A pint of history

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It was called “the Noble Experiment” but in many ways, the Prohibition movement was anything but noble. America’s Temperance Movement was fuelled in large part by anti-immigrant sentiment, explained author Daniel Okrent, who appears in the forthcoming Ken Burns documentary, Prohibition. Particularly in the religious southern region of the US known as the Bible Belt, people believed that banning alcohol would keep out Irish and Italian immigrants, who were stereotyped as drunkards, and German immigrants, who made up the bulk of brewery owners. The racist Ku Klux Klan organization was a major supporter of the anti-alcohol movement, Okrent writes in his book Last Call.

Klan members found unlikely bedfellows with socialists and unionists who, under the organized banner of the Industrial Workers of the World, supported the Temperance Movement because of the belief that alcohol was a capitalist tool used to keep the working man down, said Okrent.

At the core of the movement to ban alcohol though, was the Protestant Church. The Anti-Saloon League, the main pro-Prohibition lobby, garnered most of its support from Protestant ministers. And this loose coalition of temperance advocates gained the momentum it needed to ban alcohol nationwide for 13 years.

A shot more of history
Banning alcohol did barely anything to curb drinking in America. In fact, the parts of society that kept the party going did so in an even bigger and more boisterous way. There were far more illegal speakeasies during Prohibition (Manhattan alone had 5,000) than there had been legal saloons previously. “The parties were bigger, the pace was faster…the morals looser,” wrote Jazz age novelist F Scott Fitzgerald. According to Okrent, this new market helped nationalize organized crime, and crime lords from different cities congregated in New Jersey to “divide up” the country at the Atlantic City Conference.

Despite the Christian Temperance Movement, the South was not immune to the illicit alcohol market either. The rural and mountainous Appalachia region was rife with hidden pockets producing “moonshine”, illegal liquor made at night “by the light of the moon” to avoid authorities.

The Roaring Twenties left behind a tantalising trail for travellers today. Landmarks of the excess, revelry and lawlessness that resulted from Prohibition make for exciting trips throughout the United States.

A tipple of travel
For a Prohibition tour of America, start in swinging New Orleans. Whet your palate at the Museum of the American Cocktail, whose exhibits take you through America’s intoxicating past, showcasing vintage cocktail shakers, “medicinal” booze and portable stills (which, according to New Orleans in the Twenties, could be bought for $6 at any hardware store during Prohibition). While in the city, take the Scandalous Cocktail Hour Tour to such historic drinking sites as the Jean Lafitte Blacksmith Shop and Pat O’Brien’s Piano Bar, and learn about the brothels of Storyville and the crime families that ran the city.