10 Irish Facts You Probably Didn’t Know*:

• To appeal to varying tastes around the world, Guinness is actually produced in 17 different flavours including wintergreen, roast chicken, and baking soda.
• The experience of the Irish émigré  can be summed up in three words: “Far and Away”. The aforementioned movie can be summed up in just two words: shit sandwich.
• Contrary to popular belief, diminutive actor Tom Cruise is not a leprechaun. He can, however, lead you to a giant fucking pot of Scientology money.
• Corned beef and cabbage is a great pre-drinking meal. It will also ensure that your St. Paddy’s day vomit is of a thick, creamy consistency.
• Kissing the Blarney Stone is said to endow the kisser with the gift of the gab. “The gab” is Irish slang for “cold sores”.
• The potato was brought to Ireland from Peru by the infamous Spanish conquistador, Frito Lay.
• It’s a shame Bono won’t shut his fucking cake hole.
• Jameson’s whiskey is great in cocktails and other breakfast foods.
• The Kennedy family may be of Irish descent, but their giant, scary teeth were cast in the fires of Mordor. In fact, they can gnaw clean through a telephone pole in 4 minutes flat.
• The British government’s Weights and Measures Department has officially classified (ex-Pogues front man) Shane MacGowan’s urine as “overproof”.

* ‘cause they’re all mostly a total load of blarney. Except that thing about Bono.

St. Patrick’s Day History:

These bits of info have been gleaned from various sources on the internets. Just something to think about while you hoist that green beer on March 17th.

St. Patrick’s Day is observed on March 17 because that is the feast day of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is believed that he died on March 17 in the year 461 AD. It is also a worldwide celebration of Irish culture and history. St. Patrick’s Day is a national holiday in Ireland, and a provincial holiday in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Many cities have a St. Patrick’s Day parade. Dublin, the capital of Ireland, has a huge St. Patrick’s Day festival from March 15-19 that features a parade, family carnivals, treasure hunt, dance, theatre and more. In North America, parades are often held on the Sunday before March 17. Some paint the yellow street lines green for the day! In Chicago, the Chicago River is dyed green with a special dye that only lasts a few hours. There has been a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Boston, Massachusetts since 1737. Montreal is home to Canada’s longest running St. Patrick’s Day parade, which began in 1824.

Facts about Saint Patrick:

• St. Patrick was born in 385 AD somewhere along the west coast of Britain, possibly in the Welsh town of Banwen. At age 16, he was captured and sold into slavery to a sheep farmer. He escaped when he was 22 and spent the next 12 years in a monastery. In his 30s he returned to Ireland as a Christian missionary. He died at Saul in 461 AD and is buried at Downpatrick.
• Historians believe St. Patrick’s real name was “Maewyn Succat.”
• St. Patrick introduced the Roman alphabet and Latin literature into Ireland. After his death, Irish monasteries became Europe’s leading intellectual centers.

Irish Canadians:

Irish Canadians are immigrants and descendants of immigrants who originated in Ireland. 1.2 million Irish immigrants arrived, 1825 to 1970, half in the 1830-1840 period. By 1867, they were the second largest ethnic group (after the French), and comprised 24% of Canada’s population. Most of the immigrants were Protestant, not Catholic, as the Catholic Irish after 1850 usually headed to the U.S., England, Australia and Scotland. By 1931 there were 1,230,000 Canadians of Irish descent, half of whom lived in Ontario. In Canada as a whole in 1931, two-thirds (68.7%) were Protestants, with Catholics in the majority in the Maritimes. The 2006 census by Statistics Canada, Canada’s Official Statistical office revealed that the Irish were the 4th largest ethnic group with 4,354,000 Canadians with full or partial Irish descent or 14% of the country’s total population.

End of history lesson.

We spend a night in the slammer.

Well, not quite. Last week we (along with a group of other local writers and bloggers) were fortunate enough to be invited on a mini tour of the Vancouver Police Museum courtesy of museum Executive Director Chris Mathieson and the good folks at Sumac Ridge wineries. What’s one got to do with the other you ask? Everything, as Chris pointed out. Vancouver’s a city built on a hard-drinkin’, hard-livin’ logging town that was, to put it mildly, heavily involved with Johnny Law from the get go and its history is inextricably linked to booze.

Housed in what was once the old city morgue and crime lab, this best kept Vancouver secret shouldn’t be. This is the kind of gritty history everyone digs, and they’ve got it here in spades - from collections of real gangster-era Tommy guns and a plethora of other confiscated weaponry to historical crime scene photos, actual evidence and gobs of police gear from every era. Hell, they still have the old cadaver drawers and autopsy room in place! Gruesome? Depends on your point of view. We’d say more morbidly fascinating. The prohibition-era history as you might guess is right up our (dark) alley.

Chris’ informative little tour completed, Sumac’s founder Harry McWatters gave us the lowdown on his winery’s story (which is pretty much a history lesson on the BC wine industry in general) and best of all (no offense, Harry) treated us to a sabering demo and a tasting of their “Tribute” sparkling wine made in honour of Canadian Olympic athletes. And all in the tiled comfort of the old autopsy theatre. Now we don’t claim to be wine experts, but “Tribute” is a nice one - dry and crisp - kinda like Harry’s humour. Plus $1.25 from the sale of each bottle goes to the Canadian Olympic team. Imagine, drinking to support people - what a concept…

Folks, we implore you to visit this great little museum. It is, in our opinion, the best in Vancouver. And it’s completely self-funded. No government grants or even funding from the very city it honours. So make a plan to check it out, it’d be a bargain at three times the admission.

Thanks again to Chris Mathieson and Harry McWatters.

Vancouver Police Museum - Details Here

Sumac Ridge Estate Winery - More Here