Why is April 7th “National Beer Day”? Well, it’s because it was on that date in
1933 that the production and distribution of beer became once again legal in
the United States.
On March 14, 1933, Representative Thomas H. Cullen
introduced House Resolution 3341, which would amend parts of the Volstead Act,
which was the legal basis for Prohibition. The bill passed the House it that
same day, and made its way to the Senate, where it was introduced by Senator
Pat Harris, and passed on March 16. The final, amended, version of HR 3341 was
approved by the Senate on March 20, by a vote of 43 to 35 (with 15 abstentions)
and agreed to by the House on March 21.
On March 22, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed HR
3341 into law, with his famous –though perhaps aprocryphal- quip that “I think
this would be a good time for a beer!”
The Cullen–Harrison Act, as it became known, after its
sponsors, made it legal in the United States to sell beer with an alcohol
content of 3.2% (by weight), and wine of similarly low alcohol content, which
were thought to be too low to be intoxicating, effective April 7, 1933. The Act, however, did not in itself end
Prohibition when it came to beer or wine, as it was still illegal to produce or
transport such beverages into any state or territory, or into the District of
Columbia, unless it had passed similar legislation to legalize sale of those low
alcohol beverages in its jurisdiction.
Nonetheless, throngs gathered at
breweries and taverns for their first legal beer since 1918.
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| April 7, 1933, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
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