by Stephen Faure

St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner on March 17, and honoring Ireland’s patron saint involves a lot of the color green. “The wearing of the green” is one tradition associated with the day, and “the drinking of the green (beer)” is also a cornerstone of many St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

But let’s get one thing straight: Drinking green beer on St. Patrick’s or any other day is NOT an Irish tradition. Irish-American, maybe, but you never find beer stained with the national color of Ireland in that country. The Irish simply love their beer too much to do such a thing to it. There is also a very practical reason: most (but not all) Irish prefer stout beer, which is an un-colorable shade of black.

We’ll look at the various styles and colors of beer later. First, however, let’s examine how beer became so ingrained in our culture.

Beginnings of beer

How old is beer? Historians believe it’s been around in one form or another since humankind began gathering grain. It’s possible that beer predates bread; one theory is that ancient man discovered an inebriating mixture of sorts left after his store of grain had been soaked by rain and then forgotten for a few days. Others believe it more probable that after ingesting the remains of wet and forgotten bread, man realized he had something more than just wet and forgotten bread on his hands.

The oldest written evidence shows the ancient Sumerians in Mesopotamia may have discovered the beverage about 6,000 years ago. The “Epic of Gilgamesh,” one of the oldest written stories on earth, describes the primeval man Enkidu, whose wildness was defined in part by his lack of knowledge of beer: “Enkidu knew nothing of eating bread, of drinking beer. He had never learned.” Later, “Enkidu ate the bread until he had had enough. He drank the beer, seven whole jars, relaxed, felt joyful. His heart rejoiced, his face beamed … he anointed himself with oil and became like any man, put on clothes.” If beer could humanize the wild Enkidu, what other glories could the drink inspire?

Beer is deep-rooted in American life. Ben Franklin may have been correct when he said, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” Franklin probably formed his opinion at an early age—as a young apprentice printer he was subject to (or blessed with?) an imported English custom of having a portion of one’s wages paid in ale. For many, drinking beer is an integral part of the right of passage into adulthood. It’s almost inconceivable to have a celebration in Louisiana without it, especially as an accompaniment to spicy boiled seafood.

The stuff of life

Beer has been called “liquid bread,” and, to a great extent, that name is true. Beer and bread are made from the same basic ingredients: grain, water and yeast. Bread is typically made from wheat, ground finely and mixed with a little water to form dough. Beer is usually brewed using barley, although other grains, such as wheat, corn, oats, rye and rice, can be used singly or mixed together. Beer is normally flavored with an aromatic herb, hops, but may be flavored with any number of substances: Abita’s Purple Haze is flavored with raspberry puree.

The Germans, as famous for their beer as they are for precision engineering fine automobiles, passed the Reinheitsgebot, or Beer Purity Law, in the 1500s, decreeing that beer be made only from water, barley and hops. It remains in effect today in an amended form that allows yeast as an ingredient.

Man learned thousands of years ago that grain mixed with water and allowed to stand alone would ferment. Yeast, an airborne microbial fungus, alights on the mixture and begins the wild party that is the fermentation process. Yeast eats sugars and drinks water, reproducing at a terrifying rate, and spews large amounts of bodily waste in the form of alcohol and carbon dioxide gas into the environment. Disgusting! The party continues until the alcohol content in the mixture reaches a point that kills yeast, or until other variables, such as temperature, interrupt the fermentation process.

It is for the waste carbon dioxide and alcohol that we invite yeast to the party. Carbon dioxide causes bread to rise and gives beer and Champagne their fizz. Alcohol causes, well, things to be better.

Brewing beer is more involved than baking bread. Barley has to be malted before it is used—barley in its natural state does not contain enough sugar to support fermentation. Malted barley is simply grain that has been allowed to sprout, which converts some of the starch into sugar before the barley is dried and used.

The malted barley and other grains, if used, are milled and mixed with water and then heated into a mash, dissolving the sugars and starches, and causing enzymes developed during the malting process to convert more starch into sugar. The resulting mixture, called wort, is strained and then boiled. Hops are added during the boiling stage. Boiling the wort kills bacteria that may interfere with fermentation. The wort is cooled after boiling, yeast is added and the fermentation party gets started.

Different types of beer result from variations in the types and amounts of ingredients used and the times and temperatures at which the wort is cooked. The fermentation temperature and types of yeast also determine the type and character of the final product. Ales are brewed with yeast that ferments at the top of the mixture and at relatively warm temperatures. The beers consumed by most Americans are bottom-fermented lagers, which are made at cooler temperatures with yeast that does its partying towards the bottom of the mix.

The way barley is handled after malting also has a role in determining the type and flavor of the finished product. Barley may be dried naturally, or roasted like coffee after malting. The darker the roast, the darker the beer and deeper the flavor. Dark beers, chiefly porters and stouts, are made this way.

Beer in New Orleans

New Orleans has always been a beer city. At one time, there were more than 30 breweries in operation. Most were small, similar to today’s brewpubs, with most or all of a brewery’s output sold in only one or two outlets. A few breweries produced large quantities of beer that were distributed on a regional basis.

The 13-year period Americans endured without legal access to adult beverages during the 1920s and early 1930s was known as Prohibition. Breweries around the country suffered. Many survived by making soft drinks, “near beer” or even ice cream. Prohibition put most of New Orleans’ breweries out of business. The larger ones survived, most notably Dixie Beer and the Jackson Brewery. The National Brewing Company on Gravier Street near the parish prison was bought by Falstaff in 1936.

These three breweries became New Orleans icons, although only one, Dixie, was in operation when hurricane Katrina hit town. The plant was flooded, and Dixie’s future at this time remains uncertain.

Falstaff’s facility on Gravier Street may be remembered by many a New Orleans native as a weather forecasting beacon. In 1952, a 125-foot tower was added to the top of the brewery. The tower was a vertical electrical sign spelling out “Falstaff” with a large ball on top. The ball would light up green if fair, red if cloudy, red and white if raining, and flashing red and white if storms were approaching. The letters spelling out “Falstaff” signaled the temperature; they flashed on and off if the temperature was constant and lit from top to bottom if temperatures were falling, and from bottom to top if rising.

Jackson Brewery, which made Jax Beer, operated from 1890 to 1974, when it was bought out by Pearl Brewing of Texas. The plant, located adjacent to Jackson Square—home to the statue of Gen. Andrew Jackson, a likeness of which adorned Jax product labels—was soon renovated and converted into the popular shopping center that remains today.

So, if you’re feeling a bit Irish on March 17, go ahead and wear the green, but please, don’t drink it. Give a real Irish beer a try … like Guinness, or Murphy’s or Harp, and leave the green stuff for the garden.