It’s a little hard to be thinking about green when you look out your window and all you see is white, but everyone’s favorite green holiday is just around the corner. That’s right, St. Patrick’s Day is coming up on Monday, March 17.

My mother was Irish, so that makes me half Irish and I always like to celebrate this day with a vengeance. I am a St. Patrick’s Day connoisseur. Trust me when I tell you that there is a proper way to mark this holiday and it has to be just right or else it’s a disaster.

To begin with, there has to be beer. Green beer is a lot of fun, but they have to serve it in a clear glass or cup. Otherwise, you can’t see the cool green color of the beer, it’s just a horrible looking green foam at the top of the cup.

Then there is the food. Yes, corned beef and cabbage is the dish of the day, but it has to be cooked right. There are seasonings that go into it, and for crying out loud, trim the fat off the beef, OK? You would be amazed at how many non Irish restaurants I have been to that miss that detail and bring out a plate of inedible grizzle.

And of course, there has to be Irish music. If you have never been around a collection if Irishmen, half in their cups, singing along to Irish protest songs and traditional Irish folk songs, then you haven’t really experienced St. Patrick’s Day. I bet you didn’t know that there are 147 verses to Danny Boy. OK, well maybe there aren’t that many, but it sure seemed like that when one of my friends from Dublin got home sick and called me up at two in the morning. He sang it for twenty minutes into my answering machine.

So, after years of checking out every Irish scene west of the Mississippi, I am proud to announce that this year I will be traveling about twelve blocks from my house to check out a new St. Patrick’s Day adventure that looks like it just might be the place to be, right here in beautiful Golden, Colorado.

Where?, you might ask. It’s at the second largest brewery in town, the Golden Brewery. That’s right, you can now attend a St. Patrick’s Day celebration right at the brewery, which has pretty much been every Irish guy’s dream since, well … Since forever!

They will be having a great party all day, with the doors opening at 11:30 a.m. There will be green beer, as well as regular beer if you have a problem with getting green teeth. They will also have food there provided by Tin Star Smokehouse who will be serving corned beef and cabbage plus BBQ for those of you who would prefer that. My English girlfriend was happy to hear that she gets a choice this year.

And, of course, the music. The Irish band Mulligan Stew will be performing 4:30-6:30 p.m. with plenty of selections that you can sing along with.

The Golden City Brewery is located at 920 1/2 Twelfth Street in Golden. You can check out their website at or give them a call at (303) 279-8092 for more information. You can also check out their Facebook page by clicking on the big letter “F” on their website. They post pictures and special deals on there all the time.

Now, don’t forget to wear something green. Also, if you really want to participate, but don’t know any of words to the songs well, believe it or not, there is actually a website called Irish-Song-Lyrics.com where you can get the lyrics to 111 different Irish standards. Just go there and download a bunch of them, or better yet, bookmark it on your smart phone. Just remember not to get too carried away and drop your phone into the green beer, OK?