Carry A. Nation, whose first husband was an alcoholic, smashed up saloons with her famous hatchet from December 1900 until her death in 1911. Joining religious protestors were some wealthy business owners who believed that sober workers were harder workers.
Prohibition supporters got a boost when the United States entered World War I in 1917 and President Woodrow Wilson instituted a temporary wartime prohibition during which distillers could produce only industrial alcohol. That same year, Congress submitted for state ratification the 18th Amendment, which banned the manufacture, transportation, and sale—but not use—of intoxicating liquors. The amendment received the support of the required three-quarters of US states in 11 months.
The 18th Amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919, and took effect a year later. In October 1919, Congress passed the National Prohibition Act—commonly known as the Volstead Act, in reference to Rep. Andrew Volstead of Minnesota, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee—which provided guidelines for enforcing Prohibition.
Alcohol could be legally sold only for medicinal purposes, and just six distilleries in the entire country had licenses to produce this “medicine.” Doctors could prescribe 1 pint of 100-proof whiskey per patient every 10 days. Needless to say, a lot of people fell ill in those days.
Generally speaking, the provisions of Prohibition were enforced much more strongly in rural areas, where residents tended to support them, than in urban ones. (This dichotomy continues even today in Bible Belt states like Kentucky, where, despite its prodigious bourbon production, 77 of its 120 counties were classified as dry in March 2016, according to the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.) Overall, rather than curtailing distilling, Prohibition just shifted control of it to the criminal element. The 1920s saw the rise of bootleggers, speakeasies, and gangsters such as Al Capone, who reportedly earned $60 million annually from illegal operations associated with alcohol.
{ Just A SIP }
Al Capone was a frequent guest at The Seelbach Hotel in Louisville, as was Cincinnati mobster George Remus, known popularly as the “King of the Bootleggers.” Remus, who befriended writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, who was stationed with the Army at nearby Camp Taylor, was said to have inspired Jay Gatsby in Fitzgerald’s 1925 masterpiece, The Great Gatsby. Fitzgerald’s characters Tom and Daisy Buchanan were married in Louisville at “The Muhlbach.”
Prohibition cost the country lots of jobs, not just in the distilling industry but also in ancillary businesses such as cooperages, bottle manufacturers, and taverns—even farmers were affected. By the 1932 presidential election, with the country in the midst of the Great Depression, it was clear that the so-called “Noble Experiment” had failed, and candidates for both major parties promised to do away with it.
Under President Franklin Roosevelt, Congress proposed the 21st Amendment, which repealed the 18th, in February 1933, and the states ratified it in December 1933. It’s worth noting, historian Veach says, that the 18th Amendment is thus far the only amendment that limited the freedoms of American citizens—and the only amendment that has ever been repealed. It’s also worth noting that the 21st Amendment ceded control over alcoholic beverages to the states, which led to a confusing and inconsistent array of laws that still exists today.
Many distilleries never reopened after Repeal. The 1930s saw lots of consolidation as large distilling companies bought up smaller ones; it also saw the creation of one startup that would prove to be very successful: Heaven Hill, which was founded in 1935 by the Shapira brothers and which today is the nation’s largest independent family-owned and -operated distilled spirits producer.
The distilling industry as a whole had really no more than started gearing back up when the United States entered World War II and the federal government once again halted beverage alcohol production, this time so that distilleries could switch to 190-proof industrial alcohol for use in ammunition, plastics, antifreeze, and the like. After the war, Americans once again had money to spend, and distilleries cranked up production to provide them with bourbon to spend it on. The 1950s were a golden age of bourbon production in Kentucky. Distilleries started marketing their wares internationally. Special packaging became popular, notably the ceramic decanters sold by Jim Beam.
On May 4, 1964, Congress passed a resolution that declared bourbon whiskey to be “a distinctive product of the United States,” just as Scotch whisky is distinctive to Scotland or Canadian whiskey to Canada. Then, as now, Kentucky was producing the lion’s share of America’s bourbon: by 1968, there were almost 9 million barrels of it aging in warehouses in the Bluegrass.
But the times were not the only things a-changin’ in the late 1960s. So was the nation’s drink of choice. And it wasn’t bourbon.
In May 1964, Congress passed the following resolution declaring that bourbon whiskey could be produced only in the United States.
Whereas it has been the commercial policy of the United States to recognize marks of origin applicable to alcoholic beverages imported into the United States; and
Whereas such commercial policy has been implemented by the promulgation of appropriate regulations which, among other things, establish standards of identity for such imported alcoholic beverages; and
Whereas among the standards of identity which have been established are those for “Scotch whisky” as a distinctive product of Scotland, manufactured in Scotland in compliance with the laws of Great Britain regulating the manufacture of Scotch whisky for consumption in Great Britain and for “Canadian whisky” as a distinctive product of Canada manufactured in Canada in compliance with the laws of the Dominion of Canada regulating the manufacture of whisky for consumption in Canada and for “cognac” as grape brandy distilled in the Cognac region of France, which is entitled to be so designated by the laws and regulations of the French Government; and
Whereas “Bourbon whiskey” is a distinctive product of the United States and is unlike other types of alcoholic beverages, whether foreign or domestic; and
Whereas to be entitled to the designation “Bourbon whiskey” the product must conform to the highest standards and must be manufactured in accordance with the laws and regulations of the United States which prescribe a standard of identity for “Bourbon whiskey”; and
Whereas Bourbon whiskey has achieved recognition and acceptance throughout the world as a distinctive product of the United States: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that the recognition of Bourbon whiskey as a distinctive product of the United States be brought to the attention of the appropriate agencies of the United States Government toward the end that such agencies will take appropriate action to prohibit the importation into the United States of whisky designated as “Bourbon whiskey”.
Big Names in Bourbon
Tracing the Kentucky bourbon family tree is a lot like looking up the bloodlines of Kentucky Derby winners: you’ll encounter the same names time and again. Many families have worked in the distilling business for generations, partly because people born in Kentucky rarely leave, and the few who do usually have the good sense to come back.
One especially legendary name, of course, is Beam. Beams have been making whiskey in Kentucky ever since German immigrant
