Beer BarrelNews flash: Beer is awesome. Just in case you didn’t know.

 

We like to think of every day as a day to celebrate the magnificence of this bubbly brew, but today is the “real” day to pay tribute; it’s National Beer Day, friends.

 

Why does National Beer Day fall on April 7th? It’s the day the Cullen-Harrison Act took effect during the Prohibition-era. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, only in office for just about a month, decided to increase the amount of alcohol allowed in beverages from 0.5 percent to 3.2 percent. Our standard beer usually clocks in around 5 percent alcohol, but for the folks who had gone without for a number of years, 3.2 percent was the best thing to happen to the nation in a long time.

 

That first day of beer sales on April 7, 1933 brought in $7.5 million in tax receipts for the U.S. Treasury. Beer was able to breathe life into America’s economy again and by December 5, 1933, Prohibition went the way of the dodo bird and became extinct (phew).

 

Circling back to the 3.2 percent alcohol rule, we thought you might be wondering what type of beer is 3.2 percent and whether it still exists. First of all, yes – it still very much exists, and it’s not nearly as low alcohol as it sounds. In fact, you’ll find many beers around that ABV in Scottish, English, and Irish pubs; it’s often Americans that expect a higher ABV.

 

Listed by Ranker.com, beers that are currently 3.2 percent alcohol or less include:

 

  • Anchor Brewery Small Beer from Anchor Brewing Company
  • Courage Light Ale from Courage Brewery
  • Young’s Light Ale from Young’s Brewery
  • Harvey’s India Pale Ale from Harvey’s Brewery
  • Llangollen Grange No. 1 from Llangollen Brewery
  • Morrells Light Oxford Ale from Morrells
  • Robert Cain Dark Mild from Robert Cain
  • Scottish Courage Hofmeister from Scottish Courage

 

Choosing beers that hover around the 3.2 percent alcohol mark allow you to enjoy more beers at a time, giving you the ability to truly appreciate the tastes and smells rather than getting totally drunk.

 

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