Green beer. Everyone makes fun of me for having my ritual St. Patrick's Day toast with a glass of chromatologically-enhanced beer. And of course, it is a silly and cheesy practice, but that's why I like it. Beer just seems to taste good when it's green and the day is the 17th of March. Naturally, I'm listening to the Pogues’ If I Should Fall from Grace with God (their best album, and don't even try to tell me otherwise) as I write (and drink). Green beer also tastes better when consumed with a shot of Jameson before noon on St. Patrick's Day.

For the record, while I generally support drinking holidays and drinking on holidays, I feel that it's in bad taste to transfer the celebration of St. Patrick's Day to the weekend when it falls on a Monday, as many did this year. If it's a drinking holiday, you have to step up and do your thing on the actual day of the holiday. Authentic, heartfelt celebrations cannot be transferred to Saturday just because it's convenient. If you do that, you might as well drink olive-colored beer, or pine, or myrtle. Whatever. See you at the pub.