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The years leading up to the First World War were trying times for the distilling industry. The prohibitionists were active in making many states dry. The distilling industry had depended upon the argument put forth by the beer industry that prohibition was an attack upon their German heritage to push back against the prohibitionists. This argument was strong up until the year 1917. Then America entered the war upon the side of the allies and it became fashionable to attack everything German, including the beer industry. This was just the beginning of the troubles for the distilling industry.

In 1918, the United States government created “wartime Prohibition”. The distilling industry had to convert all distilling of beverage alcohol to the making of high proof alcohol for the war effort. They were prohibited from making any beverage alcohol. The industry was fine with production of alcohol for the war effort. It was needed for making gunpowder for ammunition, antifreeze for vehicles, and medical needs such as antiseptics and other medicines. They did not foresee the fact that it would continue after the war ended. Many of the workers of the proper age in the distilleries joined the military and that created a shortage of workers. Then the influenza epidemic broke out and killed many of the other workers. They had trouble bottling the whiskey they had already aged due to the shortage of workers on the bottling line. E.H. Taylor, Jr. writes to a customer in 1918 that the flu had killed so many of the women that worked on his bottling line, that he would be slow filling their order for whiskey. 

Even as the war continued, the prohibitionists were growing stronger and they pushed the passage of the 18th Amendment in congress and it was sent to the states for ratification. Many of the men serving in the military later complained that since they were serving and could not vote, it was an unfair time to pass the law. They would have voted against it. However, the amendment had passed and even after the war ended in November 1918, the government kept wartime prohibition in effect since it was just a matter of time before national prohibition would be law.

The First World War spelled the doom of the distilling industry in the United States. The prohibitionists had their wish and America became a dry nation. The industry had just over a year to settle their business before they had to shut down their business completely. It is not until December 1933 before the industry could be brought back and beverage alcohol was again legal to make.

Photos Courtesy of Rosemary Miller and public domain