April 7 is National Beer Day to recognize the day in 1933 when beer was legal for the first time since 1920

From Mark Perry. Excerpts:

"For all of the criticism the US has fielded for losing its edge in innovation, surging American craft beer production is a reminder of the deep pools of ingenuity, risk-taking, Yankee ingenuity, and “fermentrapreneurship” that remain in this country – the new United States of Beer."

ril 6, 2022

Tomorrow is National Beer Day, which is celebrated in the US every year on April 7 marking the day in 1933 that the Cullen–Harrison Act of 1933 was enacted to legalize the sale of beer in the US for the first time since 1920 (although it was limited to an alcohol content of only 3.2%) according to the Wikipedia entry for National Beer Day. Later that year, the Eighteenth Amendment of the US Constitution that passed in 1920 to outlaw alcoholic beverages was repealed on December 5, 1933, to officially end America’s first failed attempt at waging a War on Drugs (also known as Prohibition) that lasted thirteen years from 1920 to 1933. Legalizing alcohol in 1933 also ended the deadliest and most violent period in US history for America’s law enforcement officers when more than 2,500 police officers were killed by gunfire at an average rate of 180 per year, or once every other day during that 14-year period (see chart below).

National Beer Day is a great time to recognize the Amazing American Beer Renaissance! The top chart above shows the annual brewery count in the US from 1873 to 2021, based on data from the Brewers Association here. The growth in America’s breweries over the last decade, especially the exponential growth in craft breweries, microbreweries, and brewpubs, has to be one of the most remarkable small business success stories in recent history. Except maybe for the American energy renaissance and the recent exponential growth in shale oil and natural gas production in Texas, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania, I don’t think there are very many other examples of a rise in output or the number of US producers that can compare to the beer renaissance and the surge in American breweries over the last decade."