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Guess how we’re going to celebrate?

Today is the 100th anniversary of the Volstead Act, the law that put the teeth in the 18th Amendment. I speak, of course, of Prohibition. Interesting article about it here.

I know it was a disaster, but to be honest, I kind of admire us for trying. No way human beings would give up the joy of alcohol after who-knows-how-many millennia, but it’s neat that we did something so weird and radical and stupid with such grand American enthusiasm. Yay us.

Nobody quit drinking for long, of course. There were several loopholes.

Sacramental wine. Demand went up by 800,000 gallons a year.

Prescription whisky for them as could afford regular Doctor visits.

You were allowed to drink any alcohol you already owned when the law went into effect, so one wealthy judge reportedly bought a lifetime supply up front.

Poor people began to drink patent medicines and hair dyes and industrial alcohols and all kinds of dangerous and potentially fatal things.

And that’s before we get to smuggling, bootlegging and bathtub gin.

Oh, we drank. And we shall drink again. Good weekend, everyone!

Comments


Comment from Armybrat
Time: January 17, 2020, 10:35 pm

I’ve been on vacation for the last 2 weeks in sunny FL and I have 1 more week to go. I am sure that the amount of booze the husband and I and friends have consumed over the last 2 weeks may rival several states’ consumption during prohibition. With 1 week to go, I’m praying my liver will hold out. I’m very sure prohibition was aimed at me and mine.

Did I mention that the hubby and I purchased a house in sunny FL this last year? We plan to retire there later this year. May God have mercy on our livers.


Comment from thefritz
Time: January 17, 2020, 11:27 pm

Armybrat, welcome to FLA! Home of the newlywed and nearly dead. Been swilling the distilled spirits here since ’88.
I live 10 miles south of the southern White House. Just love when all the hanging chad, blue state losers get their panties in a wad when the Prez is here. Slainte!


Comment from Armybrat
Time: January 18, 2020, 12:29 pm

thefritz- we’ll be on the other coast, near Sarasota. I can’t take the long, gray winters of Boston any more.


Comment from Uncle Al
Time: January 19, 2020, 3:34 am

@Armybrat – Welcome, future neighbor! We’ve lived here in an unincorporated part of Sarasota County since 2012, but my family’s ties go back to 1972 (and if you include my brother-in-law’s folks, back to the 1940s). We love it here!


Comment from Anonymous
Time: January 19, 2020, 4:08 pm

By the sea,
By the sea,
By the beautiful sea,
You and I,
You and I,
Oh how drunk we will be.

I love to drink beside
The sea beside
The sea beside
The sea side
By the beautiful sea!

Whew, that was hard work but I didn’t bite me tongue even once, so I can’t be really drunk! So somebody pass me the gin bottle!


Comment from Armybrat
Time: January 19, 2020, 5:25 pm

Uncle Al- we must find each other for a drink when we actually move to FL. ETA is mid October


Comment from Uncle Al
Time: January 19, 2020, 10:29 pm

@Armybrat — I look forward to that!

But you should know that I’m a Navy Junior! (-:

Not to worry: although my father was an Annapolis grad (class of 1942), I myself am an honorably discharged Regular Army veteran (1969-1971).


Comment from Armybrat
Time: January 20, 2020, 12:16 am

Uncle Al- well, I was born Army and married Army. My hubby, SGM, USAR-ret has mostly Navy in his family so we’re used to sharing a table with squids!


Comment from Jon
Time: January 22, 2020, 8:04 pm

Ace of Spades had an interesting opinion column linking women’s suffrage to prohibition, seeing as those Amendments passed in close historical proximity. Seems like correlation rather than causation to me, but it’s a theory: http://ace.mu.nu/archives/385384.php

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