National Beer Day which is observed in the US on April 7 every year, marks the day that the Cullen-Harrison Act was enacted into law. This was Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first step towards ending the Prohibition which banned the brewing and selling of beer in the US for 13 years. Upon signing the legislation, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made a famous remark – “I think this would be a good time for a beer.” The law went into effect on April 7, 1933.
The Cullen-Harrison Act
Senator Pat Harrison, a politician from Mississippi from 1911 to 1919 and Representative Thomas H. Cullen, a politician from New York who has been a member of the US House of Representatives from 1919 to 1944 were the sponsors of the law. This law legalized the sale in the United States of beer with an alcohol content of 3.2% and wine of similarly low alcohol content.
How National Beer Day started
In 2009, Justin Smith of Richmond, Viginia created the first National Beer Day. He started a Facebook page that was noticed by the Colorado Beer Examiner. Justin’s promotion of the new holiday was rewarded when Untappd – a beer drinking app – created a badge for National Beer Day. The app rewarded participants that checked a beer into the app on the 7th of April. Since then, the National Beer Day trends yearly on April 7 using the hashtag #NationalBeerDay.