On January 17, 1920, a Tuesday , Prohibition went into law. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution had passed one year earlier and went into effect one year later. This was a dark day for America. The majority of people... Continue Reading →
Bottle shape was fairly standard for much of the 20th century, but not so before Prohibition. I thought I would look at these pre-Prohibition whiskey bottles and discuss the history of these bottles. Whiskey has been put in bottles since... Continue Reading →
I have always been an advocate for making Repeal Day a national holiday. It is a day when we as Americans, should celebrate the freedom it brought back to the constitution. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution was the only... Continue Reading →
When Prohibition was made law in 1919, taking effect in 1920, there needed to be a law passed to enforce the 18th Amendment. The Republican Congressman from Minnesota, Andrew John Volstead, introduced the enforcement law to Congress and it passed... Continue Reading →
When Prohibition went into effect on January 16, 1920, many distilleries had barrels of whiskey stored in their warehouses. Some of this whiskey was being taken out by illegal means and sold on the black market. In 1922, Congress passed... Continue Reading →
Back in August 1917, the government passed the Lever Food and Fuel Control Act. This measure was passed, in theory, to control food and fuel during the First World War. It passed with the support of prohibitionists. What the act... Continue Reading →
Repeal Day has become quite an event since I first started celebrating it in the late 20th century. My first celebration of Repeal Day was with some co-workers from the Filson Historical Society. We went to D’Maries, an early Bourbon... Continue Reading →
There is a romanticized image of Prohibition era speakeasies in the modern world. There are many bars that call themselves “speakeasies” in most every major city in the United States and even overseas, where speakeasies were not found in the... Continue Reading →
I was recently asked to write an article for an auction magazine about Prohibition bottles. I thought it was a good article, so I thought I would publish it on my website. I have touched upon many of the points... Continue Reading →
