{{Short description|Beer dyed green for a festive occasion}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox drink | name = Green beer | image = Czech Maundy Thursday green beer (01).jpg | image_size = | image_alt = Three glasses of green beer | caption = Green beer on tap on Maundy Thursday in České Budějovice | type = beer | alternate_name = | abv = variable | origin = | region = | introduced = | colour = green | flavour = | ingredients = | base = | variants = | related = | drinkware = | garnish = | served = | prep = | footnotes = | module = <!-- other arbitrary modules can be embedded here --> }}
'''Green beer''' is beer that has been festively dyed green for occasions such as Saint Patrick's Day in the United States or Maundy Thursday in the Czech Republic.
==Production== The beer is typically green food dye added to beer.<ref name="Noennig">{{cite news |last1=Noennig |first1=Jordyn |title=Green beer in Milwaukee: How food coloring helps sell a whole lot of light beer |url=https://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/beer/2023/03/09/green-beer-is-sold-at-most-bars-in-milwaukee-but-what-is-it/69954806007/ |access-date=23 February 2026 |work=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |date=9 March 2023 |location=Milwaukee}}</ref> A recipe from the 1910s uses wash blue to color the beer.<ref name="Adams" /> Typically, light beers are used, as dark beers, even ambers, are too dark. Even though much of the green beer sold for St. Patrick's Day are Molson Coors brands, the company does not produce green beer. It is typically made at the distributor level by adding it to kegs.<ref name="Noennig" />
Starobrno Brewery in the Czech Republic makes their color with a combination of herbs, a special malt, and a green liquor<ref name="Lazarová" /> (blue curaçao<ref name="50k">{{cite web |title=Za zelené pivo padla pokuta 50 tisíc. Kvůli dobarvování |url=https://www.tyden.cz/rubriky/byznys/za-zelene-pivo-padla-pokuta-50-tisic-kvuli-dobarvovani_245201.html |website=TÝDEN |publisher=EMPRESA MEDIA |access-date=12 March 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250215094400/https://www.tyden.cz/rubriky/byznys/za-zelene-pivo-padla-pokuta-50-tisic-kvuli-dobarvovani_245201.html#gsc.tab=0 |archive-date=15 February 2025 |language=cs |date=6 September 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>), the latter including the dye brilliant blue FCF.<ref name="Zelené pivo">{{cite web |url=https://zelenepivo.cz/ |website=Zelené pivo |title=Zelené pivo |publisher=Pivovar Starobrno |access-date=1 March 2026 |location=Brno |language=cs |date=2026}}</ref> The brewery's parent company Heineken brands was fined 50,000Kč for not disclosing the artificial dye.<ref name="50k"/> Another dye commonly found in the Czech versions is tartrazine, typically in combination with brilliant blue FCF, but in at least one case (Valášek) with indigo carmine.<ref name="StachováLhotskáSolichŠatínský">{{cite journal |last1=Stachová |first1=Ivana |last2=Lhotská |first2=Ivona |last3=Solich |first3=Petr |last4=Šatínský |first4=Dalibor |title=Determination of green, blue and yellow artificial food colorants and their abuse in herb-coloured green Easter beers on tap |journal=Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A |date=1 July 2016 |volume=33 |issue=7 |pages=1139–1146 |doi=10.1080/19440049.2016.1200198 |pmid=27295128 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19440049.2016.1200198 |access-date=3 March 2026|issn=1944-0049 |oclc=10310483266|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Similarly to Starobrno, Ground Breaker Brewing in Portland, Oregon also uses blue curaçao to make a green beer, although they also add edible glitter.<ref name="Welcome Back to Oz">{{cite web |title=Glitter Beer: The Full Report |url=https://www.beervanablog.com/beervana/2018/3/19/glitter-beer-the-full-report |website=Beervanablog.com |access-date=8 March 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250818094727/https://www.beervanablog.com/beervana/2018/3/19/glitter-beer-the-full-report |archive-date=18 August 2025|date=20 March 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Inspired by practices in Myanmar and Thailand, the American brewery Dogfish Head Brewery made a green beer colored with spirulina in 2006.<ref name="Verdi">{{cite web |title=Verdi Verdi Good |url=https://www.dogfish.com/drink/beer/verdi-verdi-good |website=Dogfish Head Craft Brewery |access-date=1 March 2026 |location=Milton, Delaware}}</ref> However, one of the most prominent spirulina beers from Southeast Asia is not green.