It was extremely hard to choose the winners, and if we had more funds (we're looking at you, beer companies...) we'd give you all prizes. Didn't win? You can still get your very own International Beer Day shirt (in ladies and guys cuts) at our store.

Without further adieu, the winners!

1st Place: We (including the dog)

2nd Place: Celebracion Con Los Amigos

3rd Place: B&Q boozers

Winners, you'll be receiving your prizes in the mail as soon as we can get them to you! To everyone who entered and celebrated IBD: thank you. You're our heroes.

7:13am

Good morning and welcome to International Hangover Day: the after party of International Beer Day! Who, me? No I'm fine. Really. ...a little sleepy, but I actually feel pretty good considering! Hey sometimes you just lucky I guess! Anyway I'm actually on my way to the bathroom, then I'll probably lay down little bit more. I'll see you later, we've got a great day ahead of us!

12:42pm
AAAAAHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh.........Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......whhhhyyyyyyyyyyyy?????? Ahhhh, what di I do last nighht? I thik my brainis about t expode! I feeel lik a desert with an oasis for a bladder. I don't evn wan to get up to pee, its not wort hit! I'm jst
gonna do it right here in my bed! What? I'm not in my bed? How dd I get into the Free Masons lodge again? That's it, I'm never goignto be the mayor if internatal hangover dyad agin! I'm serius! Ireally men it thus time! What? Sure,
ok yah, but I REALLY men it thus time!!
Oh Sure, bein the mayor of Interracial hanover day had its momens int he past: sweatpants, cold piza, late mornig Goldn Grls reruins . Butt now look a mee. I'm curled up in a fetal psition wearing a backwards Lilith Fair tshirt and trying to use a fitted sheett as ablanket. That's it ,form now on its a hole knew me. Know more wasted days staring into uneatn chickn tenders wondering aboot the meaningles f life. GOne are the day s of cold, hard porcelin pillows, caked in remnants f the nightbefore. In the past are th- oh jeeze! hold on a sec!

HUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCC!!!!!!!!!!

...whoa nelly!.........Hey Remmber Nelly from Junor High? Man, Iwonder what sh's up to this days...........?

2:25pm
...Oh yeahh, she's workign downtown at the jewelry storee< i forgot.
Ok, this Lilith Fair tshirt IS x-tra large ,but I spose i shold pput on some pants anywy. Afterall, todays the start of the new me. Pants eveyday for this man now! Imay once have benn the mayor of interrational hangovers day ,but now ,I'm just an norml everyday guy. If I had pants to put on, I'd put them on one legg at a tim, just lik you.

Oh boy, hol don a sec.

HUUURRRLL!!

Oh man, Im ' starvin. Timefor Brunner, the only meal of International hungouvre dad. For those f yu new to interhangday, brunner was invented knowig yu wil prbably only be able t o stomach one meal today, so i t includes all the major food groups like breakfast, lunch and fruit snacks.

3:44pm
I must say, aftr a little food in my stomach, I feel almots human again. Maybe it' s time to 'Bite the dog that bit me', as they say.... Judging form the marks on my forearms I'd say it was some sort of lab or aUstrailian shepard.

7:25pm
You know, there's nothing better than a good brunner and sinking your teeth into your neighbor's seeing eye lab, except maybe cracking open an ice-cold beer while watching the son go down. Today has been a trial, but then I guess that's what life is. And that's what International Hangover Day is really all about: trials. And restraining orders, and subpoenas, and parking tickets. And by golly, if I can get through this animal abuse hearing in one piece then I most certainly can be the Mayor of International Hangover Day. So here's hoping I don't get thrown the book this coming Friday, August 10 at 11:30 am, and here's hoping I'll see YOU next International Hangover Da- oh jeeze!- BARFsplat!!

Guest writer Aaron Araki is the Mayor of International Hangover Day, as well as the frontman of the fantastic rock'n'roll band Windham Flat.

Legs photo courtesy of Ollie Jay.
Bottlecap photo courtesy of Dave Kellam.

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 drink beer, luckily there are 353 Official International Beer Day 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 almost certainly insist that you buy them a real beer later.

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!

