I'm 56 years old my grandmother was always proud to tell us that my grandfather made the best beer. She said when the prohibition agents came around they never broke his barrels they took them. She also said they never busted up his brewing equipment too bad they more or less just took it apart so he could put it back together. Grandpa was an immigrant learn the craft in Germany so it's a very believable story

Prohibition worked about as well as the war on drugs.

I inspected a home in approx 2010 near the Griffith park Observatory, and the owner had just discovered a speak easy (hidden bar) in his basement. It had a 30 ft. Long bar with about 10 booths. What a find in his own home!

"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading." - Henny Youngman

"They say they are going to repeal prohibition; what will you do then?" "Think I'll have a drink" Last line, The Untouchables.

Off topic, but congrats on 900k man, you deserve it!

There is always a bunch of people who believe they have a right to interfere in your life. They just switch targets from time to time.

I was literally talking about this to my class today. My wife's father was by his own words a 'repeal baby' as his birthday was virtually 9 months to the day to the repeal of Prohibition. Happy Days Are Here Again indeed! Great show as usual!

I was a bartender in the mid 1970's until my retirement. The man who taught me how to tend bar worked thru prohibition, and often called the bars gin mills. Where we worked was the first bar built, and opened after prohibition in Salem MA. The bar, and back bar was deliciously art deco, mirrors etc.

The man at the store told my mother and her younger sister one day that if they found any bottles, he would give them a nickle each. One day they found a whole pile of bottles and loaded up their wagon and brought them over, thinking they would be rich. When they got there, the man told them that Prohibition was over and he didn't need the bottles anymore. In 1933 she would have been 9 and her sister 6.

I went to college in a small Ohio town that was still dry in the 1970s. There was a liquor store, much frequented by us students, one inch over the town line. The town finally went wet in the 1980s, a half century after the general repeal.

the lessons of the 18th are vast. unfortunately few of our bloviating lawmakers today seem unable (or unwilling) to learn that using words like 'ban' in a law will almost always create more far more problems than they solve. oh well, petty dictators have always reveled in keeping people down. (I bet THG could compile a much larger list than I could) It's just a shame that so many Governors today seem to have failed to learn anything from this period. thank you, for your entertaining snippets, you are engaging and professional and should be proud of your channel.

My Dad told me about during the Depression, his family needed money--so my grandfather made and sold Bathtub Gin--with the blessings of the county Sherriff--who would come over every Saturday night for a private party! Kansas remained dry until the 1960's.(In fact, there are still a few counties in Western Kansas that are still dry!) When my Dad was old enough, he drove a truck for a living. (And that's just about ALL he did for a living!) During the 50's, whenever he had a run into Missouri, he would bring back a few cases of beer for his brothers and Grandpa. (Dad did not drink, himself. In fact, our family were, and still are, teetotalers!) But for some reason--Dad's favorite movie was "Smokey And The Bandit"! 😉

I have in my possession a "Prescriptions Forms for Medical Liquor" book of prescriptions, issued by the U.S. Treasury Department. The first prescription in it was November 22, 1932. It lists the name and address of the "patient", the type and amount of the liquor prescribed, and the name and address of the prescribing doctor, all on the receipt part of the book. It has 100 prescriptions in the book, each with a carbon copy of the prescription. There are 22 prescriptions filled with the originals and the carbon copy duplicate removed. A further three originals are missing, I assume from a collector. The pharmacy was in the New Orleans area, as all of the names have New Orleans addresses. All of the prescriptions given are listed as "Whiskey, Q", which I assume means Quart. I have NO idea of it's value.

"Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker. " - Ogden Nash

A great example of treating tangential effects instead of causes and blaming substances instead of man.

This nicely clarifies the reasoning behind prohibition. When my great grandfather came to New York in 1929, armed with a letter of introduction from William Randolph Hurst, he came specifically in search of speakeasies to write about in his newspaper column. In his book The American Ilusion 1929, he was surprised to find New Jersey operating as usual as though the Volstadt act did not exist. He travelled extensively throughout America - meeting Hurst and playing table tennis with him - and getting his book out just before the Wall Street crash.

My mother and her family lived upstairs of her grandmother, who was a teetotaler and shaker. Her father use to make beer in a washing machine. One time he didn't make the beer right and the caps blew off the bottles and the foam ran down. Grandmother asked what the noise was, he said that he tipped a chair over.

This channel is awesome. Very entertaining, and I actually learn stuff! Thanks THG!

Shouldn't the Mob Museum be located on Capitol Hill in Washington?

