It’s National Beer Day

On April 7,1933, beer could be legally brewed once again due to the end of Prohibition. Here are a few beer tidbits in honor of National Beer Day:

Presidents Washington and Jefferson brewed their own beer. In 1909, Teddy Roosevelt brought along 500 gallons of beer on an African safari.

The beer can was introduced in 1935.

Here are a few brewery notes:

Thomas Edison perfected the incandescent light in 1879. The Pabst Brewing Co. had electric lights installed just three years later in their brewery.

William Hamm Jr. of the Hamm's brewing family was kidnapped by the Barker-Karpis gang in the '30s and held for ransom. Fingerprints had been used by some entities before this, but this case was said to be the first one where the FBI actually attempted to lift fingerprints from the ransom notes. At one time, Hamm's head brewmaster was a Jacob Schmidt. Yes, he's the one. He left Hamm's and started the Schmidt brewery. Jacob's daughter Marie married a man by the name of Adolf Bremer. Adolf had a brother named Otto. Yes again, Otto is the Otto Bremer we know so well in Minnesota for the Otto Bremer Foundation and later known for Bremer Bank.

In 1938, Elise Miller becomes head of Miller Brewing. She was the first, and I believe still the only, woman to head a major brewery. Miller introduced low calorie beer with its Miller Lite in 1975.

Coors introduced the all-aluminum beer can in 1959, and began offering a penny for every aluminum can returned to the factory. They were one of the leaders in recycling.

On April 3, 2015, Free Beer Friday is introduced on Kat Kountry 105. Listen each Friday morning between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. for your chance to win one of two gift certificates to Hy-Vee Liquor in Owatonna.