They say that everyone's got a bit of Irish in them on St. Patrick's Day. That may be complete nonsense, but it's a good excuse for a party, right? Here's a few fun facts about St. Patrick's Day and Irish whiskey, plus a few cocktails for you to try on March 17th.
The traditional colour associated with St. Patrick was blue until the turn of 19th century.
Two letters written in Latin by St. Patrick in the fifth century still exist.
No snakes have ever lived in Ireland, as the surrounding seas are too cold for them to migrate.
There is no such plant as a shamrock – the three-leafed plants worn on St. Patrick's Day are generally clover or wood sorrel.
In the early 20th century a law was passed that pubs in Ireland had to be closed on St. Patrick's Day. This law was only repealed in the 1970s.
All the commercially available Irish whiskey on the market today is made at just three distilleries: Bushmills, Midleton & Cooley.
Bushmills is the only working distillery in Northern Ireland.
It's a myth that all Irish whiskey is triple-distilled: Cooley's single malts are all double-distilled.
The only style of whiskey that is unique to Ireland is single pot still whiskey, which is made with a mixture of malted and unmalted barley.
Although Midleton produces tens of millions of litres of grain whiskey every year for Jameson, the only commercially available Irish single grain whiskey is Greenore, from Cooley.
