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monkey47

In honor of the last good drinking weekend of the summer, I'm running back-to-back drinking items. This one isn't really "BYCU." Rather, it's brews you could've used . . . back before the 18th Amendment was repealed: 10 Fascinating Facts About Prohibition Speakeasies. Excerpt:

The intention of Prohibition was to make America dry, but it didn't take into account people's free will and the neighboring nations that remained wet. The law backfired in proportions unimaginable to those who enforced and preached for the sobriety of a nation. Following the amendment, New Jersey claimed that there were 10 times as many watering holes as before. In fact, it was thought that New York had as many as 100,000 speakeasies, twice the number prior to Prohibition.
Supposedly, for every bar that closed down, another three opened in its place. Without the need to adhere to previous standards imposed on bar owners, such as trading and licensing agreements, men flocked to their basements, garages, and storerooms to open their own bars and cash in. The police force was powerless, so much so that there were four recorded speakeasies on the same street as the Boston Police Department.

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