The Comic Book Story of Beer (2015)

The official title of the comic book is The Comic Book Story of Beer: The World’s Favorite Beverage from 7000 BC to Today’s Craft Brewing Revolution.

That’s a hefty name for a hefty book; at 170 pages this is not bathroom reading. Even if that’s where you find yourself after one beer or a six pack.

All of this prelude is to introduce National Beer Day.

Today is the day to crack open a cold one, if so inclined, and down what is literally the world’s most consumed alcoholic beverage. Behind only water and tea, beer is the third most popular drink in the world.

High praise for a libation based on fermented cereal.

The Comic Book Story of Beer (2015)

This non-holiday is rooted in April 7, 1933, when President Franklin Roosevelt signed a law allowing people to brew and sell beer again after 13 years of a “dry” America. The caveat was it could contain no more than four-percent alcohol by volume. This led to the Eighteenth Amendment being repealed Dec. 5, 1933.

Skip ahead to 2009 when Craft Beer Examiner Justin Smith of Richmond, VA, and friend Mike Connolly of Liverpool, England, created a National Beer Day Facebook page.

On April 7, to commemorate the Cullen-Harrison Act, naturally.

National Beer Day was officially recognized in by Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe in 2017. In 2018, House Joint Resolution 90 was introduced in Virginia General Assembly to officially recognize National Beer Day in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The Comic Book Story of Beer was researched and written by Jonathan Hennessey, Mike Smith and Aaron McConnell and illustrated by McConnell.

Much acclaim has been awarded the New York Times Best Seller.

Readers learn how beer has literally transformed world history and shaped human affairs.

So, before tipping back a cold one, make sure you’re not going anywhere. If planning to delve into this tome, you probably won’t be for some time to come.