The important lesson here is that when government goes so far as to make ordinary private acts illegal, it makes criminals of its own citizenry.....And the newly defined criminals will not long remain silent or apathetic. And let us not forget, in the early 20th Century example the government's action led to the pirating of alcohol, but then again, don't all good stories...

"An absence of undue hilarity" is a phrase I've got to work into conversation at least once a week now.

Now I have Spike Jones' "Cocktails for Two" stuck in my head.

I've been to the "Mob Museum" in Las Vegas, it's definitely a "must see" spot if you're in town.

THG: It's 5 o'clock somewhere and it's Friday; Yes Indeed.

A shot to another wonderful episode of history that deserves to be remembered.

Between 1971 and 1973, I was an instructor in the Mountain Ranger Camp in Dahlonega Georgia, which is located in Lumpkin County. Lumpkin County was a completely dry county. back then and the moonshiners liked it that way. I was riding with an NCO on one of the backroads when I spotted the remnants of a trailer. I asked sarge about it and he answered, that it used to be the trailer of a new deputy sheriff who had come down hard on the moonshiners. So, one night when he was on duty (they didn't want to kill him, just send a friendly message), somebody put a box of dynamite under his trailer and blew it up. They went looking for someone who was suddenly deaf, 'cause the fool only ran out about a 100 feet of wire -- way short of what was needed for that amount of explosives.

Couldn't drink the water we had to drink beer. Again, can't drink tap water or the plastic bottles water, need more beer

Fun fact: George Remus would hijack his own whiskey shipments, collect the insurance money, and sell the whiskey on the black market.

A good friend of mine actually works for Coors Ceramics, and I had always wondered if there was a connection to the other, better known, Coors. And now I know and it makes perfect sense too! Thanks History Guy!

The father of a friend told me that as a little boy in Belleville, Ontario, he would often watch beautiful commuter-style launches slide down the river from the Corby Distillery, and out toward Lake Ontario, Shortly after they cleared the river mouth, the rumble of their engines would cease as the exhaust was directed underwater and the nav lights would go out. No one asked where they were going or what they were carrying.

The most destructive drug has never been prohibited. It is tobacco. Other drugs like opiates, hallucinogenics, and cannabis have only been prohibited for 100 years or less. Alcohol consumption had been declining for decades before Prohibition. So it was a law for a problem that did not exist.

I raise a toast 🍷 to your excellent research and report. 🍺

My home county remained dry until the early 1970s.

Thank you for explaining "T Totaler " because for all my life I have thought it was Tea totaler.

Thank you for never let us forget

December 4th 2020: the United States House of Representatives will take up a vote on the MORE Act, which would officially decriminalize cannabis and clear the way to erase nonviolent federal marijuana convictions. What a coincidence!

Bad ideas never die, as proven by Nixon's "war on drugs". Almost as if Prohibition never happened to prove the futility outlawing something that was widely popular.

During Prohibition , Cannabis was LEGAL , said to be a cure for Alcoholism & wife beating !! Booze makes some people mean , Cannabis makes most people peaceful & calm .

I was born in 1955, 20 shopping days before Christmas! December 5th!

Notice that every single woman on these Temperance Committees was bag-on-the-head level....Coincidence?

Cheers!

My father made whiskey back in the 30s, 40s, and 50s and a couple times when I was a kid in the 70s. My uncle, my mothers brother, served 2 years on the county chain gang for making and hauling whiskey. He said it was actually the easiest 2 years of his life. Nothing like the hollywood movies.

A couple of peripheral prohibition stories.... Howard Hughes was one of those who stockpiled liquor at the onset of prohibition. His father had bought out the entire stock of the Rice Hotel bar in Houston. In his book "Howard--The Amazing Mr. Hughes" (1972), Hughes executive/factotum Noah Dietrich describes his adventures moving this huge quantity of booze from Texas to California. In Al-Capone-era Chicago, the gangs hired the poor to produce alcohol on mini-stills in their tenements all over Little Italy. They gave the police a list of their still locations, and if the police found one not on the list, they busted it with full publicity. This helped cut down on competition. In return, the police gave the mob a list of participating badge numbers, and if someone not on the list tried to collect graft or cause trouble, they were turned in--or dissuaded in other ways. A classic symbiotic relationship. And in the 1960's my high-school history teacher told us about a sign he saw at a roadside restaurant in rural Alabama in the 1920's: "Near Beer Here; Real Beer Near Here." Added in edit: Prohibition also had serious public health consequences. The available black-market alcohol was often not very good quality; and it might be adulterated with wood alcohol, rubbing alcohol, etc. People also drank stuff like hair tonic and various patent medicines, and there were a lot of poisonings and deaths. Moonshine whisky was often distilled through car radiators, causing cumulative lead poisoning and kidney failure. This was a problem long after prohibition, particularly in the Southern states. I remember seeing public health posters in high school in the 1960s: "Avoid deadly moonshine whisky." Cheers.

