Happy Hour

How alcohol rewires your brain

Alcohol doesn't just make you tipsy—it rewires your brain chemistry in real time. It slows your brain with GABA, spikes dopamine to make you feel unstoppable, and blocks glutamate so you can't form memories. That mix explains everything from slurred speech to blackouts … and brutal hangovers.

Five happy hour stories from around the world

If you need some fun facts to make conversation at your next office happy hour, look no further than this video. It includes five stories about pub life, from a look inside a company that turns tap handles into works of art to a search for the oldest pub in the world.

In the 1910s, sailors on a US Navy ship started using the term 'happy hour' in reference to their leisure hours

The leisure activities sailors were treated to during the ship's long voyages included boxing tournaments and dancing—but unlike the happy hours we know today, they likely didn’t involve alcohol. This article includes more information about happy hour’s origin story.

'1440 Explores,' Episode 2: Why We Drink and What It Does to US

Alcohol is the world's most popular drug—a molecule that can calm or excite and bond communities or tear them apart. We trace alcohol's journey from ancient rituals to modern hangovers, uncover how it shaped civilizations, and dive into the neuroscience of how it affects your brain and body. With insights from leading experts, we ask: Given all that we know, why do humans continue to drink?

During Prohibition, 'happy hour' became the go-to term for illegally having a drink after work before heading to dinner

This article provides a timeline of happy hour’s shifting shape in US culture, from the first recorded happy hour on a US Naval ship to today’s happy hours that sometimes include non-alcoholic beverages. It also details how prohibition actually helped establish the tie between alcoholic beverages and happy hour.

Animal wines: Wine bottles with pigs on the label had the lowest median prices at $23.22

If you’ve ever spent too much time staring at a shelf in a wine store, you might have noticed something similar: animals, specifically, cats, pigs, or birds on the labels. So, what do these wines have in common? This interactive tool attempts to figure out what wines that include the same animal have in common.

In the 1960s, eateries started using discounted drinks (and sometimes food) as a marketing tactic to make money during off-peak hours

Today, we know happy hours as a time where bars and restaurants offer discounted alcoholic beverages (and sometimes even food or non-alcoholic drinks) in order to attract customers during off-peak hours. But originally, the term “happy hour” didn’t involve alcohol at all.

Despite originating in America, happy hour isn't allowed in every state.

The illegal happy hour map

Despite its origins as a US phenomenon, happy hours aren't welcome everywhere in the country. This resource includes a map that visualizes every American state's happy hour legislation, from the states with complete bans (like Massachusetts) to states that don't have any happy hour legislation at all.

Massachusetts banned happy hour in 1984 during a surge in advocacy around preventing drunk driving

Massachusetts was the first US state to ban happy hours. The ban, which prohibits selling discounted drinks during designated times, occurred after a 20-year-old woman died in a drunken driving accident in Braintree, Massachusetts.