Happy International Beer Day!!!May all the world unite today in celebration of beer #IntlBeerDay #beertastic

— Int'l Beer Day (@IntlBeerDay) August 5, 2012

It's Begun! Happy International Beer Day! Feliz Dia Internacional da Cerveja!Hyvää Kansainvälistä kaljapäivää! ハッピー世界ビールデー！

— Int'l Beer Day (@IntlBeerDay) August 4, 2012

1) One of the most exciting celebrations I've seen is right here in the Bay Area of California, where IBD HQ is located. An enterprising local bar has decided that one bar isn't enough, and traditional bar-hopping via foot-power isn't sufficient. They've organized an all-day, train-powered trip to six different bars. You can ride safe while still hitting 6 bars in one afternoon - now that's an IBD miracle!

2) Did you know that there is a museum of beer in Portugal? We didn't until they announced that they'll be open for free all day on Sunday teaching people about the history of Portuguese beer, spinning live music, and - of course - serving beer. If that doesn't sound like the best museum trip ever, I don't know what does.

3) And finally, Anchorage, Alaska wins for most-remote-location-to-have-amazing-celebrations. First, there's Midnight Sun Brewing Company, which says "International Beer Day has inspired us to cask age a firkin of our Brewtality Espresso Black Beer with a handful of tart cherries to make it extra special." Mmm. And equally-awesome Hella Sinful Brewery will be making rottisserie pork loins, drinking various ales, and showing The Discovery Channel's How Beer Saved the World "in en effort to help educate our friends on just how important beer really is". We salute you, Sinful.

Want your bar to be on our 2012 map? There's still time - submit here!

Want to get the head's up so you can throw an event next year? Sign up to throw a 2013 celebration!

-Evan Hamilton
Co-Founder, International Beer Day

Train photo courtesy of cliff1066™.
Beer photo courtesy of wickenden.

So far there are events planned in: Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, England, France, Greece, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Scotland, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, the Philippines, the United States, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Vanuatu, and Venezuela.

That's a staggering set of countries, but it also begs the question ... could it really be that no one in all of China is celebrating International Beer Day? Is it possible that there are no Brew lovers in  South Korea, Indonesia or Taiwan?  That no one relishes the taste of beer in in Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia?  Where are the celebrations in Germany, one of the world's great beer loving nations?

I know, deep down inside, that this simply cannot be so -- there are beer lovers in each of these countries!  So, men and women of the world, if you live in a country where there are no known International Beer Day celebrations, this is your moment! Visit your local bar and tell them why they should celebrate. If they speak English, you can recommend them by email, or bring them our explanation PDF.  If they don't, use your personal charm and the persuasive power of beer, but either way, get your favorite bars signed up to celebrate.

We believe in you, and we believe in a world united in celebration of beer, so let's do this.

This morning we crossed over the mark to hit 300 celebrations worldwide, and as fate would have it, that achievement came alongside another: International Beer was featured on Forbes.com!

You can read the article, 'Celebrate International Beer Day With These Tasty Brews' here.  We're honored, and glad to see the the word of IBD being shouted from the mountaintops.  3 days and counting, let's do this.

Yours in Beer,
~Jesse & Evan

We asked a few of our favorite beer bloggers how they recommend spending International Beer Day.

Mark Dredge of 'Pencil & Spoon' recommends looking local:

"International Beer Day is a glorious idea and celebration of beer from around the world, but what I think is the best approach is for us to individually look a little closer and cheer those things nearer to us. I'm in London and what I'll be drinking is a London Porter made by one of the many new brewers in the city. It's a beer with history, story and a really important sense of location and it's a style which we should be pushing forward as London's flagship beer."

William Bostwick of 'The Brewer's Tale' will be going old-school:

"International Beer Day reminds us there's a whole world out there of good things to drink. A trip to the corner bar can take you to Belgium, Germany, Japan even — but lately I've been traveling back in time. Beer is old, and the styles we drink today, varied as they may seem, are just a sliver of its diversity. Think about it like this: almost every beer made today is flavored with the same one plant, hops. Not long ago, hops were a radical addition; today, they're government mandated. But some of our more adventurous brewers are dusting off an ancient spice rack and flavoring their beers with forgotten herbs like yarrow, Labrador tea, bay, even yerba mate. Moonlight makes Working for Tips from redwood twigs picked in the brewery's front yard. Magnolia, in San Francisco, and Cambridge Brewing Company, in Massachusetts, make Medieval herbal beers called gruits with bog myrtle, sweet gale, wild rosemary, and other goodies. MateVeza's Morpho uses bay, hibiscus, and, of course, mate. Check out their new bar, er, cervecería, in San Francisco for a taste, an empanada or two, and a trip through time.