PLEASE, when you drink, drink responsibly and recap the bottle to avoid evaporation. Remember , every drop is precious.

There are still “Dry towns “ in New Jersey. Thank you for your videos.

We should all learn from this. If someone prohibits it, it will not work.

I found an old prohibition era liquor bottle buried in the dirt on a jobsite. It was fully intact too! It actually has raised lettering on the glass that states it is for "medicinal use only" lol.

I remember drinking near beer when I was a youth. Kingsbury and O'Doul's were prevalent at those Dungeons & Dragons games!😸

Anyone know why it took a constitutional amendment to ban alcohol (controlled substance) but now we feel like we can just ban any drug all Willy nilly.

Thanks

My dear sweet husband managed to show me how to watch at 90% speed. Dyslexic, love your videos, and now, I don't have to complain you are still talking too fast for me to comprehend. I certainly don't mind watching you for 10% longer. Thank you!

Today the vote is for Legal Cannabis on FED Level . WAY PAST TIME to end the war on People/Cannabis ! that & THIS Fuel dirty cops & is the Right thing to do .

This evening I shall celebrate the occasion with either a single malt scotch or a limited batch bourbon. Decisions, decisions.

Only one word needs to be said about this work, SPECTACULAR!!! Great job! Thanx for the Vid...

That Coors ceramic was used in Project Pluto, which was a nuclear-powered cruise missile designed to stay aloft for weeks or even months during and after a nuclear war, flying over and dropping 1mt warheads on enemy targets, all the while moving at Mach 3+. The engine needed to function at extremely high temperature for months (potentially); the fuel elements were clad in high grade ceramic to prevent their melting, and the Adolph Coors company produced the ceramic cladding for the lone example of the engine that was produced (and successfully stand-tested).

I saw an image supposedly a prescription for alcohol for Winston Churchill during his visit in the US.

Before full repeal, Congress amended the Volstead act to define "intoxicating" as 3.2 percent, not 0.5, thus allowing weak beer to be sold. Many states' legal drinking age before prohibition was 18. When full repeal finally passed, many of those same states set the age for purchase of anything stronger at 21, and distinction remained until a couple of decades ago. That's why 3.2 beer became a staple of the college (and high school) parties in many places, including Colorado and Ohio..

Great segment- thank you!👍

I'm a strong support of personal choice, I don't drink alcohol or use drugs. I do have friends that drink, some more than others BUT we still get along and are friends. I don't drink just because I want to be in full control of my life at all times. If you do drink just don't drive or anything else that might cause harm to yourself or others, now where's my Henry Weinhard's Gourmet ROOT BEER. Thanks History Guy for another great video...

To alcohol! The cause of... and solution to... all of life's problems! - Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment, The Simpsons

Last time i was this early i was waiting on the pick up from Canada.

I grew up in a dry county in Georgia and it wasn't until 2009 that they repealed that local ordnance. The repeal was pushed heavily by a rather large influx of new residents because Atlanta finally made Monroe a suburb. Sad to see and I swore I would move the day Monroe was first called a suburb and damned if I didn't, hate see once vibrant small communities being turned into the same hell hole that anyone from California to New York would easily feel at home in.

My dad always proudly claimed that granny was a bootlegger back during Prohibition. I remember one morning when she was driving me to school, she pointed to a nondescript house and said, "Back during Prohibition, that house was a three story still. The boiler was in the basement, and the pipes ran clear to the attic." This would have been back in 1966 (IIRC), in Council Bluffs, IA.

I've been "bootlegging" for years to friends of mine in dry southern counties of Kentucky. Their low taxes on tobacco products made for good trade with Tennessee.

Women in the Temperance Movements: *Lobby to get to prohibition out into place.* *Drinking becomes common among women in the Prohibition era in speakeasys.* Women in the Temperance Movement: *Surprised Pikachu Face*

I always enjoy your work, thanks.

Thank you for continuing to show the World that Americans still respect Facts... And as a Fellow History Addict... Please keep it up!

So . . . after all this time . . . do you mean to tell me that all those people were celebrating "Repeal Day" . . . and they didn't really know that it was my birthday? Sniff . . .

Always enjoyable.

Congratulations on 900k subscribers The History Guy! Road to 1 Million subscribers!

