Prohibition

gobnaitolunacy

Any books to recommend on this? Find it fascinating how it even came about.

How did US based wineries, brewers and distillers survive during this period, could they export?

Was the rate of crime worse than ever as a result, even after it was lifted?

Citycap

I can't help with any books but I could never fathom how it was introduced to the U.S.A. It is widely claimed that the Kennedy wealth was built on smuggling booze during Prohibition.
I remember driving though Welsh villages in the 80s though where the sale of alcohol on Sundays was completely forbidden. And as for the East of Scotland the fundamentalists had complete power, closing playgrounds, swimming pools etc.
That's when we had restrictive enough opening hours for Sundays and thought we were hard done by

goose2005

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States - very good article

Only about half the breweries reopened. Some say that American beer used to be the best in the world before prohibition (all those German immigrants) but afterwards it's been mostly rubbish.

Wiki wrote:

When Prohibition ended, only half the breweries that previously existed reopened. Wine historians also note Prohibition destroyed what was a fledgling wine industry in the United States. Productive wine quality grape vines were replaced by lower quality vines growing thicker skinned grapes that could be more easily transported. Much of the institutional knowledge was also lost as winemakers either emigrated to other wine producing countries or left the business altogether

It also made spirits more popular because you could smuggle a greater amount of alcohol - creating modern cocktails.

kasper

Joe Kennedy went legitimate after probation he became the American distributor of Haig and Haig whisky and Gordons gin

robp

goose2005 wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States - very good article

Only about half the breweries reopened. Some say that American beer used to be the best in the world before prohibition (all those German immigrants) but afterwards it's been mostly rubbish.

QUOTE]
People really disregard the US for beer but for microbreweries I wonder if they are ahead of Ireland. It has really taken off there.

Cienciano

robp wrote: »

goose2005 wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States - very good article

Only about half the breweries reopened. Some say that American beer used to be the best in the world before prohibition (all those German immigrants) but afterwards it's been mostly rubbish.

QUOTE]
People really disregard the US for beer but for microbreweries I wonder if they are ahead of Ireland. It has really taken off there.

USA are lightyears ahead of ireland. But ireland is tiny compared to usa, so not that unusual.

pedroeibar1

Cienciano wrote: »

robp wrote: »

USA are lightyears ahead of ireland. But ireland is tiny compared to usa, so not that unusual.

Lightyears ahead in what? Believing that evolution is correct? That the moon landings were faked?

Cienciano

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

Lightyears ahead in what? Believing that evolution is correct? That the moon landings were faked?

Microbreweries. Clue is in the post I quoted ;-)

kasper

when prohibition was introduced loopholes in the law included the production and prescription medical and agricultural alcohol and of wine used for religious purposes
a good book to read is Mafia by Jo Durden Smith ( Capella )it covers prohibition , Italian and American politics and lots more details

gobnaitolunacy

Citycap wrote: »

I can't help with any books but I could never fathom how it was introduced to the U.S.A. It is widely claimed that the Kennedy wealth was built on smuggling booze during Prohibition.
I remember driving though Welsh villages in the 80s though where the sale of alcohol on Sundays was completely forbidden. And as for the East of Scotland the fundamentalists had complete power, closing playgrounds, swimming pools etc.
That's when we had restrictive enough opening hours for Sundays and thought we were hard done by

An example closer to home is the town of Bessborough, a planned town with NO PUB to this day :eek:

Radiosonde

goose2005 wrote: »

It also made spirits more popular because you could smuggle a greater amount of alcohol - creating modern cocktails.

Wow, so prohibition DID work. I'd hate to live in a world without cocktails.

gobnaitolunacy

goose2005 wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States - very good article

Only about half the breweries reopened. Some say that American beer used to be the best in the world before prohibition (all those German immigrants) but afterwards it's been mostly rubbish.



It also made spirits more popular because you could smuggle a greater amount of alcohol - creating modern cocktails.

Honey/fruit juices and other flavourings could mask the taste of poorly produced bathtub spirits.

An interesting spin off was the souping-up of cars in order to outrun police forces which developed into hot-rodding.

donaghs

You could say that Cocktails were created to mask the harsh taste of illegal spirits.

I'm no fan of Prohibition, but I do remember reading a long time ago about its less known benefits, e.g. drops in number of workplace accidents etc.

"Death rates from cirrhosis and alcoholism, alcoholic psychosis hospital admissions, and drunkenness arrests all declined steeply during the latter years of the 1910s, when both the cultural and the legal climate were increasingly inhospitable to drink, and in the early years after National Prohibition went into effect."
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1470475/

uch

gobnaitolunacy wrote: »

Honey/fruit juices and other flavourings could mask the taste of poorly produced bathtub spirits.

An interesting spin off was the souping-up of cars in order to outrun police forces which developed into hot-rodding.

And the birth of NASCAR