Ken Burns New Doc Special- Prohibition Starts on 10/2

[mpal2]

I missed it but fortunately there is a repeat of Part 1 on tonight at 10. I hope this means repeats of parts 2 and 3 will follow soon.

We still have a lot of screwed up alcohol laws in my state. Although there are still several puritanical abstinence people, a lot of the reason the laws still exist are because of very powerful liquor lobbies. They like having things the way they are because it means more money for themselves. Things are slowly changing but there are still too many dry counties and screwed up laws in the ones that do sell liquor.

FYI, Jack Daniels distillery is in a dry county so it is not available for sale in their own hometown. I believe they used to provide free samples at the end of the distillery tour to get around it but had to either had to stop due to legal reasons or found a way to make money off of it. They managed to get a loophole in the laws that allows them to sell a commemorative bottle. The government likes the sales tax too much to disallow the sale.

[TygerLily]

I accidentally found this last night and watched the conclusion. I was disappointed that I missed the other episodes, but now I'll have to watch for reruns. And order the book from the library.

[NeilJLeonard]

I did not see all of it, I missed much of part 1. I did watch all of parts 2 & 3. For all of that it was quite comprehensive on the why it was enacted & the why of it failing; illegal booze was stored & warehoused in great quantities before it went into effect & smuggling seemed to started on the 1st night, too.

Very interesting and informative. Well worth the time spent watching.


NJL (...I'll wait to see all of Part 1 whenever it is rebroadcast...)

[Latte]

I'm a history buff. I guess my disappointment was that there was nothing new that I didn't already know. Always hoping for new information.

[Vagabond]

I think it's more likely because they use sacramental wine in their services, as do Catholics.

Although the use of sacramental wine may have informed the views of the Episcopal and Lutheran Churches, I don't think it was the primary reason why they opposed Prohibition.

The Volstead Act allowed for the use of alcohol for religious purposes (and other legitimate activities such as "scientific research" :shuffle:).

And aren't there other Protestant denominations that use sacramental wine besides the Episcopalians and Lutherans (the Presbyterians, for example)?

[Cyn]

The blessing of and drinking of wine is also a part of just about every Jewish holiday :) .