Today is the anniversary of Patrick's death. He was captured and taken to Ireland as a slave to tend sheep. He escaped, went home, and only returned back after a vision. He was considered an outcast in Ireland because he wouldn't accept gifts from the various Pagan kings. He wasn't Irish and most of what we think we know about St. Patrick is fiction.

Guinness is not the best Irish beer. Nor is beer Irish. The Irish brewed ale because hops were not available in Ireland. The original popular drink of Ireland was distilled spirits. The Irish government encouraged the importation of hops and establishment of breweries under the thinking that malt beverages were less harmful than distilled spirits.

St. Patrick had nothing to do with ridding Ireland of snakes, that was the glaciation during the ice age. Beer wasn't established in Ireland until a thousand years after his death. Nobody really drinks green beer in Ireland. They do, however, drink a lot of red ale, so colored because of the heavy use of barley.

I will drink toe Saint Patrick today at an appropriate hour, nonetheless. The Irish are worthy and deserve our respect. May they one day be free of British rule!