<ref name="RosenbergHagstrom">{{cite web |last1=Rosenberg |first1=Maggie |last2=Hagstrom |first2=Trevor |title=What It's Like to Drink Anti-Aging Beer in Myanmar |url=https://matadornetwork.com/read/drink-anti-aging-beer-myanmar/ |website=Matador Network |access-date=2 March 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250907021041/https://matadornetwork.com/read/drink-anti-aging-beer-myanmar/ |archive-date=7 September 2025|date=29 October 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> Freetail Brewing in San Antonio also experimented with a green spirulina beer,<ref name="AppétitStrange">{{cite web |title=Strange Brew |url=https://www.bonappetit.com/drinks/beer/article/strange-brew |website=Bon Appétit |publisher=Condé Nast |access-date=2 March 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230401173522/https://www.bonappetit.com/drinks/beer/article/strange-brew |archive-date=1 April 2023|date=27 December 2012}}</ref><ref name="FreeWit">{{cite web |title=Spirulina Wit |url=https://untappd.com//b/freetail-brewing-co-spirulina-wit/47741 |website=Untappd |access-date=2 March 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260302182747/https://untappd.com//b/freetail-brewing-co-spirulina-wit/47741 |archive-date=2 March 2026}}</ref> as did Hokkaido's Abashiri Beer.<ref name="Shiretoko">{{cite web |title=Green Beer |url=https://japantoday.com/category/features/new-products/green-beer |website=Japan Today |publisher=GPlusMedia Inc. |access-date=8 March 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250817014505/https://japantoday.com/category/features/new-products/green-beer |archive-date=17 August 2025 |location=Tokyo|date=18 June 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> In Spain and Italy, a green beer colored with olives was released.<ref name="Aragón">{{cite web |title=Oliba Green Beer |url=https://aragonbeers.com/oliba-green-beer |website=Aragón Beers |access-date=3 March 2026 |language=es |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20251012040941/https://aragonbeers.com/oliba-green-beer |archive-date=12 October 2025}}</ref><ref name="OlivoNews">{{cite web |title=Here also in Italy is "Oliba", green beer with olive oil |url=https://olivonews.it/en/here-is-also-in-Italy-Oliba-green-beer-with-olive-oil/ |website=OlivoNews |publisher=PIERALISI MAIP SpA |access-date=3 March 2026|archive-date=3 March 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260303005813/https://olivonews.it/en/here-is-also-in-Italy-Oliba-green-beer-with-olive-oil/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
==St. Patrick's Day== [[File:Happy St. Patrick's Day Green Beer in Baltimore.jpg|thumb|A pub in Baltimore advertising green beer for St. Patrick's Day]] Many sources point the origins for the St. Patrick's Day libation to the United States, and not Ireland. The drink is not traditional in Ireland<ref name="Crider">{{cite web |last1=Crider |first1=Beverly |title=St Patty's Day turns Irish green |url=https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2666&context=ereporter |website=UAB Report |access-date=3 March 2026 |page=1|date=13 March 1987}}</ref> though the trend has been imported to a small degree since the 1980s.<ref name="Shelton">{{cite news |last1=Shelton |first1=John C. |title=Green Beer Gimmick goes Down Smoothly in Ireland |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JKBaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Sk8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6923%2C3933516 |access-date=7 March 2026 |work=The Courier |date=18 March 1985 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250817052435/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JKBaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Sk8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6923%2C3933516 |archive-date=17 August 2025 |location=Arizona|page=12B|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="RTÉ">{{cite news |title=All Set For St Patrick's Day |url=https://www.rte.ie/archives/2017/0301/856372-saint-patricks-day-preparations/ |access-date=3 March 2026 |agency=RTÉ |publisher=Raidió Teilifís Éireann |archive-date=2 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240402114414/https://www.rte.ie/archives/2017/0301/856372-saint-patricks-day-preparations/ |url-status=live }}</ref> One story says it originates with Green Beer Day at a pub in the Tipperary Hill neighborhood of Syracuse, New York, in 1962 or 1963 to kick off the St. Patrick's festivities.<ref name="Cazentre">{{cite news |last1=Cazentre |first1=Don |title=Blarney, banter and BS: How Coleman's Pub in Syracuse invented green beer. Maybe |url=https://www.syracuse.com/entertainment/2014/02/blarney_banter_and_bs_how_cole.html |access-date=23 February 2026 |work=Post-Standard |date=21 February 2014 |location=Syracuse, New York}}</ref> An earlier story points to its "discovery" to Thomas H. Curtin in New York City prior to 1914.<ref name="Adams">{{cite news |last1=Adams |first1=Charles Henry |title=New York Day by Day |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rYgLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-1MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1999,162635&dq=green-beer&hl=en |access-date=28 February 2026 |work=The Evening Independent |date=26 March 1914 |location=St. Petersburg, Florida |page=7}}</ref> It was also served in 1910 in Spokane, Washington.<ref name="Jabbers">{{cite news |title=Green Beer Be Jabbers! |url=https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/article/the-spokane-press-green-beer-be-jabbers/192389079/ |access-date=1 March 2026 |work=The Spokane Press |date=17 March 1910 |location=Spokane, Washington |page=1}}</ref>
