Today, you will empty the stores of painkillers.

We tried to find our friend Aaron to write a sequel to last year's International Hangover Day post, but we couldn't find him. Last thing we remember is him climbing a fence while yelling "I AM BATMAN"...

So instead we'd like to encourage you to enter the International Beer Day Photo Contest! Just submit a photo of you celebrating International Beer Day 2011 and you could win an IBD beer stein, beer mug, or shirt!

Join the contest on Facebook

So we don't get sued and run out of beer money, here are the rules...

1. You must upload a photo!
2. Don’t show your naughty bits
3. Don’t be wearing anything with a curse word or slur on it. Not cool.
4. Must be at least 21 years of age and a U.S. citizen or permanent legal resident (green card). Not that there is any way for us to verify this.
5. Must be taken on International Beer Day
6. Breaking any laws will get you out of the contest and reported to the police. Sorry folks - we’re legally responsible if you do anything illegal.
7. Moderation, please. It’s not healthy to drink too much, and we don’t celebrate that. Any photo based around drinking excessively or competing over how much one can drink will be rejected.
8. No purchase or payment necessary to enter or win
9. You may submit any number of entries into the contest.

We can't wait to see your photos!

Photo courtesy of Fellowship of the Rich.

Tell the World!

Help make sure everyone in the world knows about International Beer Day by telling your friends on facebook and tweeting with the hashtag #IntlBeerDay.  Heck, we'll make it even easier than that, you can just click one of the buttons below:

Find Your Nearest Celebration

You and your friends are going to need somewhere to go out and celebrate International Beer Day, luckily there are 278 Official IBD Events taking place all over the world!  You can find your nearest event using our Map of IBD Celebrations:

And don't worry if there isn't an official celebration nearby, all you really need to celebrate International Beer Day is good beer and good friends -- just grab your pals, grab some brews and go start your own celebration at your favorite local pub.

Give Your Friends the Gift of Beer

One of our favorite International Beer Day traditions is giving the gift of beer! There's nothing quite like being handed a surprise beer and hearing, "I bring you the gift of beer" -- Pick up a six-pack and give each bottle out as a gift, we guarantee you'll make someone's day.

We've also made some silly digital beers that you can send to your friends on facebook, just copy the url below the beer of your choice and post it on your friend's wall.  Fair warning, friends who receive digital beers will probably insist that you buy them a real beer later on.

http://www.internationalbeerday.com/celebrate/gift-of-beer-dark/

http://www.internationalbeerday.com/celebrate/gift-of-beer-light/

http://www.internationalbeerday.com/celebrate/gift-of-beer-red/

You can learn even more about how to celebrate here.
Cheers, and Happy International Beer Day!

It's the day before International Beer Day here in the US, and we thought we'd take a short pause to take stock of where our beloved beer celebration stands.

As of this moment, there are 276 known International Beer Day celebrations planned across 138 cities and 23 countries worldwide. And again, that's just celebrations we know about, its possible and even likely that that there are many more bars planning to celebrate who never got around to submitting their celebration to the IBD map.

The IBD Facebook Event has crossed the 180,000 Attending line and is headed for 200,000. Tweets with the hashtag #IntlBeerDay are really starting to pick up speed.  We're even getting so many emails we can barely keep up with them.

In short, International Beer Day 2011 is goin' great! It's going to be an amazing celebration this year and we're glad to have you aboard. Here's to Beer, its brewers, its servers, and its drinkers -- Cheers!

Every Beer is like a snowflake,
No two are exactly alike.

As I write this there are 238 celebrations planned across 20 countries, but we'll be adding new locations down to the wire, so if your local pub isn't planning festivities yet, recruit them!

That’s why this August 5th we encourage you to tag your Twitter posts about International Beer Day with the hashtag #IntlBeerDay

What’s a hashtag? Hashtags are little chunks of text (with a # at the beginning) that identify a post as part of a specific trend, be it an event or just a running joke. What’s great about hashtags is that you can search for them and see every post about that topic, like this.

Using #IntlBeerDay in your posts doesn’t just identify you as a IBD-celebrator, it also unites you with others celebrating the core ideals of International Beer Day:

1. To gather with friends and enjoy the deliciousness that is beer.
2. To celebrate the dedicated men and women who brew and serve our beer.
3. To bring the world together under the united banner of beer, by celebrating the beers of all nations and cultures together on this one remarkable day.

Who knows? Perhaps you’ll find your new drinking buddy/romantic interest/business partner via the #IntlBeerDay hashtag. It’s going to be a magical day.

Not on Twitter? You can also tag Facebook posts with @internationalbeerday if you’re a fan of our Facebook Page.

And what do we call that?
We call it a good start.

It's incredibly gratifying to see so many people getting ready to join in the celebration on August 5th.  International Beer Day started small back in 2007, and it's grown so much every year, with more celebrations, more countries, more celebrators!

Thanks for being a part of it, this is the International Beer Day we always imagined, and it is a glorious thing to behold.

Next stop, a Quarter-million.

There are four badges in all, three variations on I ♥ International Beer Day and a version sporting the classic IBD logo.  We'd tell you to collect all four, but really you might be best off just choosing your favorite.  Enjoy!

Want a little taste of romance with your beer? Well you're in luck, because International Beer Day has its own special traditions when it comes to flirting.

If you'd like some conversation with your beer, peel the label off your bottle and lay it next to your beer. Doing this tells the people around you that it's ok to talk to you, and that you don't bite.

If you're single on International Beer Day, it is traditional to wear some sort of white ornament. White was chosen to match the frothy white head that is almost universal among beers.

• For ladies it's customary to wear a white flower or white ribbon in your hair.
• For gentlemen it's traditional to wear a white bracelet.

If you wear one of these items out to celebrate on International Beer Day, you will probably get flirted with, so if you'd rather just spend the evening with your friends and your beer, you're best off skipping the whole white ornament thing.

A word to the ladies: International Beer Day is an equal opportunity holiday, so if you see a cute guy with his label peeled and placed next to his beer, go talk to him!

Please drink responsibly, be safe, and if you happen to be
getting lucky on International Beer Day, be sure to use protection.

Script:
They tell me it's wrong.
They tell me I should be ashamed,
That I'm a monster.

Well, maybe they're right.
Maybe I am a monster,
But if this is what being a monster tastes like,
I don't want to be anything else.

I'm a Beer who drinks Beers,
And this International Beer Day,
I'm going to be a Very. Bad. Beer.