Whether you're a cocktail aficionado or you just can't pass up a good deal on nachos, we can all agree that happy hour has become a sacred ritual in America.

But have you ever wondered when the tradition of cheap libations after work began?

Ironically, you can thank prohibition for the boozy practice as we know it today and the U.S. Navy for the upbeat name.

Keystone-France via Getty Images If Prohibition taught us anything, it's that drinkers will always find a way to drink. Here, a group of rebels drink at an illegal New York "speakeasy" in 1932.

The first documented "happy hours" in the United States were held by the Navy as early as 1914 -- but they had very little to do with alcohol.

But it wasn't until Prohibition (1920-1933) that Americans began using the term specifically for drinking.

For those law-breaking Americans who wanted to imbibe in secrecy, a kind of a 20th century pre-game emerged. Friends would meet at speakeasies or someone's home before going out for dinner, thus creating the cocktail hour.

Eventually, civilians adopted "happy hour" as a euphemism for that secret and festive hour.

By the end of Prohibition, the concept of a "happy hour" had caught on. Restaurants and bars, however, wanted to force the practice out in public and began holding regular "happy hours" in the 1960s with discounted cocktails and bar food as bait.

So the next time you and your co-workers sidle up at your local watering hole for happy hour, make sure to toast in honor of the sailors and Prohibition rebels who paved the way for your reasonably priced chicken wings and $2 margaritas.