Mike Reis, Co-Director of Beer at the amazing Monk's Kettle in San Francisco suggests you keep it simple:

"Celebrating IBD should be just that: a celebration. Meet up with friends, throw a barbecue, and bring a cooler of your favorite beers. Resist the temptation to get caught up in the geekery of it all and enjoy yourself."

Great suggestions. Thanks for contributing, gents!

There are plenty of other fantastic beer bloggers we didn't find time to chat with. If you're looking for more beer reading, check out these blogs:

• Melissa Cole's "Let Me Tell You About Beer"
• Laurie Delk's project "100 Beers 30 Days"
• Shawn Connelly, "The Beer Philosopher"
• The lady-tastic "Girls' Pint Out"
• Genevieve Schuler's "The Hops Honey" blog
• HopCast, the premier craft brew video podcast
• Lisa Morrison, "The Beer Goddess"
• Zak Avery, "The Beer Boy"
• Andy Crouch's "BeerScribe.com"

Sunny beer photo courtesy of Anders Adermark.

Let's play a game, it's called: "Retweet this if you're going to celebrate International Beer Day!" #Aug5 internationalbeerday.com

— Int'l Beer Day (@IntlBeerDay) July 26, 2012

The map of celebrations is up and running, our new t-shirt system is just days from completion, Twitter is astir with excited beerlovers, and of course, beers everywhere are quietly awaiting their fates.

New celebrations are pouring in ever hour, how many will there be this year? Hundreds upon hundreds, and only time will tell.

4 DAYS, 23 HOURS, 31, MINUTES, 59 SECONDS to go.

With only 7 days left until International Beer Day, we've put together some 'last ditch effort' materials to help get your favorite bar celebrating.  Below you'll find the most convincing piece of literature ever written by a drunken holiday founder.

Just print out this PDF and deliver it to your neighborhood bar, and (if they're awesome) they'll be so blown away that they'll basically have to celebrate.  Ok, that might be an exaggeration, but we're blaming the beer.  Ah well, good hunting!

Transcript:
=====================

Hear Ye, Hear Ye!
All beer-serving establishments are invited to participate in International Beer Day by throwing a celebration of Beer on August 5, 2012.

What is this beautiful thing?
We're celebrating beer the only way we know how: by drinking more of it. International Beer Day is a worldwide celebration of the brewers, the barkeeps, and all the boys and girls who've ever touched lip to glass and said 'hell yeah.' From the pubs, the clubs, the breweries and backyards, we're raising our glasses with a simple cheer: 'keep 'em coming.'

All right, what's it to me?
Last year, International Beer Day took place in 23 countries, uniting the world through the universal language of beer. Millions of people were talking about it. Dammit – we even trended on Twitter. This year, we're planning to be bigger and we need your help to get there.

It don't cost nothin' to participate.
You can join in just by planning an International Beer Day event in your city. Your fine establishment will then go on a big map of celebrations for beerfolk in your city to discover like little Christopher Columbuses looking for tiny Americas made of beer.

What should I expect?
The selling of copious amounts of beer. A loosening of morals. An increase in morale. Revolutionaries gathering in corners. Chanting. Boys approaching girls. Children born 9 months from this date. The asking of serious questions. Arguments about sports. Challenges issued. Gauntlets thrown down. New friends. New enemies. And one more beer before the night is through.

What else can I do?
Plan to celebrate Beer on August 5th, and every August 5th from then on out.
From there, here's a few event ideas that involve the drinking of beer:
- All-day happy hours
- Bringing in rare/exotic/local brews
- Beer trivia, prizes, and giveaways
- Homebrew competitions
- Beer flights and delicious beer/food pairings

Remember:
Submit your celebration to list your event, get access to logos, and print some posters:
http://www.internationalbeerday.com/get-involved/host-a-celebration/

Thanks.
For the beer.