morning of January 17, 1920, “ordinary events like taking a bottle of wine to a friend’s house, sipping a drink in public or selling a beer were now illegal from coast to coast, punishable by up to six months of jail time and a fine up to $1,000” (Blumenthal 59).
Americans were still reluctant to give up their favorite drinks. It was legal to make cider and beer at home as long as no alcohol was added. Beer could even be sold if most of the alcohol if most of the alcohol content was first removed. This beer was called ‘near beer.’ Near beer wasn’t very well-liked so people sprayed it with alcohol from a hypodermic needle. This was called ‘needle beer’ and it was more popular than near beer. Fruit Industries Inc. produced Vine-Glo, which was a product that was used to make grape juice, “The literature that came with the Vine-Glo instructed buyers what not to do. If customers did the things the literature told them not to do, the grape juice turned to wine in sixty days. So, really, they were telling customers how to make wine” (Lieurance 60). …show more content…
government didn’t want to give up their alcohol either. In fact, they often knowingly helped people make more alcoholic drinks, “In 1929, the U.S. government loaned the [Vine-Glo] grape growers money for more land” (Lieurance 60). The government also put out posters explaining how to make alcohol at home. The method they discussed was called bathtub gin because the recipe called for so much water that the only place large enough to distill this alcohol in was a bathtub. The government also allowed sacramental wine- for religious purposes, and medicinal wine. For a small fee, doctors would write out ‘prescriptions’ requiring their ‘patients’ to drink alcohol for health reasons. Occasionally, policemen could even be bribed to inform store owners when the next raid would be. (Lieurance
Americans were still reluctant to give up their favorite drinks. It was legal to make cider and beer at home as long as no alcohol was added. Beer could even be sold if most of the alcohol if most of the alcohol content was first removed. This beer was called ‘near beer.’ Near beer wasn’t very well-liked so people sprayed it with alcohol from a hypodermic needle. This was called ‘needle beer’ and it was more popular than near beer. Fruit Industries Inc. produced Vine-Glo, which was a product that was used to make grape juice, “The literature that came with the Vine-Glo instructed buyers what not to do. If customers did the things the literature told them not to do, the grape juice turned to wine in sixty days. So, really, they were telling customers how to make wine” (Lieurance 60). …show more content…
government didn’t want to give up their alcohol either. In fact, they often knowingly helped people make more alcoholic drinks, “In 1929, the U.S. government loaned the [Vine-Glo] grape growers money for more land” (Lieurance 60). The government also put out posters explaining how to make alcohol at home. The method they discussed was called bathtub gin because the recipe called for so much water that the only place large enough to distill this alcohol in was a bathtub. The government also allowed sacramental wine- for religious purposes, and medicinal wine. For a small fee, doctors would write out ‘prescriptions’ requiring their ‘patients’ to drink alcohol for health reasons. Occasionally, policemen could even be bribed to inform store owners when the next raid would be. (Lieurance