Picture it this way: It’s 1934 and America’s failed “Noble Experiment” — Alcohol Prohibition — has been repealed at 4:31 p.m. on December 5, 1933, ending 13 years, 10 months, 19 days, 17 hours and 32.5 minutes of Prohibition. Very suddenly, it has become legal to make, distribute, and drink alcohol again, but after more than a decade, what companies have weathered the financial storm that comes when what they do becomes illegal?
The short answer: very few. The ones that did survive the pressures of finding a way to make money doing something else were usually the large concerns like Anheuser-Busch, Miller, and others that took advantage of their already highly established supply lines to produce other products.
During the ban, it was still legal to sell malt extracts, with the intent obviously being something other than brewing. Americans with a certain liberal attitude toward the 18th amendment and a natural do-it-yourself attitude took advantage of this availability and made beer. But the product of this illicit home brewing was unfortnately very much inferior to the high quality beers many companies produce today. Lack of experience, the financial hardship of the Great Depression, the unavailability of hops, and other issues made it almost impossible for casual brewers to hone the necessary skills for producing quality products.
Much of the knowledge and experience brewers had collected prior to the ban was lost or forgotten. Top it all off with the fact that the omission of the words “and/or beer” in the 21st Amendment made it legal for Americans to make wine again, but no beer. That’s right — a clerical error kept Americans from home brewing beer for 45 years.
In November of 1978, Congress passed into law a bill that repealed laws restricting the brewing of beer at home — within certain volume limits, 100 gallons per year for individuals, 200 gallons maximum per household assuming there are at least two residents over the age of 21. President Jimmy Carter signed the bill in February of 1979. States are still permitted to restrict residents from homebrewing, which is why one never hears about the verdant homebrewing landscape of Alabama. Though apparently there are several homebrew stores operating in Alabama. Perhaps enforcement of the law isn’t paramount on the state’s agenda.
Relatively quickly, beer brewing caught up with the winemakers that had been practicing their craft for the previous almost half-century. Legendary homebrew advocate Charlie Papazian founded the American Association of Brewers, and the craft beer revolution began. Within a decade, hoembrew concerns became not-so-home-based, and the ’90s saw a boom in the craft beer trade that has given us the plethora of choices we have today.
Think about it, that simple clerical error kept people from experimenting, and developing usable skills for 45 years. American beer styles have only just begun to break away from the old European stylistic shackles. Massive, intensely hopped strong beers; beers with almost unthinkable ingredient additions, a challenge to the corporate interests that have controlled what we’ve been able to drink since the Repeal, so much so that the big breweries are trying their hand at craft beer… Imagine what it would be like if they’d remembered the words “and/or beer” and we’d had 50 more years of practice. One can only hope that we’ll be here for another 50 years to see what comes next.
Tags: Brew History, Craft Brewing, Prohibition
Congrats on the new site, man! I always enjoyed your posts at TLC, be sure to hit up the TLC comments when you have a new post up. Eventually I’ll learn to just check your site, but it might take awhile.
Has anyone ever told you that you really, really know a lot about beer?