Irish and convert them to christianity. Bring on the beer!

After 14 years of study, Patrick returned to Ireland, where he built churches and spread the Christian faith for some 30 years. Bring on the beer!

In Ireland green has long been considered to be unlucky. Bring on the beer!

Irish folklore holds that green is the favorite color of the Good People (the proper name for faeries). Bring on the beer!

The Good People are likely to steal people, especially children, who wear too much of the color. Bring on the beer!

Chicago is famous for dyeing the Chicago River green on St. Patrick's Day. The tradition began in 1962, when a pipe fitters union poured a hundred pounds of green vegetable dye into the river. Bring on the beer!

Today only 40 pounds of dye are used, enough to turn the river green for several hours. Bring on the beer!

1,883,200,000 (that's 1.9 billion) pints of Guinness are consumed around the world every year. Bring on the beer!!!

Ok, so at least half of those pints have been consumed by my friends and family. We have a very stict mantra: "Beer. For whatever ails you."

In my opinon there is nothing worse then a warm beer. To avoid this at your St. Patrick's Day party, and all of your future parties, I recommend purchasing a Kegerator. Fully insulated with moisture resistant foam and a clever cold air-cooled keg tap, your favorite keg(s) of beer will be ice cold to the last foaming drop. And even better - it will be in the convenience of your own home. (This is especially handy for the safety of you, your friends, and the general population.)

To this, my friends, I have only one thing to say: BRING ON THE BEER!!!

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,
may you hold a cold one in the palm of your hand.

Slàinte!