As the city of Chicago prepares, yet again, to dye the Chicago River green in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, many beer consumers are prepped with a small bottle of green food dye for their beers. But there’s one beer brand that’s green year-round without the dye.

Recognized for its green bottle around the world, Heineken released its new Star bottle packaging nationwide this month. At the company’s National Distributors Conference in Phoenix last month, it celebrated the new packaging format by dropping hundreds of red paper stars from the ceiling onto the attendees below. The Star bottle retains the brand’s signature green color but streamlines the look of the Heineken and Heineken Light brands with a taller, thinner shape and an embossed thumb groove for a more modern and premium look, the company said.

As reported in this month’s cover story (page 30), the Star bottle increased brand loyalty by 5 percentage points during the fourth quarter of 2012 after being test marketed at on-premise accounts in New York City.

Also sporting a green bottle, Heineken USA’s Dos Equis beer increased 20 percent last year, the company reported. This year, the company plans to continue the brand’s “Most Interesting Man in the World” advertising campaign for the seventh consecutive year with “no signs of wear-out,” says Matt Kahn, vice president of marketing for portfolio brands. Dos Equis Ambar also will launch a Facebook promotion letting fans select a new “Most Interesting Man in the World” TV commercial.

 Whether you’re squeezing a few drops of green dye into your beer or enjoying a green bottle of Heineken, here’s to a happy and responsible St. Patrick’s Day. Sláinte!