--- title: April 7 is National Beer Day — Here's Why description: The observation recognizes the Cullen-Harrison Act, which made beer legal even before Prohibition ended in December of 1933. canonical: https://time.com/4731060/national-beer-day-april-7/ author: Catherine Trautwein article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-07T17:03:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:27.473Z article:section: History og:title: The Holiday for Hops Fans: Why April 7 is National Beer Day og:description: A big day for beer og:url: https://time.com/4731060/national-beer-day-april-7/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9de6c7681b910f8f/6988bc942dce0131279ec79d/people-drinking-beer-beerintern317.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: people-drinking-beer-beerintern317 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Holiday for Hops Fans: Why April 7 is National Beer Day twitter:description: A big day for beer twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9de6c7681b910f8f/6988bc942dce0131279ec79d/people-drinking-beer-beerintern317.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is Why April 7 Is National Beer Day ## Video: Alcohol Is Good for Your Heart—Most of the Time [Watch (HLS stream): Alcohol Is Good for Your Heart—Most of the Time](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fZGLBSul.m3u8) (1:13)  _Published 2017-03-23. A new study of nearly two million people published in The BMJ adds more evidence that moderate amounts of alcohol appear to be healthy for most heart conditions—but not all of them_ by [Catherine Trautwein](https://time.com/author/catherine-trautwein/) ## Catherine Trautwein Apr 7, 2017 5:03 PM UTC  g-stockstudio by [Catherine Trautwein](https://time.com/author/catherine-trautwein/) ## Catherine Trautwein Apr 7, 2017 5:03 PM UTC Though you probably won’t get a day off from work for it, Friday is a holiday you may want to celebrate: [National Beer Day.](http://time.com/4729012/national-beer-day-historian/) The [annual observation](http://time.com/money/3773998/national-beer-day-why-we-love-beer/) in the U.S. has been unofficially recognized for almost a decade, but it’s been brewing for much longer. As Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe noted in a [proclamation](https://governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/proclamations/proclamation/2017-national-beer-day/) he released on Friday morning, the April 7 date for the observance is in remembrance of the day more than eight decades ago when the Cullen-Harrison Act went into action. The 1933 law, signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, made buying, selling and drinking [beer and wine](http://time.com/tag/alcohol/) legal for the first time since Prohibition in 1920\. Though the law did not affect restrictions on high-alcohol-content liquor, it allowed beer-thirsty Americans to finally (legally) have that long-awaited drink. FDR is said to have announced after putting his name to the law that “this is a good time to have a beer,” according to _The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America_ — but Americans would have to wait until December of 1933 for the ratification of the 21st Amendment, which would officially end Prohibition. The total market for beer in the United States cleared $107 billion dollars in 2016, according to the [Brewers Association.](https://www.brewersassociation.org/statistics/national-beer-sales-production-data/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4731060/national-beer-day-april-7/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4731060/national-beer-day-april-7/"},"headline":"This Is Why April 7 Is National Beer Day","datePublished":"2017-04-07T17:03:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:27.473Z","description":"A big day for beer","url":"https://time.com/4731060/national-beer-day-april-7/","keywords":["food and drink","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9de6c7681b910f8f/6988bc942dce0131279ec79d/people-drinking-beer-beerintern317.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Catherine Trautwein","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/catherine-trautwein/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9de6c7681b910f8f/6988bc942dce0131279ec79d/people-drinking-beer-beerintern317.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"people-drinking-beer-beerintern317","caption":"","creditText":"g-stockstudio","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/food-and-drink/","name":"food and drink"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4731060/national-beer-day-april-7/","name":"This Is Why April 7 Is National Beer Day"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Alcohol Is Good for Your Heart—Most of the Time","description":"A new study of nearly two million people published in The BMJ adds more evidence that moderate amounts of alcohol appear to be healthy for most heart conditions—but not all of them","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fZGLBSul/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-03-23T17:23:18.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fZGLBSul.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4731060/national-beer-day-april-7/","duration":"PT1M13S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4731060/national-beer-day-april-7/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```