NATIONWIDE – If you need an excuse to drink a cold one after a long week, Friday is the perfect day, as April 6 is New Beer’s Eve.

While it sounds made up, the unofficial holiday has been celebrated for 85 years.

The day kicks off the hop-filled festivities for National Beer Day, which is April 7.

New Beer's Eve marks the night before the first alcoholic beer became legal after 13 years of Prohibition in the 1920s and early 1930s.

In 1933 Franklin D Roosevelt quickly ended prohibition after becoming president, and then signed an act to increase the amount of alcohol in beer, which went into effect on April 7.

Historians have said at 12:01 a.m. on April 7, Roosevelt said “I think this would be a good time for a beer.”

During the alcohol-fueled celebrations, it is believed Americans consumed 1.5 million gallons of beer within the first 24 hours after the end of Prohibition.

So for those who drink a beer today, perhaps they should pour a little out for FDR.