The price of a beer on St. Patrick’s Day 2017

Posted on: 13th March 2017 in Finance

St. Patrick’s Day started out as a Catholic Feast Day. In the 1800s, it was taken up by Irish-Americans as a day of civic pride. And now it’s turned into a day of global drinking! Where do we stand here in the UAE when it comes to the cost of a beer? And what about the key expat countries we serve?  

Who’s selling the most expensive beer in the world?

Of all countries in the Go Euro beer index, it’s Switzerland that tops the price charts with $9.51 for a beer. Bratislava comes in last (70^th out of 70 countries polled) with $1.65 for a beer. Pintprice.com – who compile prices from 206 countries – say that Tadjikstan is the cheapest place in the world to get hold of a beer at 30 pence.

What about expat countries?

Of key expat countries, it’s the UAE who grabs top spot – with the 8^th most expensive beer in the world – followed by London (18^th), Sydney (20^th), Auckland (32^nd), Cape Town (68^th). ABU DHABI Global ranking (most expensive beer):       8th Price of beer:                        $5.36 LONDON Global ranking (most expensive beer):       18th Price of beer:                        $4.71 SYDNEY Global ranking (most expensive beer):       20th Price of beer:                        $4.66 AUCKLAND Global ranking (most expensive beer):       32th Price of beer:                        $3.7 CAPE TOWN Global ranking (most expensive beer):       68th Price of beer:                        $1.87 Based on the 2016 GoEuro Beer Price Index. Final USD figure based on average average price for a 33cl bottle of beer from both on- and off-trades (ie prices in the supermarket and prices in a bar).

St Patrick’s Day – Dubai

• Falls on a Friday.
• Paddy’s Day Party at the Dubai Media City Amphitheatre with Irish international artists Gavin James, Walking on Cars, The Coronas and The Stars Of The Commitments performing on the day.
• Dubai institution The Irish Village is holding special celebration events from March 16^th to March 18^th at their Al Garhoud venue.

St Patrick’s Day – origins

• A Catholic feast day celebrated by both Catholics and Protestants.
• Not a big deal in Ireland till the 1970s.
• An Irish-American invention.
• The very first St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in Boston in 1737.
• Took off as a statement of civic Irish success in America from the 1850s.

St Patrick’s Day – stats

• St Patrick’s Day is huge in the US. Somewhere between 30m and 40m Americans claim Irish ancestry. Just over 50% report that they celebrate the big day, with over 10% of Americans planning a St. Patrick’s Day vacation.
• 13m pints of Guinness drunk on the big day across the globe. That’s double the usual amount of 5.5m.
• 4^th most popular drinking day in the US behind NYE, Christmas and the Fourth of July.
• If a leprechaun’s pot of gold contains 1000 gold coins weighing 1oz each, that makes the total value of the pot just under a million UK pounds (£977,000).