Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be beer pourer-outers.
It's impossible to fathom that a mere 77 years ago a person couldn't legally drink beer in this country. But for 13 years - from the moment "The Great (Failed) Experiment" was enacted on January 16, 1920 through 1933 - that was precisely the case. Although the actual repeal of Prohibition occurred on December 5 of that year, beer drinkers got a reprieve a full eight months beforehand. On April 7 then President Franklin D. Roosevelt repealed the Volstead Act (aka the National Prohibition Act), legalizing 3.2% alcohol by weight beer. In the first 24-hours after Roosevelt signed on the dotted line over 1.5 million barrels of beer were consumed. The country was thirsty... for beer!
Over the years there have been a few - rather failed - attempts at recognizing April 7 as the historic day it is. And not just because it ironically happens to also be my day of birth. In 2003 the Brewers' Association (then known as the Brewers' Association of America) announced a national promotion called New Beer's Eve. "People need to be reminded of the single biggest cause of brewery closure," said Daniel Bradford, who was the President of the BAA then (he's now the publisher of the prestigious All About Beer magazine). "Prohibition lead to the demise of thousands of breweries and the creation of a violent criminal element. We need to remember this travesty, because it could happen again." While truer words were never spoken, this campaign never really took off. In 2008 there was a big deal made about 75 Years of Beer, complete with "Celebrate April 7th" posters, but then that got morphed into a "Celebrate December 5th" thing instead, which made it all confusing. A few weeks ago I found something on the new CraftBeer.com website called Brew Years Eve. Personally, I'm not a big fan of that name. It's too kitschy and doesn't really impart the significance of the day.
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