{"id":618,"date":"2008-12-05T20:00:17","date_gmt":"2008-12-06T01:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/?p=618"},"modified":"2021-05-16T17:31:41","modified_gmt":"2021-05-16T22:31:41","slug":"75-years-of-drinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howderfamily.com\/blog\/75-years-of-drinking\/","title":{"rendered":"75 Years of Drinking"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today is the 75th<\/sup> Anniversary(1<\/a>)<\/sup> of the repeal of Prohibition<\/a> in the United States. In addition to my odd fascination with weird geography, I’m a horrible beer snob(2<\/a>)<\/sup> and sometimes I even find ways to tie my fascination with beer and geography together<\/a>. So I think of this as a big day for Twelve Mile Circle. I will enjoy this milestone in the proper manner to recognize it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Alaskan<\/a>
Multiple Vintages of Alaskan Smoked Porter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Complications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Prohibition fever spread across the United States at the turn of the last century. It became reality with the ratification of the eighteenth amendment to the Constitution and went into effect on January 29, 1920 along with its companion Volstead Act. I won’t dwell on that bleak time; rather, I’ll focus on the geographic fallout of the twenty-first amendment which repealed the earlier amendment in its entirety. Those wheels started rolling 75 years ago today, on December 5, 1933, when these magic words enshrined themselves within the Constitution:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Section 1. The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Much of the citizenry felt deliriously overjoyed at the prospect. However, not all parts of the nation embraced this turn of events with universal regard. The next part of the amendment addressed those concerns:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Section 2. The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use there in of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

So, in spite of conventional wisdom, the amendment didn’t actually end prohibition. Rather, it allowed individual states to decide what worked best for them. States reflected an entire spectrum of beliefs ranging from great tolerance to total abhorrence. Thus a state could impose prohibitions and restrictions with popular support. Mississippi didn’t end prohibition until 1966, for example, and Kansas didn’t allow liquor sales by-the-drink until 1987.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Variations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Naturally a complicated hodgepodge of different regulations and enforcement mechanisms developed over time. Wikipedia’s “Alcohol laws of the United States by state<\/a>” provides a basic summary of the situation. But that only scratched the surface. Some of the more unusual variations I found:<\/p>\n\n\n\n