Today, April 7th, is National Beer Day — and it turns out there’s a lot more to this celebration than just cracking open a cold one. From a midnight White House delivery to ancient Sumerian recipes, the story of beer is as rich and layered as a good stout.
Why April 7th?
National Beer Day commemorates one of the most welcome pieces of legislation in American history: the Cullen-Harrison Act of 1933. Named for its sponsors, Senator Pat Harrison and Representative Thomas H. Cullen, the act was passed by Congress on March 21, 1933, and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt the very next day. It took effect on April 7th — and with it came the first legal sale of alcohol in the United States since Prohibition began in 1919.
Roosevelt’s reaction upon signing the bill has become the stuff of legend. He reportedly said, simply and perfectly: “I think this would be a good time for a beer.”
The act legalized the sale of beer with an alcohol content of up to 3.2% by weight, along with wine of similarly low alcohol content. Beyond ending over a decade of dry misery, it was designed with serious economic intent — to stimulate a struggling economy, generate federal tax revenue, and put Americans back to work in the brewing and related industries. It served as a crucial stepping stone to the full repeal of Prohibition, which arrived later that year with the ratification of the 21st Amendment on December 5, 1933.
The Night the Beer Came Back
The scenes across America on the eve of April 7th were electric. People gathered outside breweries in what has since been dubbed “New Beers Eve,” with some fans so eager they camped outside overnight just to be first in line. Their enthusiasm paid off — an estimated 1.5 million barrels of beer were consumed on that single day, with an estimated $5 million worth of beer sold in Chicago alone.
The celebrations weren’t just cultural — they were economic. Hundreds of breweries, bars, and taverns could reopen and rehire. Restaurants could serve alcohol again. Workers were brought back, equipment was purchased, and the ripple effects were staggering. In the four months that followed, manufacturing grew by 78%, automobile and heavy equipment sales rose by nearly 200%, the stock market climbed 71%, and approximately four million people found employment — with another 500,000 jobs created in related industries.
Meanwhile, in Washington D.C., the Abner-Drury Brewery sent a guarded truck to the White House at one minute past midnight on April 7th, carrying two cases of beer for the President himself. There was just one problem: Roosevelt was asleep. A Marine standing guard, apparently not one to let history pass him by, opened the first bottle and drank it — allowing the press to photograph the moment. Roosevelt later sent both cases to the National Press Club, which seems like exactly the right call.
Beer: A Brief History of Humanity’s Favorite Drink
Beer isn’t just a party staple — it’s one of the oldest beverages in human history, with people brewing it for over 5,000 years. Ancient Sumerian and Egyptian workers were often paid in beer, and the oldest written recipe ever discovered is, fittingly, a recipe for beer, recorded by the ancient Sumerians.
For much of human history, beer was considered a food staple and was actually safer to drink than water, since the brewing process killed harmful bacteria. It wasn’t just fun — it was practical.
Today, there are over 100 distinct styles of beer produced around the world, all built from just four basic ingredients: water, malted barley, hops, and yeast. Hops were first used to flavor beer in Germany during the Middle Ages, and the tradition of craft brewing has never looked back. The oldest continually operating brewery in the world is the Benedictine monastery at the Bavarian State Brewery near Munich, which has been brewing since 1040 AD — nearly a thousand years of uninterrupted beer production.
Beer by the Numbers
The scale of global beer culture is genuinely staggering. Beer is the world’s third most consumed drink, trailing only water and tea, with over 35 billion gallons produced worldwide every year.
When it comes to who drinks the most per capita, the top three countries are the Czech Republic, Austria, and Romania — so if you want to know who takes beer most seriously, look to Central Europe. On the production side, China leads the world, producing nearly twice as much beer as the second-largest producer, the United States.
And for those who like their beer on the extreme end of the spectrum: the current world record holder for the strongest beer is Scottish Beithir Fire, brewed by 88 Brewery and blended with Scottish spirits, clocking in at a jaw-dropping 75% ABV. It comes with a warning label on the bottle — which, at that strength, seems like the least they could do.
Cheers to That
From ancient Sumerians to a sleepy Roosevelt, from New Beers Eve to 35 billion gallons a year, beer has woven itself into the fabric of human civilization in a way few other things have. So today, raise a glass — whatever style you prefer — and toast to the drink that has been with us for millennia, and the April 7th that brought it back.
Happy National Beer Day. 🍺