April 7 is National Beer Day. This year marks the 85th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the Cullen-Harrison Act, which permitted the sale of beer in the U.S. even before the official end of Prohibition. When he signed the new law, President Roosevelt declared, “I think this would be a good time for beer.”
To celebrate beer’s legalization, Americans across the country gathered outside breweries on April 7, 1933, when the new law went into effect, and enjoyed 1.5 million barrels of beer, inspiring National Beer Day today. Eighty-five years later, we continue to toast beer as America’s most popular alcohol beverage.
Americans have plenty to toast to this National Beer Day. Beer has never been more dynamic in the U.S. Americans are enjoying more types and varieties of beer than ever before. With more than 5,000 active breweries, the beer industry supports more than 2.2 million good-paying American jobs and pours more than $350 billion into our nation’s economy.
Beer also brings people together responsibly. Today, as we celebrate National Beer Day, we also reflect that April is Alcohol Awareness Month, a time to talk about responsibility. America’s brewers and beer importers are dedicated to preventing underage drinking and drunk driving. “Drink responsibly” is more than just a slogan. For America’s brewers and beer importers, responsibility includes measurable actions. Last year alone, Beer Institute members provided more than 1 million safe rides throughout the country in order to keep our roads safe.
To help parents have the necessary conversations with their children about underage drinking, the beer industry has provided educational tools and more than 3 million booklets to parents, including basic facts about alcohol and how-to-tips for starting conversations. These materials have reached more than 70 million people. We know parents are the most effective advocates to make sure their children understand the responsibilities that coincide with drinking alcohol.
This education continues as children move into adolescence. Beer Institute members have provided more than 300 grants to colleges around the country, promoting responsibility, reducing drunk driving, and discouraging underage drinking.
This commitment extends to making sure that beer advertising is intended for adults of legal drinking age. That’s also why brewers and beer importers follow a marketing and advertising code that is a strong model of self-regulation to reduce underage targeting, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
All Beer Institute members agree that advertising should be directed to adults who are at least 21 years old, and we are working with retailers on best practices to make sure that they are only selling alcohol to adults of legal drinking age.
The beer industry adopted a standard that at least 71.6 percent of the audience for beer advertising and marketing must be adults of legal drinking age based on the 2010 census that found 71.6 percent of Americans are 21 and older. A 2014 report found more than 97 percent of beer advertising met this standard, and more than 85 percent of the aggregate audience for all advertising consisted of people 21 and older.
Enjoy a cold beer, and please drink responsibly. Cheers!
Jim McGreevy is president & CEO of the Beer Institute.
