"By most accounts, prohibition wasn't so dry after all. The years between 1920 and 1933 are usually associated with speakeasies, bootleggers, bathtub gin and gangsters, and for some, those were the highlights of the decade. If you were part of the relatively small percentage of the population who frequented speakeasies, the nightlife was sparkling, and it was in the fun-filled, mobster-run clubs of this era that the twenties roared with a hoarse throat, worn dry by bad liquor.
"One of the strangest effects of Prohibition, however, was this: Hard liquor actually became more popular. Why? Simply because it packed more alcohol into a small quantity of liquid than wine or beer and was therefore easier to transport and hide from the authorities. People who had once enjoyed a few beers at the local saloon were now tossing back shots of whiskey and drinking fanciful cocktails made with poor-quality booze. It is estimated that although relatively little wine or beer was poured during Prohibition, consumption of the hard stuff actually increased by more than 15 percent per person. It then declined by about 25 percent after Repeal."
-- Gary Regan and Mardee Haidin Regan, The Book of Bourbon (section: "The Roaring Twenties")
| ← Previous day | (Calendar) | Next day → |