Today is: National Beer Day Staff reports National Beer Day is celebrated on the anniversary of the date that beer once again began being served, in 1933, after over 13 years of prohibition. Franklin Roosevelt signed the Cullen-Harrison Act on March 22, 1933, which said beer with up to 3.2% alcohol content by weight could again be sold, as long as states passed their own laws allowing the selling of beer. The new law went into effect on April 7. People gathered outside of breweries and taverns the night before beer became legal, waiting for their opening at midnight. On the first National Beer Day, 1.5 million barrels of beer were consumed.