The 10 Weirdest National Booze Holidays

Mardi Gras and St. Patrick’s Day only come around once a year—but there’s no reason to put your celebratory glass down until these booze-centric holidays roll around again. Beverage companies and spirit associations have come up with a whole alternative calendar of boozy holidays, rife with ridiculous, superfluous holidays entirely devoted to various kinds of alcohol and specific drinks. Some make sense, like the mass appeal of June’s World Gin Day, while others serve a more specific need, like Hot Toddy Day in January—a rather effective ploy to warm everyone up. But there’s also a lesser tier of drinking holidays that just miss the mark. Here, nine of the wackiest national booze holidays in existence.

Bootleggers are responsible for many great moments in drinking history. They kept American speakeasies afloat during Prohibition, burst through British naval blockades to deliver liquid rations to the rebellious colonies during the Revolutionary War and gave us the backwoods delicacy of moonshine. So start your year off right by whipping up a batch of bathtub gin as a gift for the bootlegger in your life. Or, better yet, just go buy a bottle and drink it.

Though you might prefer to appreciate the full nuance of a good brew from a luxe stein, January 24 is not the day for fanciful glassware. Instead, grab a cold can from the case, throw it in a koozie, and drink. This is the holiday for everyone who truly enjoys the subtle metallic bite of a good beer straight from the can.

We’ve got nothing against this Cognac-based dessert drink, but it seems unnecessary in this day and age to devote an entire day to it. Find us someone who waits with bated breath all year until they can finally go all out on Brandy Alexander Day and we’ll reconsider our stance.

We’re not sure how the creators of this holiday landed on February 27, but honestly no day seems quite right for a body shot. It’s just not worth risking belly button lint getting mixed into the shot—not to mention how unsanitary the whole thing is. Just say no.

Grab your beer stein and don a pair of horns because on Bock Beer Day dressing like a billy goat is highly encouraged. Centuries ago, German bock beer—a sweet, strong brew from Einbeck—became known as ein Bock (meaning “billy goats”) in Bavaria thanks to the regional accent. Now, the goats are often featured on the labels of bock beer, providing a little zany inspiration for celebrating the holiday.

Like those who celebrate Christmas in July, bootleggers get a winter and summer holiday. That means we never have to go more than six months without an excuse to drink some good ol’ white lightning.

The licorice-like flavor of anise is polarizing—especially in the U.S.—so it’s odd that the liqueur gets an entire day of celebration. It is more popular outside of the States, though, especially in Spanish-speaking and Mediterranean countries. If nothing else, use it as an opportunity to toast your fellow drinkers abroad.

Assuming the legal drinking age in your state is still 21, thanks to this holiday you can toast our nation’s arbitrary drinking age restriction each summer.

A good kegger might last a day, but a great kegger requires a full weekend—that’s where this holiday comes in. Though we’d be surprised if your suds last more than 24 hours, the party can’t stop until the beer stops flowing.

Though we’re certainly not opposed to this rather specific holiday, we have a couple of issues with it: First, rhubarb season is in the spring. Second, there’s definitely not enough rhubarb-flavored vodka to go around.