The Prohibition Hangover R5071.indb i 5/14/09 11:19:11 AM R5071.indb ii 5/14/09 11:19:12 AM The Prohibition Hangover Alcohol in America from Demon Rum to Cult Cabernet Garrett Peck Rutgers University Press New Brunswick, New Jersey, and London R5071.indb iii 5/14/09 11:19:12 AM Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Peck, Garrett. The prohibition hangover : alcohol in America from demon rum to cult cabernet / Garrett Peck. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978–0–8135–4592–9 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Prohibition—United States. 2. Drinking of alcoholic beverages—United States—History. I. Title. hv5089.p364 2009 394.1´30973—dc22 2008051502 A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the British Library. The author gratefully acknowledges permission to reprint Noah S. Sweat Jr.’s “Whiskey Speech” in its entirely. Copyright © 1952, renewed 1980 by Noah S. Sweat, Jr. Reprinted by permission from Sweat’s estate. Copyright © 2009 by Garrett Peck All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. Please contact Rutgers University Press, 100 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854–8099. The only exception to this prohibition is “fair use” as defi ned by U.S. copyright law. Visit our Web site: http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu Manufactured in the United States of America R5071.indb iv 5/14/09 11:19:21 AM Dedicated to Anthony Kennedy Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court and to the federal worker. You keep our country safe, rescue us from hurricanes, deliver our mail, clean up our air and water, collect our statistics, and go where angels fear to tread. Underpaid, unappreciated, never thanked, but always loved. R5071.indb v 5/14/09 11:19:21 AM R5071.indb vi 5/14/09 11:19:21 AM Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Chapter 1 The Noble Experiment 8 Chapter 2 So What Are We Drinking? 25 Chapter 3 Whiskey and Rye 53 Chapter 4 Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer 78 Chapter 5 The Golden Age of Wine 100 Chapter 6 The Supreme Court Decides 138 Chapter 7 Alcohol and Your Health 158 Chapter 8 What Would Jesus Drink? 179 Chapter 9 Beating the Temperance Drum 198 Chapter 10 Not until You’re Twenty-one 230 Conclusions 257 Notes 271 Index 295 R5071.indb vii 5/14/09 11:19:21 AM R5071.indb viii 5/14/09 11:19:21 AM Acknowledgments The Prohibition Hangover did not rise out of a vacuum. Many people infl u- enced it, and many graciously shared their time to be interviewed. I have nu- merous individuals to thank for their help in making this book come to life. My editor at Rutgers University Press, Doreen Valentine, is a tremendous coach and friend who took a big chance on a fi rst-time author and midwifed this book into the world. Beth Gianfagna was my dynamite copy editor who fi nalized the manuscript for production. In addition, I want to express my heartfelt thanks to an anonymous expert reader, a historian with deep knowledge of alcohol in America. A slew of people test-marketed the book and provided invaluable feed- back on shortening the story and making it more accessible to readers: Jim Gore, Edward Cavalcanti, Bill Nelson, Dennis Pogue, Chris Morris, Edward Stringham, Julia Filz, Gary Regan, Phil Greene, and John McCardell. You all have my undying appreciation. Juanita Swedenburg of Swedenburg Estate Vineyard took her case to the Supreme Court and won. I am forever grateful that she spent a warm Sunday morning in November 2005 with me, and I mourned her passing on June 9, 2007. Thomas Sweat Jr. granted me permission to quote the “Whiskey Speech” in its entirety. His uncle, Noah Sweat, gave the speech in 1952. Brooke Gowen Smith, my fi rst editor at Beverage Media, gave me my fi rst break at writing for a trade publication and then supplied me with a constant stream of assignments. Her successor, Alia Akkam, has been equally gener- ous. My platform for this book is entirely because of their generous spirit. I am not a lawyer, but I have many friends who are, and they reviewed my analysis of the Supreme Court’s decision in Granholm v. Heald. Max Barger, R5071.indb ix 5/14/09 11:19:22 AM x Acknowledgments Brian Castro, and Carson Fox all gave me great feedback. When I doubted whether I was qualifi ed to analyze a court case, as I am not an attorney, Car- son Fox reassured me: the Constitution belongs to all of us, not just to the elite. We are all entitled to know the law, just as we are all equal before the law. The church staff and volunteers at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, D.C., including