America's Relationship with Liquor

The 13 Colonies

In colonial period of America from around 1623, and the landing of the Mayflower in Plymouth, up until the mid-1800s, hard cider was the primary alcoholic drink of the people. It was prominent throughout this entire period and nothing compared in scope or availability. It was one of the few aspects of American culture that all the colonies shared. In 1767, the average New England family was consuming seven barrels of hard cider annually, which equates to about 35-gallons per person. Around the mid-1800s, newly arrived immigrants from Germany and elsewhere increased beer's popularity.

In the early 19th century, Americans had inherited a hearty drinking tradition. Drinking hard liquor was a universally popular occurrence in early nineteenth-century America. Many types of alcohol were consumed. One reason for this heavy drinking was attributed to an overabundance of corn on the western frontier, which encouraged the widespread production of cheap whiskey. It was at this time that alcohol became an important part of the American diet. In the 1820s, Americans drank seven gallons of alcohol per person annually.

18th Amendment

Section 1

After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.

Section 2

The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Section 3

This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

Prohibition

In colonial America, water contamination was common. Two means to ensure that waterborne illness, was not conveyed by water was to boil it in the process of making tea or coffee, or to use it to make alcohol. As a result, alcohol consumption was much higher in the nineteenth century than it is today -- 7.1 US gallons (27 L) of pure alcohol per person per year. The dependence on alcohol as a revenue source led to the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. Later in the nineteenth century opposition to alcohol grew in the form of the temperance movement, culminating in Prohibition in the United States from 1920 to 1933.

The Untouchables

Eliot Ness (April 19, 1903 – May 16, 1957) was an American Prohibition agent known for his efforts to bring down Al Capone while enforcing Prohibition in Chicago. He was leader of a team of law enforcement agents nicknamed The Untouchables, handpicked for their incorruptibility. The release of his memoir The Untouchables, months after his death, launched several screen portrayals establishing a posthumous fame for Ness as an incorruptible crime fighter.

The Speakeasy

The result of Prohibition was a major and permanent shift in American social life. The illicit bars, also referred to as “blind pigs” and “gin joints,” multiplied, especially in urban areas. They ranged from fancy clubs with jazz bands and ballroom dance floors to dingy backrooms, basements and rooms inside apartments. No longer segregated from drinking together, men and women reveled in speakeasies and another Prohibition-created venue, the house party.

Bootleggers

To get alcohol to speakeasies and individual drinkers, it had to be smuggled in. Bootleggers were those who smuggled alcohol during Prohibition, often in vehicles with hidden compartments. Bootleggers “souped up” their vehicles and adjusted the axles, shocks, and tires to make the cars faster and more capable of dirt-road evasion. Thus, bootlegging is often considered the birth of auto racing as a pursuit in the United States.

Bootleggers sometimes became popular, glamorous figures thanks to their daring activities and ingenuity. William “Bill” McCoy was a rumrunner whose quality of smuggled liquor was so good that people began using the term “the real McCoy” as a euphemism for a high-quality item. Bootleggers and flappers together created a highly glamorized image of the 1920s, with many average citizens longing to live a more action-packed, risk-taking lifestyle.

18th Amendment Repealed

Amendment Twenty-one to the Constitution was ratified on December 5, 1933. It repealed the previous Eighteenth Amendment which had established a nationwide ban on the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol. The official text is as follows:

The eighteenth article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.

The transportation or importation into any State, Territory, or Possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby prohibited.

This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by conventions in the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress.

The Return of Alcohol

The enactment of the Twenty-First Amendment, sparked in large part by the Great Depression, ended Prohibition’s noble experiment. Drinking, which had never been illegal, was now allowed to come out in the open. Legal production started back up, though on a more consolidated scale (only the large brewers and distilleries could survive being closed down for over a decade). And while alcohol was legal again, its consumption was different. Part of this had to do with increased regulations and their enforcement. But another factor was that by the 1930s more and more Americans had home refrigeration that allowed them to consume beer in the privacy of their own home. The local saloon or bar had to continue to evolve (often becoming more of a restaurant) in order to thrive if not survive.

Centennial Bourbon Club

Centennial Bourbon Club was founded by Tom Harden in 2017 in the suburbs of Centennial Colorado. Tom is a combat disabled veteran with a passion for Americas official spirit. That passion is surpassed only by his desire to evangelize its history and legacy, and to share that delicious fifty-one percent corn-based beverage with his friends and community. From that desire, CBC was born. Thanks to Tom’s vision, this organization brings people together to learn about bourbon in all its many nuanced expressions, mash bills and profiles. Members of Centennial Bourbon Club expand their pallets, their knowledge and their social circle. Here, strangers become friends. And friends become a community.