Cheers to Beer!
This month’s article speaks for itself: Lets celebrate beer!
April 7th is National Beer Day in the United States of America. This holiday has its roots dating back to the year 1933, where on the date of April 7th the finality of the Cullen-Harrison Act signed by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was enacted which repealed the Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition) with the addition of the Twenty-First Amendment to the US Constitution. Even Roosevelt himself was thirsty for a change, as he was quoted upon signing the Act, “I think this would be a good time for a beer!” On that very “first” National Beer Day in 1933, it is estimated 1.5 million barrels of beer were consumed across the country.
Truly, the very FIRST National Beer Day, as an officially-named holiday, was celebrated in 2009. We can give a round of applause to a man named Justin Smith in Richmond, VA, with his Facebook page dedicated to acknowledging April 7th as National Beer Day. The page eventually went viral on numerous social media handles, with further prestige and recognition given by the popular beer app Untappd, which created a National Beer Day badge for April 7th, rewarding persons who checked in a beer on that date. In 2017, National Beer Day was officially recognized in a much larger way by former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe and even today, in the year 2025, the hashtag #NationalBeerDay continues to trend on social media every April 7th.
In honor of National Beer Day in America, here are some fun and interesting facts regarding laws that are still on the books in states around the country.
In Alaska, it is illegal to be drunk in a bar. You run the risk of being booted from the premises if you become drunk at the bar, and it means no bar-hopping because it is additionally illegal to enter a bar if you are already intoxicated. On a sillier note, in Alaska it is also illegal to give beer to a Moose…which we might surmise a person would likely only be brave enough to attempt after they have been kicked out of the bar for being drunk on liquid courage
In California, a business cannot display alcohol within 5 feet of a store entrance or a cash register if that store also sells gasoline. The only exception being if the alcohol is stored in a secured cooler.
In Colorado, a horse is considered a vehicle and law enforcement will ticket a person for a DUI if they are found to be riding a horse and their Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) is over the legal limit of 0.08%.
In Florida, alcoholic beverages are prohibited during hurricanes and the law does not clearly specify where or how alcohol is prohibited, therefore it may even be illegal to be at home drinking during a hurricane! (It’s always something with Florida, isn’t it?)
In Indiana, grocery and convenience stores are not allowed to sell cold beer. So, if you are looking for a last-minute pickup to bring to a party, you only have one option: A liquor store, because it is the only place that refrigerated beer is sold.
In Iowa, you are not allowed to have a “tab” at the bar and must pay for every drink individually, every time you order. It is also illegal for a man to have three sips of beer while in bed with his wife.
Louisiana, despite their open container laws, allows for anyone to utilize a drive-through daiquiri store, where it is completely legal to purchase frozen alcoholic drinks (And drink them! Even the driver!) while in your car as long as there’s a plastic top on the cup. (This is truly legit and was absolutely fascinating to me as a New Yorker when I was in New Orleans many moons ago!)
In Massachusetts, there is no such thing as a “happy hour,” and to boot, public drinking games are illegal – say buh-bye to cornhole, beer pong, and flip cup! In even more fun, happy hour also does not exist in North Carolina, and do your best to not upset the governor of said state either. The governor of North Carolina reserves the exclusive right to stop all selling, manufacture and transporting of alcohol in the state at any time!
In Nebraska, a bar or brewery is not allowed to sell beer unless they are simultaneously cooking a pot of soup.
In North Dakota, serving beer and pretzels is strictly forbidden. While in Ohio, it is illegal to give a fish alcohol and even better, there is a law that states: “no [alcohol] advertisement shall represent, portray or make any reference to Santa Claus.”
New York allows liquor stores to sell wine glasses, wine stoppers, corkscrews and other fodder, but the buck totally stops at wine gift bags and fines can be upwards of $10,000!
In Nevada, public intoxication is LEGAL and they take it one step further by noting that no governing body can pass laws or ordinances making it an offense. (Time to take your Massachusetts public drinking games to Nevada!)
And last, but certainly not least, in Wyoming, don’t you dare go drinking in a mineshaft or else you could go to prison for up to a year!
Cheers to National Beer Day!
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