==Maundy Thursday== In the Czech Republic, three days before Easter is "Green Thursday", when green vegetables can be washed down with green beer ({{lang|cs|zelené pivo}}). The color association with the day comes from the German name of this day, ''Gründonnerstag'', which also translates to "Green Thursday", but the origin of the German term is uncertain. It possibly stems from a custom of green sprigs of herbs being worn by penitents,<ref name="Crump">{{cite book |last1=Crump |first1=William D. |title=Encyclopedia of Easter Celebrations Worldwide |date=8 March 2021 |publisher=McFarland, Incorporated |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |isbn=9781476680545 |page=52 |oclc=1322785328 |access-date=1 March 2026|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nksgEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22green+beer%22+maundy&pg=PA52}}</ref> or it has been speculated that local Catholic priests in the past would wear green vestments for the Holy (Maundy) Thursday mass.<ref name="Kenety">{{cite web |last1=Kenety |first1=Brian |title=Easter: Pilsner for the Pope, green beer for Czechs |url=https://english.radio.cz/easter-pilsner-pope-green-beer-czechs-8103232 |website=Radio Prague International |access-date=2 March 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250206165503/https://english.radio.cz/easter-pilsner-pope-green-beer-czechs-8103232 |archive-date=6 February 2025 |location=Prague |date=10 April 2020}}</ref> There is, however, no record of it, as the official liturgical color for the Holy Thursday mass is invariably white. Drinking green beer for the holiday began in 2005 at Starobrno Brewery in Brno.<ref name="Lazarová">{{cite web |last1=Lazarová |first1=Daniela |title=The day on which the golden brew turns green |url=https://english.radio.cz/day-which-golden-brew-turns-green-8195419 |website=Radio Prague International |access-date=1 March 2026 |location=Prague|date=13 April 2017 |archive-date=10 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250610194258/https://english.radio.cz/day-which-golden-brew-turns-green-8195419 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Kenety" /> By 2009, the brewery was making 250,000 liters of green beer and distributing country-wide.<ref name="Týden">{{cite web |title=Na Zelený čtvrtek se bude opět čepovat zelené pivo |url=https://www.tyden.cz/rubriky/apetit/na-zeleny-ctvrtek-se-bude-opet-cepovat-zelene-pivo_113689.html |website=Týden |access-date=1 March 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210920055103/https://www.tyden.cz/rubriky/apetit/na-zeleny-ctvrtek-se-bude-opet-cepovat-zelene-pivo_113689.html |archive-date=20 September 2021 |language=cs |date=7 April 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The idea was popular and spread and other breweries also began producing their own versions.<ref name="Lazarová" /> Purkmistr brewery in Plzeň even released a version for St. Patrick's Day.<ref name="Hernandezová">{{cite web |last1=Hernandezová |first1=Svatava |title=Svatý Patrik přivezl zelené pivo |url=https://plzensky.denik.cz/zpravy_region/svaty-patrik-privezl-zelene-pivo-20140316.html |website=plzensky denik |publisher=VLTAVA LABE MEDIA a.s. |access-date=13 March 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240806232553/https://plzensky.denik.cz/zpravy_region/svaty-patrik-privezl-zelene-pivo-20140316.html |archive-date=6 August 2024 |language=cs |date=16 March 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref>
==Green Beer Day== {{Main|Green Beer Day}} The drink is the focus of Green Beer Day at Miami University in Ohio, originally stemming from its consumption on St. Patrick's Day when spring break was moved to conflict with the holiday.<ref>{{Cite news|date=9 March 1982|title=Green Beer Day at CJ's: Special Drink Prices All Thursday|page=7|work=Miami Student|url=https://digital.lib.miamioh.edu/digital/collection/student/id/2331/rec/96|archive-date=27 December 2021|access-date=27 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227032932/https://digital.lib.miamioh.edu/digital/collection/student/id/2331/rec/96|url-status=live}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Beer in the United States}}
Category:Types of beer Category:Saint Patrick's Day Category:Beer in the Czech Republic Category:Beer in the United States Category:Slavic Easter traditions Category:Easter food