Beer Thirty
“Beer thirty” (or “beer-thirty”) means that it’s time to drink beer—whatever time it actually is. Beer thirty usually occurs after a work day in the late afternoon or early evening.
The term “beer thirty” has been cited in print since at least 1997 and was popularized by the Brooks & Dunn song and video “Beer Thirty” (1999). “Beer thirty” was the Urban Dictionary’s Urban Word of the Day on March 13, 2010. An older and similar term is “beer o’clock.”
Google Books
How to Talk American:
A Guide to Our Native Tongues
By Jim Crotty
Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company
1997
Pg. 276 (Eugene, OR):
beer-thirty: 2:30 a.m. In some bars. if you call out. “Hey. it’s almost beer-thirty.” you better get the hell out of the way of the door because you’re likely to cause a stampede. In Eugene, the 7-Elevens are required to stop selling alcohol at 2:30 a.m., so if you’re in a drunken daze, the only reason you need to know the time is to know whether it’s too late to buy more.
Google Groups: rec.skydiving
JumpNBill2
6/24/97
(...)
Even if you don’t have the cash to jump or the weather is bad on a particular weekend, go hang out at the DZ, learn how to pack, talk to experienced jumpers, get loaded after beer thirty, whatever!
Google Groups: talk.politics.guns
Patrick Pauley
5/30/98
(...)
In short:
1) This isn’t Miller time
2) It isn’t “beer thirty”
Texas Monthly (September 1998)
Success by Design
How an Austin company is chaning the way we look at—and use—everything from tea kettles to table lamps.
By Patricia Sharpe
(...)
That’s why on Friday afternoons someone will get on the PA system and announce, “It’s beer-thirty,” which means that there’s cold beer sitting on the reception desk.
Google Books
Virgin of the Rodeo
By Sarah Bird
Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press
1999
Pg. 204:
“Beer-thirty! Break time!”
OCLC WorldCat record
Beer thirty
Author: Ronnie Dunn
Publisher: Nashville : Sony/ATV Music Pub. ; Milwaukee : Exclusively distributed by Hal Leonard Corp., ©1999.
Edition/Format: Musical score : English
19 September 1999, Dallas (TX) Morning News, “Brooks & Dunn keep their balance”:
By contrast, Mr. Dunn’s “Beer Thirty” is a rollicking barnburner with a killer saloon piano.
Google Books
Gumbo Limbo:
An Alex Rutledge Mystery
By Tom Corcoran
New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press
2000
Pg. 237:
“Two words. ‘Beer thirty.’ Sounds like fun, sport.”
Google Books
August 2000, Indianapolis Monthly, pg. 86:
But while Eviciti’s leadership looks and acts young at heart (Video Game Day, a softball team, a television perpetually tuned to local sports and “Beer Thirty” every Friday), there’s nothing sophomoric about the company’s growth.
Google Books
Pyrotechs:
The Fire Within
By R. Gettman Bush
Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, Inc.
2001
Pg. 74:
“Almost quitting time. Beer-thirty, buddy.”
Google Books
Midnight Sun: A Novel
By Elwood Reid
New York, NY: Anchor Books (Random House)
2002
Pg. 7:
“At the tone the time will be beer-thirty, and I’m buyin’,” Dog Dick said.
Google Books
The Cadence of Grass
By Thomas McGuane
New York, NY: Vintage Books
2003
Pg. 77:
Evelyn was soon inside dancing and tossing down drinks between partners, amidst shouts of “Party Hearty! It’s beer thirty!”
Urban Dictionary
beer thirty
March 13, 2010 Urban Word of the Day
Time of day (usually late afternoon to early evening) at which drinking a beer becomes necessary.
Hey, looks like its beer thirty, better grab me a cold one
by nihilistic0 Mar 12, 2004
The Mail (UK)
The fast lady of Sonoma
By Jane Bussman, Mail on Sunday
Last updated at 10:04 04 May 2004
(...)
‘OK,’ said Ken, ‘it’s beer thirty. Time to go.’
Sacramento (CA) Bee—Appetizers
April 30, 2010
Release party tonight for Odonata Beer Co.
Looking for something to sip when the day is done - aka “beer-thirty?”