How To Make Green Beer

A step-by-step guide on how to make green beer.

Is St. Patrick’s Day even complete without drinking green beer? Along with your Guinness jello shots and green apparel, make sure your St. Patrick’s Day has the green beverage staple. Here’s everything you need to know in order to make your perfect green pint.

What Is Green Beer?

What is green beer? You probably guessed it, it’s beer that has been tinted with green coloring. Different kinds of beer, as well as different kinds of green coloring, will give you a different shade of green beer at the end (and sometimes a different flavor too).

Now a St. Patrick’s Day staple in the U.S., the invention of green beer is credited to Dr. Thomas Curtin, who added a colorant called Wash Blue (not recommended to be digested, by the way) to a batch of beer and brought it to the Schnerer Club in New York in 1914.

How-To Make Green Beer

You most often see green beer on St. Patrick’s Day at a parade, but you can easily make it from the comforts of your own home a few different ways.

How-To Make Green Beer With Food Coloring

• Using a light-colored beer, such as a pilsner or pale ale, slowly pour your beer into the pint glass.
• To the pint glass add 3-5 drops of green food coloring.
• Slowly add more food coloring for your desired green color.

How-To Make Green Beer With Natural Ingredients

• Using a light-colored beer, such as a pilsner or pale ale, slowly pour your beer into the pint glass.
• Taking a ½ cup of your favorite green juice (purchased or pre-made using a juicer) pour it into a pint glass. *We used a pre-made kale and pineapple juice.
• Slowly add more juice for your desired green color. *Note, the more you add the more it will alter your beer's original flavor.

Non-Alcoholic Green 'Beer' Options

• Not drinking? You can still join in on the St. Patrick’s Day fun. Sip on a green apple soda for the same green beer look.