Surprising Beer Facts for National Beer Day

It’s National Beer Day today (April 7) and before we start celebrating with our favorite brews (we’re all about IPAs, tripels, and saisons lately), we’re learning a few things. For example, did you know that the Smithsonian has a brewing historian?! They do! Theresa McCulla has possibly the world’s coolest job and sat down with Time to talk all things beer. Here a few things we learned:

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Women brewed beers. So did enslaved men and women. So did Native Americans. While beer brewing is usually associated with all things masculine (George Washington did it, after all), the history of beer brewery is shared by a diverse group of people.

Beer was once seen as healthy. That’s right. Back in the colonial period, people drank beer throughout the day (subbing for water) and it was seen as a normal, healthy part of the diet. Then came the 20^th century and everything changed: federal regulations on mass production of food and drink and of course the temperance movement.

We’re in the age of craft beer. There are 5,000 breweries in the country, the most at any point in history. Beer drinkers are looking for local, thoughtful, creative brews and are paying attention to labels, bottles, and company histories.

And finally, if you need a drinking song, use McCulla’s favorite, this old timey diddy.