During our days procuring and selling beers we get quite a lot of feedback, which we love. It allows us to know what we do well and what we could tweak to improve the products and service we offer. Recently I (Geoff) received an interesting comment from a customer after providing him with a heads up on some Stone Brewing stock that is due to arrive in the country soon.

His comment was simple, “Doing the Lord’s work Geoff.”

Maybe we are, we don’t know. For us we are simply doing what we love – sharing craft beer with others and making it more accessible on this vast island we call home. If that is the Lord’s work then awesome! But we won’t be the judge of that. We did however think it might be interesting to dig up some information on who in history has links to being a “Beer Saint”. The list is not exhaustive, with some sources citing up to 28 saints that have something to do with beer, brewers, brewing ingredients or related occupations. The ones below are the most common and interesting.

St. Arnold is the Patron Saint of brewers and hop-pickers. An American brewery based in Houston Texas is named after this saint, St Arnold Brewing Company.

St. Augustine, also known as St Austin, is a 4th Century philosopher and recognised as the Patron Saint of brewers, printers and theologians.

St. Amandus, commonly known as St Amand, is a 6th Century bishop who is considered to be the Patron Saint of bar staff, bartenders & beer merchants. Possibly the modern day Hospitality Saint?

St. Hildegardis a 12 Century German nun who is regarded as the Patron Saint of hop-growers. In 2012 Australian Female Brewers released a beer called Hildegarde’sBiere de Garde which paid tribute to St. Hildegard who had written about the preserving powers of hops.

St. Matthew was a publican in the 1st Century which probably made him the best candidate for being the Patron Saint of publicans!

St. Veronus is reported to be the Patron Saint of Belgian brewers and a staunch supporter of Lambic ales.

Some of us are agnostic, others are devote Catholics or Buddhists, while others are atheists. Whatever your religion we are humbled in the knowledge that you enjoy good beer and we’ll definitely drink to that!