St Patrick’s Ale
The Strangford Lough Brewing Company beer St. Patrick’s Ale is one of three Irish beers from our St. Patrick’s range named in honour of Saint Patrick, probably the most famous character in Irish history.
Slieve Patrick
Our St. Patrick’s Ale label displays an image of a Saint Patrick statue. The statue of St. Patrick that the one in the label represents stands on the crest of Slieve Patrick hill, above the villages of Saul and Raholp in County Down, Northern Ireland. The effort in climbing Slieve Patrick hill are rewarded with wonderful views across Saint Patrick’s Country - the statue, which dominates the hill, overlooks the Mourne Mountains to the south and Strangford Lough to the east.
It is the largest statue of the Patron Saint in the world and is one of the most famous. The huge statue is constructed from mourne granite, the same stone used to build the Saul church, and the base has interesting bronze panels illustrating scenes from the life of Saint Patrick.
Commemorating Patrick
The statue is located close to the Saul Church, near the town of Downpatrick where Patrick is allegedly buried. Saul Church is a replica of the ancient Celtic church which previously stood on the site of the stone barn used by St. Patrick- the first Christian meeting place in Ireland. The church and the statue were built in 1932 to commemorate 1500 years since Patrick’s arrival in Ireland. The Saul Church is seen on our St. Patrick’s Best label, another Irish Beer from our St. Patrick’s range.
For more on St. Patrick visit Irish Secrets.
Why Green?
The colour of the droplet on our label is green because the colour green is associated with St. Patrick and Ireland. However, green has not always been associated with St. Patrick - at one time it was the colour blue that was associated with St. Patrick. Studies into St. Patrick show that his chosen colour on his coat of arms was actually blue, not green. Historians believe that up until the 1750’s, blue was the colour most associated with St. Patrick and the Irish people. After this time it was thought to have been replaced by green due to the popularity of green clothing and shamrocks. The true colour of St. Patrick is represented by the colour of the sea on our logo. The green droplet, along with the dark green text in our logo, is also symbolic of Ireland and is an appropriate colour to represent our Emerald Isle.
The same colour is seen on our St. Patrick’s Best label and St. Patrick’s Gold label, making all three beers recognisable as our St .Patrick’s range.
St. Patrick’s Dark Ale?
In the USA we have to name St. Patrick’s Ale ‘St. Patrick’s Dark Ale’. The TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco tax and Trade Bureau) have told us we have to include the word ‘ale’ on all of our labels e.g. St. Patrick’s Gold Ale and St. Patrick’s Best Ale. We did not want to call our beer St. Patrick’s Ale Ale, so we decided to call it St. Patrick’s Dark Ale.
