stands for the year Prohibition was repealed in the United States and it is the number of words in the legend on the bottle....that's the official reason...however, according to James Tito...one time CEO of the Latrobe Brewing Company...the '33' was not supposed to be on the label, in coming up with a marketing slogan, some wanted a long one while others wanted a short one....so the person that came up with the short one wrote 33 on the label to indicate the number of words in the slogan ...and when the slogan was approved...the 33 was not supposed to be printed, however, it ended up on the label and was not noticed until a few zillion had already been printed....and since it was during the depression...they were not in a position to recall the labels...so they made the best of it and made up the story to go with the number. Turned out to be a real piece of marketing genius! So...there you have it....now you know what the '33' stands for on the label of Rolling Rock Beer and you can dazzel your beer loving dates with your beer trivia brilliance! Happy motoring and thanks for your question! Regards, Paul ....in a bottle of Champagne! I saw this one yesterday on the discovery Channel....Has nothing to do with BMW's....but can be an ice breaker when you get that beautiful babe...be it your wife or girlfriend or someone you just met...in for a ride! Better than asking what does the "33" stand for on a bottle of Rolling Rock....I like Rolling Rock by the way! So...out on your thinking caps!...Maybe you saw the program....but the answer was established by a scientist! Good Luck! Happy motoring! Paul