The Filson Historical Society Blog

Banners on a Louisville, Ky liquor store announce imminent prohibition and encourage patrons to stock up, circa 1920.

On Monday, November 27, 1933, Kentucky became the 33^rd state to pass the 21^st Amendment which repealed the 18^th Amendment to the United States Constitution. That week was Thanksgiving week and no other state voted on the issue until Tuesday, December 5^th.  First Ohio and then Pennsylvania passed the 21^st Amendment, but it fell to Utah later in that day to be the 36^th state to vote for repeal and end national prohibition. The 18^th Amendment was the only Amendment to the United States Constitution to take away a freedom from its citizens, so it is only appropriate that it is also the only amendment that has been repealed. It ended 15 years of what can only be called a national tragedy. Prohibition cost people jobs, the government tax revenue and most importantly, it caused citizens to lose respect for the law of the nation.

 Prohibition got its start in 1918 when the government passed “Wartime Prohibition”, prohibiting the distilleries from making beverage alcohol so they could supply the government’s war effort in Europe. Even when the war ended in November 1918, the government simply extended the law because the 18^th amendment was well on its way to being passed and was indeed passed in January of 1919. The law called for prohibition to start one year to the day from the ratification of the 18^th Amendment so prohibition officially started on January 16, 1920.

"Some day they'll be back for your guest's enjoyment..." Schenley Distilleries Company anticipates the return of bonded whiskey in the post-prohibition era. From the United Distillers Collection, circa 1937.

 In the 15 years that had passed since the beginning of wartime prohibition much changed. The industry had lost many of its skilled workers due to age and death. The nation was in the middle of the Great Depression and the distilleries had to compete with Scotch and Canadian whiskies that were ready to enter the market immediately, while American distillers would have to wait four years before they could have an aged product ready for the market. Times were tough and they would not get better soon. The Second World War brought back wartime prohibition and it was 1946 before the distillers could begin to meet consumer demands for bourbon whiskey.

 For those interested in these subjects, I recommend looking in the following collections at the Filson Historical Society. The Henry Watterson papers have editorials against prohibition. The Brown-Walker Family papers discuss Creel Brown’s plans for distilling in Florida after the repeal of prohibition. Finally, the Taylor-Hay family papers include scrapbooks dealing with the prohibition movement in the early 20^th century and correspondence dealing with the K Taylor Distillery founded after the repeal of prohibition.

For the final week of the Filson Bourbon Academy, the subject of the history portion was the post prohibition bourbon world and bourbon in the 21st century. The tasting segment of the night was the “final exam” where the students were asked to take notes on two unknown whiskeys.

When prohibition ended in 1933, the distilling industry wanted to prevent it from happening again. The distillery owners met and set up self regulations and codes of conduct. They agreed that they would not use women in advertising, no images of Santa Claus or other images appealing to children in advertising, and no radio (and later television) advertisements. In 1959 Glenmore Distillery was the first company to break one of the self regulations by using women to advertise Glenmore Gin. When there was no public uproar, other companies quickly followed their lead. The other regulations are still in place but there is movement to advertise spirits on television today.

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The third week of the Filson Bourbon Academy started with the discussion of the Bottled-in-Bond Act of 1897, a precursor to the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. The law simply states that the whiskey was all made by the same distiller, in the same season (Spring is from January to June and Fall is from July to December), aged at least four years in government bonded warehouses and bottled at 100 proof with only water added to adjust proof, all under government supervision. It does not guarantee quality beyond these points, but it does mean that it is straight whiskey without any adulteration.

Prescription for medicinal bourbon

The Pure Food and Drug act of 1906 immediately created a question as to “What is Whiskey?” The government under President Theodore Roosevelt answered that question as it had to be straight whiskey, aged in wood with no ingredients other than water added to the product. Anything else had to be labeled “Imitation Whiskey”. This led to a legal battle between the government and the rectifiers who were making blended whiskey products with neutral spirits and flavorings. The issue was all settled in 1909 when President William H. Taft took it upon himself to settle the question. The “Taft Decision” defines the categories of whiskey that we have today. For a hand out, I furnished the student with a copy of the Taft Decision and a copy of a letter from President Taft to Kentucky Governor Augustus E. Willson thanking Willson for his support of the Taft Decision.

The history discussion ended with a discussion on prohibition. One of the myths of prohibition was that it was illegal to own whiskey. Not only did the distillers still own the whiskey that was made before prohibition, they actually had a very limited outlet to sell it for “medicinal use.” The companies that had a license to sell during prohibition were Brown-Forman, Glenmore Distillery, Frankfort Distillery, Schenley Distillery, National Distillers Corporation and A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery. W.L. Weller and Sons piggy backed on the Stitzel license since they were owned by the same people and formally merged to form Stitzel-Weller Distillery after prohibition ended.

For the tasting portion of the class we looked at single barrel bourbon using Four Roses Single Barrel, small batch bourbons using Knob Creek, extra aged bourbon using Russell’s Reserve 10 years old and specialty bottling using Bernheim wheat whiskey.