St Patrick toasts hard and soft

A St Patrick's Day reveller salutes his tipples. Picture / Richard Robinson

As rivers of Guinness flowed among Irish revellers throughout downtown Auckland yesterday, cathedral parishioners celebrated St Patrick's Day with green non-alcoholic cordial.

By the time Father Bernard Kiely led a late-morning mass at St Patrick's Cathedral in Wyndham St, the merry-making just metres away in a roped-off section of the road outside the Muddy Farmer pub had been in full swing for almost four hours. The contrast between refreshments at the two sites was stark, but the cathedral square did not have a liquor licence, said Father Kiely, "and we wouldn't want to tread on their territory".

He acknowledged that several of his ancestors had been publicans in early Auckland, and did not rule out nipping down the road for a quick tipple once his pastoral duties were done. "I don't think having a good time is a sin," he said.

Which was just as well for the imbibers of up to 150 kegs of Guinness stout the Muddy Farmer ordered in for the day.

Manager Kirsty McKelvie, a recent Scottish immigrant, said revellers had drunk almost that much last year and she was crossing shamrocks in hope that the taps would not run dry before 1am.

Each keg holds 80 pints of Guinness, the first of which were quaffed with an Irish buffet breakfast that kicked off at 7.30am.

The Muddy Farmer was first on a calling list of several Irish establishments for first-year Auckland University student Hamish Hood and his bar-tender friend Thor Bergquist, both 19. Mr Hood admitted he was another Scot, but he regarded St Patrick's as the best day of the year.

Information technology workers Adrian Kitto and David Carter dyed their hair green on a dare, even though they were due back at work any minute. But Mr Kitto did not foresee any difficulties blending back in, as his office was having a "green day".