National Beer Day: 17 Fun Facts To Celebrate The Boozy Holiday

The country celebrates National Beer Day on Friday, giving you just the right excuse to indulge in a cold one as you kickstart your weekend.

Observed yearly on April 7, National Beer Day marks the anniversary of the date the Cullen–Harrison Act — the first to start ending prohibition — was enacted after being signed by former President Franklin D. Roosevelt on March 22, 1933. The day was full of joy as beer drinkers were able to purchase their beer again for the first time in 13 years.

Luckily, beer is readily available in 2017. On Friday, here are some facts for you to enjoy as you sip on a glass of ale, stout or lager, courtesy of BeerAdvocate, Mental Floss, list25 and the Huffington Post.

1. The study of beer and beer-making is called zythology, derived from the Greek words “zythos” (beer) and “logos” (study).

2. The fear of an empty beer glass is called Cenosillicaphobia.

3. Women were the first professional brewers and were called brewsters.

4. Brewing beer was such a serious task in ancient Babylon that if a person brewed a bad batch, he was drowned.

5. The world beer chugging champion, Steven Petrosino of New Cumberland, Pennsylvania, downed a liter of beer in 1.3 seconds in 1977.

6. Brewing may date back to almost 5,000 years.

7. Former President George Washington loved beer so much that he had his own brewhouse on the grounds of Mount Vernon.

8. Former President Jimmy Carter legalized home breweries.

9. With an alcohol content of 67.5 percent compared to the regular 5 percent, the strongest beer in the world is called Snake Venom.

10. A Guinness estimate once showed that about 93,000 liters of beer was lost in the beards of Englishmen every year.

11. The Czech Republic drinks more beer than any other country. It is followed by Austria and Germany.

12. A brewmaster in Oregon discovered a way to brew beer using yeast collected from his own beard.

13. Beer is closely related to marijuana as beer's hops are from the same family of flowering plants as marijuana.

14. The world's largest beer festival is the 16-day fair held in Munich, Germany, each year. It is called Oktoberfest.

15. Beer may be good for you. It strengthens bones because of its silicon content, which increases calcium deposits and minerals for bone tissue.

16. Foam is an important part of a good glass of beer. Lack of foam could mean that the beer is flat and bland.

17. The United States and China are the world’s top beer-producing countries.