Without Prohibition, You Might Never Order a ‘Jack and Coke’
By Kara Newman
January 16, 2020
At the stroke of midnight on January 16, 1920, Prohibition went into effect. The so-called “Noble Experiment” outlawed the production, importation, transportation and sales of “intoxicating liquors” for almost 14 years, until its repeal on December 5, 1933.
A century later, we’re still feeling the ban’s effects. We romanticize its moment in history in modern bars with faux “speakeasies,” wink-wink “bathtub gin” and “moonshine,” but the 18th Amendment resulted in real and long-lasting changes to America’s drinking culture.
The first and most significant shift has been its effect on state laws. After 1933, regulating alcohol became a state rather than federal issue, resulting in a patchwork of rules that, despite evolving over time, remain completely inconsistent across the country.
Some states created “dry counties” or codified blue laws that restrict alcohol sales at stores or restaurants during certain hours (if you’ve been denied a Mimosa at an early-ish Sunday brunch, this is likely why).
Varying laws also make online liquor sales challenging, since many states don’t allow such shipments.
Beyond legal red tape is the more practical topic of industry development. During Prohibition, distilleries were forced to shutter their operations, many bartenders left the U.S. to practice their craft elsewhere and cooperages saw demand for barrels fall so sharply that the local workforce and know-how diminished significantly.
It took decades to recoup that expertise.