Scott #REA174 is a United States Internal Revenue beer tax stamp from the Series of 1933, printed in brown orange on a tan background, representing the tax on a half barrel of fermented malt liquor. Unlike the ornate portrait stamps of earlier decades, this post-Prohibition issue features bold, no-nonsense typography declaring "Stamp For / Half Barrel / Fermented Malt Liquor / Series of 1933." The hole-punch cancellation visible on this example confirms it saw actual use at an American brewery. Notable for their relatively plain design, these stamps also marked a deliberate change in language — the word "beer" was dropped entirely in favor of "Fermented Malt Liquor," a technical term that reflected the cautious legal framework surrounding the return of legal brewing.

This stamp exists because of one of the most dramatic reversals in American legal history. Prohibition had banned the manufacture and sale of alcohol from 1920 until 1933, shutting down breweries across the country for thirteen years. When President Franklin Roosevelt took office in the depths of the Great Depression, he moved quickly to legalize beer as a revenue measure. On March 22, 1933, he signed the Beer and Wine Revenue Act, which taxed beer to help fund New Deal relief programs. Roosevelt reportedly told an aide after signing the bill, "I think this would be a good time for a beer." Full Prohibition ended on December 5, 1933, when the 21st Amendment was ratified.

The return of legal beer meant the return of beer tax stamps — and the government lost no time issuing the 1933 series. The tax rate started at $5 per barrel in 1933 and rose over the following years, reaching $9 per barrel by 1951, after which beer stamps were discontinued entirely. The 1933 stamps are simpler in design than anything issued before Prohibition, reflecting a government eager to get the tax machinery running quickly.

Scott #REA174 is a United States Internal Revenue beer tax stamp from the Series of 1933, printed in brown orange on a tan background, representing the tax on a half barrel of fermented malt liquor. Unlike the ornate portrait stamps of earlier decades, this post-Prohibition issue features bold, no-nonsense typography declaring "Stamp For / Half Barrel / Fermented Malt Liquor / Series of 1933." The hole-punch cancellation visible on this example confirms it saw actual use at an American brewery. Notable for their relatively plain design, these stamps also marked a deliberate change in language — the word "beer" was dropped entirely in favor of "Fermented Malt Liquor," a technical term that reflected the cautious legal framework surrounding the return of legal brewing.

This stamp exists because of one of the most dramatic reversals in American legal history. Prohibition had banned the manufacture and sale of alcohol from 1920 until 1933, shutting down breweries across the country for thirteen years. When President Franklin Roosevelt took office in the depths of the Great Depression, he moved quickly to legalize beer as a revenue measure. On March 22, 1933, he signed the Beer and Wine Revenue Act, which taxed beer to help fund New Deal relief programs. Roosevelt reportedly told an aide after signing the bill, "I think this would be a good time for a beer." Full Prohibition ended on December 5, 1933, when the 21st Amendment was ratified.

The return of legal beer meant the return of beer tax stamps — and the government lost no time issuing the 1933 series. The tax rate started at $5 per barrel in 1933 and rose over the following years, reaching $9 per barrel by 1951, after which beer stamps were discontinued entirely. The 1933 stamps are simpler in design than anything issued before Prohibition, reflecting a government eager to get the tax machinery running quickly.