How to Make Green Beer, Naturally

Ah, St. Patrick’s Day. The day the world turns green, luck is in the air, and drinks abound. To prepare, let’s look at a recipe for Green Beer, with no unnatural food dye.

When doing research for this, I found three possible suggestions to use for the green color: wheatgrass juice, spirulina, and matcha powder. I chose to use the matcha for two reasons. First, it seemed to be the most palatable in my opinion. Second, I had it in my cupboard. 

Here is the recipe I used, from 3 Ways to Make Green Beer Without Food Coloring | Wholefully

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon of matcha powder

1 pint of light beer (I used Abita Amber)

Steps:

1. Put matcha powder into a small bowl. 

2. Add a few tablespoons of beer

3. Whisk until combined.

4. Pour into beer glass and add remainder of beer.

That’s it!  

So my husband, Fen, prepared us both a green beer. We split a single Abita, poured into two eight-ounce glasses

If you’ve never had matcha, it’s strong, kind of earthy. To me, the matcha-Amber tasted disconnected. It didn’t meld nicely. 

Fen took a few sips and looked pensive, thinking. He went to the liquor cabinet and retrieved a bottle of Triple Sec. We both agreed the added citrus notes finished off the drink nicely.

To sum up, a green beer is a fun experiment, but for a more traditional Irish drink? Go with a Guiness or Bailey’s.