Another good reason to go out on a Monday: Prohibition was repealed 75 years ago today. Beer figured into my childhood more prominently than most people; I was raised in a hops-based economy thanks to Anheuser-Busch, headquartered in my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. I couldn’t help but wonder what Prohibition did to my beloved Bud. An article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch shows how A-B proprietor Gussie Busch sucked it up and soldiered on. While other local breweries dried up, A-B adjusted and weathered the 13-year ban:
With the onset of Prohibition, brewers were forced to adapt. Anheuser-Busch churned out yeast, ice cream, refrigerated trucks, a non-alcoholic malt drink called Bevo and a de-alcoholized version of Budweiser.
The company sold off trucks, automobiles and about half of its real estate holdings. From 1919 to 1922, A-B incurred four straight years of losses, totaling $5.6 million — its first losses for which records exist — before breaking even in 1923.
Even though people began guzzling legally again in 1933, the taps never again flowed like they did pre-Prohibition. For a story I’m working on, I just spoke to an editor at WineBusiness.com who said the beer industry today is completely stagnant. Tonight, to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition, you’re more likely to uncork a bottle of red wine.
