Tuesday, March 17, 2020

HAPPY GREEN BEER DAY By Kathleen Lawless @kathleenlawless


Since I have a fair amount of Irish blood in my ancestry, St. Patrick’s Day has always been one more fun thing that happens in March.  Dad started a tradition years ago of giving me a card each year on St. Patrick’s Day, and now that he’s 91 I treasure each and every one of them, with only one duplicate so far. 



Because many of my books are set in the Wild West days, I was curious to know if Saint Patrick’s Day was a big deal in the time of my characters.  It was no surprise to learn that, given the number of Irish immigrants who settled in the US, St. Patrick’s Day has always been a time for revelry and parades.  Green beer on St. Patrick’s Day has been in existence over a hundred years, at least the quaff-able variety.  This popular beverage achieves its green tone by the addition of blue food coloring, which mixes with the natural yellow tinge of the beer. 

Back in the late 1800’s green beer was not a beverage to be celebrated, but referred to a beer that was not fully fermented and would make the consumer sick.  These days, the expression “green beer” is still used by distillers in reference to beer that is not yet ready to drink, but you won’t find that type in your glass.  If anyone gets sick drinking green beer today, it’s simply because they didn’t know when to stop.


Today, my heart is heavy, knowing St. Patrick’s Day parades are being cancelled all around the globe, along with many other large-scale events and gatherings, as the world struggles to contain the Covid 19 virus.  I pray for everyone’s good health.           

As an author working on a series, it’s sometimes difficult to reach the end.  I’m releasing BENJAMIN’S BRIDE this week, Book 7 of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, but I already feel Book 8, a sequel, nagging at me.  


For now, I’ve settled for writing PERCY’S HOPE, a free novella for my VIP Newsletter Readers.  Percy is a much-loved secondary character in the series who is off stage for more than 3 books.  It should be fun for series readers to learn what Percy was up to during that time.  Sign up here to receive your free copy.  I promise not to bombard you with emails.  I promise not to bombard you with emails. http://eepurl.com/bV0sb1




I love to hear from my readers.  You can find me here. 



1 comment:

Julie Lence said...

Nice blog, Kathleen. I'm not a beer-drinker, but back when I was young, my parents took us on a tour of a local brewery. At the end, was an old-time saloon where adults sampled a free beer and kids had free root beer. In the saloon was an old player piano. I miss that place, since it's now gone, but enjoyed learning about 'green' beer. Thank you!