The Unbelievable Amount Of Guinness Consumed On St. Patrick's Day
Guinness is basically the unofficial drink of St. Patrick's Day. The dry stout was founded by Arthur Guinness in 1759, and since then, it's been an annual tradition to raise a toast with a glass of Guinness in hand. But whether Guinness is their choice beer or not, people will most likely celebrate this holiday with an alcoholic beverage.
St. Patrick's Day is a top-five drinking day in the United States (the third biggest, according to WalletHub). This tradition dates back to the great feast associated with the holiday (via Total Wine). At the feast, people were allowed to drink alcohol, which was prohibited during Lent.
However, Guinness happens to be a lot of people's choice drink on this day for many different reasons. The Takeout calls it "the Textbook Irish Stout," because it represents every quality of a perfect Irish stout — it's both full and rich. But how many pints of this leading brew get served up every St. Patrick's Day?
People drink a little more than 4 pints of Guinness
According to WalletHub, 13 million pints of Guinness are enjoyed on this special day in the month of March. That's about 4.2 drinks per person. Even the sale of spirits increases significantly during this holiday. All those libations add up to a 153% jump compared to a typical day of drinking.
Most Guinness drinkers are located in New England. In Massachusetts and New Hampshire, over 20% of the population (or more than one in every five people) can claim Irish heritage, according to Find Me A Brewery. Cities in the Northeast, such as Boston, have major drinking celebrations every year to ring in the holiday.
But even if a person is not located in a big city, there are still many ways to honor the holiday. In addition to drinking their dry stout, people can bake it. Whether celebrants want to make an authentic Irish Guinness stew recipe or sweet or pour Guinness into a recipe for brownies, the are plenty of possibilities.