Reverend Dean Snyder, Dee Lowman, Chris Matthews, and Robert McDonald, provided invaluable assistance in ad- dressing my religious questions. Others who provided help in this area were Todd Amrhein, Tim Johnson, Shauna Weiler, Mark Schaefer, and Dr. Peter Cimbolic. Washington, D.C., is one of the best cities on earth in which to conduct research. We have every resource imaginable! Some of those local resources include the staff at Arlington County Central Library, who ordered dozens of books through the interlibrary loan system, saving me countless trips to the Library of Congress. Calvin Beale, the nearly legendary demographer at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, provided valuable census and comparison data; the District mourned his passing in 2008 at age eighty-fi ve. Art Resnick, director of Public and Media Affairs at the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), explained many of the key regulatory issues relating to alcohol and helped me fi nd many TTB- related resources on the agency’s Web site. In my analysis of the wine industry, I would like to thank Terrie Marlin, the wine club director at Babcock Winery & Vineyards in Lompoc, Califor- nia. Dorothy Brecher and John Gaiter of the Wall Street Journal gave me ad- vice on how to enjoy wine. Shannon Hunt, Sharon Castillo, and Idil Oyman of the Center for Wine Origins and Offi ce of Champagne fi lled me in on the confl ict over the use of the name Champagne. Bobby Kacher of Robert Kacher Selections provided a fascinating interview that detailed a wine im- porter’s challenges. Jeremy Benson of Free the Grapes! kept me apprised of interstate wine shipping issues. Half of what Americans drink is beer, and I gained valuable insight from some wonderful people. Jim Koch shared with me his insights as the nation’s largest craft brewer; special thanks to Sally Jackson and Kris Comtois for setting up the interview. David Alexander of the Brickskeller in Washington, D.C., provided a bar owner’s perspective on the industry. Mary Koluder led a fabulous and entertaining tour of the Latrobe Brewery. Bob Lachky, Mic Zavarella, and Maureen Roth of Anheuser-Busch InBev provided vital inter- views; as A-B is the largest brewer in the United States, I am doubly grate- ful. And Jeff Becker and Marc Destito of the Beer Institute gave me the big picture of the issues facing the beer industry. R5071.indb x 5/14/09 11:19:22 AM Acknowledgments xi Mark Baker of Diageo opened more doors that you can imagine. He intro- duced me to many other players in the distilled spirits industry, teamed me up with Lou Dupski for a tour of Diageo’s bottling plant in Relay, Maryland, and suggested that I tour the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Frank Coleman and Lisa Hawkins of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS) gave me valuable time to explain the issues facing their industry. Likewise, Ralph Blackman and Maria Tildon of the Century Council provided an enor- mous amount of information on alcohol, youth, and education programs. The tour of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail was one of the highlights in my research. Sarah Devaney and Linda Hayes of Beam Global Spirits & Wine co- ordinated my trip and set up the interviews, including a meeting with Jerry Dalton of Jim Beam, followed by a plant tour led by Victoria Downs. Equally exciting was interviewing Dave Pickerell at Maker’s Mark. Many thanks to all who helped me at that beautiful distillery—Amanda Ingram, Sydina Bradshaw, and Dave Pudlo. By the way, both Jerry Dalton and Dave Picker- ell reviewed the manuscript, so they get twice the thanks! The trip would have been incomplete without Debbie Harwell, who graciously reopened the Bourbon Bar at Old Talbott Tavern in Bardstown, Kentucky, just for my friends and me. She regaled us with great stories. Many people in the public policy arena helped fi ll out this work, and I am grateful for hearing the many opposing viewpoints. Alcohol certainly is not a black-and-white topic. So I appreciate the time that George Hacker, the director of the Alcohol Policies Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, took to answer my many questions. Other people I wish to thank are Radley Balko, Misty Moyse at Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and Morris Chafetz, M.D. And fi nally, Charlie Forman and Eric Schmidt of the Beverage Information Group provided valuable fi gures on the size of the alcohol industry. Many friends supplied personal anecdotes; there was such a surfeit that I could print only the most relevant.