I attended a competition in what proved to be a "Dry County" in the US... (Texas Panhandle) When we asked where one could go to purchase some booze we were directed to an extremely large liquor store...just over the County line... lol

I read that during Prohibition Stroh's Brewing in Detroit made ice cream.

I've been celebrating repeal day since the pandemic started, in order to train for today!

Thank you, THG, for posting this on the 4th so I can start celebrating Repeal Day early. Cheers!

Thank you for all your work on History my brother!

And thank Jimmy Carter for making home brewing legal in 1978 I believe.

You didn't mention the largest financial contributor to the Temperance movement. John D. Rockefeller. At that time period car would run on any fuel, most area started brewing there own gas, so to insure his monopoly of the fuel market, he financed the temperance movement to help them in starting prohibition. He also used his political connections to help it get passed.

An entire episode on Prohibition and "repeal" but not ONE mention of Joseph Kennedy! Priceless!

Here in Chicago there are a lots of pubs and bars that say “established 1933” or 1934. They are all ex-speakeasies. My local pub was a “soft drinks bar” where you could get non alcoholic drinks. But if you knew the person they would take you out in the alley down a stair case to the basement were the hard stuff (made on the second floor) was sold. One of the local distilleries (FEW Sprits) is ironically named after one of Chicago’s temperance leaders Frances Elizabeth Willard

I like the wine brick, lol. Warning: absolutely do not do this precise series of actions that'll turn it into wine.

I am proud of my home and would love to see you pay The Granite Sate some attention. Perhaps the Treaty of Portsmouth of 1905 and the pivotal role the president of the United States played in the negotiation Sino nipple War would be worthy of your attention.

I'll be sure to celebrate the day with a glass of wine this evening. 🍷 Thanks, THG!💜

Thank you for this aweome look at a forgotten piece of history

It's a shame that modern people can't remember the ramifications and unintended consequences that come along with a well intentioned progressive idea.

So Karens have been around for a long time....

They can't keep booze out of prisons, it bogles the mind that they thought that prohibition to even kind of work.

my favorite bit of Prohibition related history is that of the connection of Al Capone and his 'One city, Two countries scheme' along the southern Texas border with Mexico, and the state of Tamaulipas. a stone's throw across the Rio Grande River (Río Bravo del Norte) that outlets into the Gulf of Mexico was the prime location for the famed bootlegger. not only was Tamaulipus right with alcohol it was a gambler's haven and bars and all sorts of gambling Opportunities most notably ground hound races, and brothels. The U.S. city of Rio Rico was in 1906 a U.S. held territory across the river south of Mercedes and east of Nuevo Progreso and a two-lane suspension bridge from Thayer to the town of Rio Rico, south of Mercedes and east of Nuevo Progreso. A 10-cent bridge toll allowed visitors to a recreational center of gambling and drinking with rumors of connections to organized crime leaders like Al Capone. (source The Museum of South Texas History in Edinburg TX, which is the County set of Hidalgo County)

I hope another prohibition ends soon....

The greatest proof that you can not legislate morality.

I remember as a child hearing that "when there is a vote on legalizing alcohol sales, that is the only time the Baptists and the bootleggers vote together".

Great synopsis of the subject. It took me nearly a lifetime of drinking to decide its not for me. Don't miss it a bit. (Well, that occasional glass of a good red...)

Me: drinking cheap scotch and coke everyday and celebrating.

Fascinating. I have reason to suspect that my maternal grandparents ran a speakeasy in their small hotel in Utica New York. My father's family cane here in 1928. My dad told me that his mom tried to brew beer in the basement of my grandfather's butcher shop, but all the bottles exploded at one time.

I raise my glass to you History Guy, Salud.

This is one of the reasons I hate "do good" programs and government heavy handed interference in social norms. It never works they way you think it will.

Celebrate responsibility Repeal Day December 5th. Come to Vegas and I'll buy you a drink! Everyone (Domestic)

Our local brewery here produced ice and “near beer” during these years and was one of the first companies in the US to have their license for alcoholic beverages restored. They were known for having so few violations that it warranted their reinstated license ahead of even bigger companies. They were also known for their controversial beer known as DuBois Budweiser, which saw several lawsuits from A-B but courts allowed it because the owner Frank Hahne, learned the recipe as a young man in the region that beer is known for. When Pittsburgh brewing company bought them in the 70’s A-B was more than happy to see that the brand was no longer used. It was a sad day when the glorious building was razed a few years ago. Another piece of history erased from the landscape to make parking.

I almost always learn something new when I watch The History Guy. Thank you!

In Utah you still can't buy booze after 9:00 PM!