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 Great Divide Saint Bridget's Porter
by erik lars myers
 Brewer: Great Divide Brewing Company, Denver, CO
Style: Robust Porter
Let me begin by talking about Saint Bridget. The side of the bottle says, "Saint Bridget was a patron saint of Ireland, known for the amazing miracle of transforming her bathwater into beer for thirsty clerics."
This I had to check out.
So I looked up Saint Bridget on the Vatican's website. They don't have the best search engine, so maybe I missed something, but the only Saint Bridget I could find was from Sweden. Unlikely, thought I, but through a little more internet searching I think I tracked this down.
What they REALLY mean is Brighid, an old icon of Celtic myths, and many stories attributed to her are apparantly also those of the Goddess. Saint Brighid was probably created when the British Isles were Christianized and all those Pagans had to be brought in line with good, proper Christian beliefs. Then, on her way to Colorado, can you blame her for taking up an American spelling of the name? In this day and age?
Anyway, there still lies an issue of the myth of the bathwater to beer, and what I found is that it wasn't just a little bathtub full of beer. Oh no. This is way cooler. Word, for word, I'm stealing from this site.
St. Brighid is linked to the miraculous brewing of copious quantities of beer. It is said that at Eastertide she brewed enough to serve the people of 18 churches for 8 days from a handful of malt and that the water for her bath would turn to beer. In the eighth century a lovely poem was ascribed to her:
"I'd like to give a lake of beer to God.
I'd love the Heavenly Host to be tippling for all eternity.
I'd love the people of Heaven to live with me. To dance and sing,
If they wanted, I'd give for their use vats of suffering.
I'd make Heaven cheerful because the happy heart is true,
I'd make the people contented, I'd like Jesus to be there too.
I'd like the people of Heaven to gather from all around,
I'd give a special welcome to women, the three Mary's of great renown.
I'd sit with the men and women of God. There by the lake of beer.
We'd be drinking good health forever, and every drop would be a prayer.”
As you can see, there's a lot to the story. Fittingly, there's a lot to this beer.
Let me start off at the aroma. It's full. You can smell the roasted malts, a little molassesy undertone, and hops hiding naughtily behind that. It smells, charmingly, like a deep, dark cave of beer.
First sip will give you a nice creamy mouthfeel, and that's where the hops come out to play, shooting across the palatte smartly before settling back into the nice malty, dusky flavors of the porter, and a nice, chocolatey-ish flavor. And then everything meshes together in the aftertaste, warmly, almost like you were drinking a scotch, except without the "Ahh! Ahh! It's burning!"
It's very drinkable. By all means, if you're a fan of the darker brews, try this out.
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