Cool Old Map: How Did Your State Get Liquor During Prohibition?

[Are_grits_groceries]

The map above—from a 1931 issues of Fortune Magazine—tracks the production and transportation of wine, beer, and various hard liquors in the U.S., right at the tail end of Prohibition. It's an old map but it's new to us; make sure to check out the hard-cider swath of Northern New England, the bootleggers' paradise that was Dallas, and the hidden vineyards of Northern Ohio (still a thing!)
http://foodspin.deadspin.com/cool-old-map-how-did-your-state-get-its-liquor-during-1486563191


Shine will kill you, cure you or both.

[Mopar151]

1. My grandfather found a cask of rum hidden on the "blueberry lot"

"After that, I had the rum, and he had the experience!"

[Mopar151]

6. Hard cider fueled Gramp's furnace!

Not directly - but he found that, if a sufficent supply of hard cider was kept around the old wood furnace, that there was always somebody willin' to feed the fire! When we grandkids came along, he made awesome popcorn in the old screen popper, inside the firebox of the furnace.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. see that line that runs thru northeastern Colorado?...

That was my GGrandfather and his two sons running whiskey between all those little 'dry towns'.

You're welcome.

[Holly_Hobby]

3. My great grandmother made and sold bathtub gin

The constable left her alone because she was a widow with 7 kids to feed. Edited to add, or the story goes. I was 8 when she died, so I have no first hand knowledge.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. There is watery looking stuff in pint jars down here

to this day.
Many years ago I took a teensy sip of what the good ole boys were passing around..
my eyes still water from the memory.
I think they called it...everclear?
Whatever, it was potent.

[Are_grits_groceries]

7. That stuff will clear your sinuses and

blow your brains out of your ears if you're not careful.
It will make you knee-walking drunk in a nanosecond. Worst hangover I ever had.

[Mopar151]

8. One of the keys to drinking 'shine

Express the bouquet, much like a fine wine - but you are sniffing for anything oily, or in the glycol (antifreeze, brake fluid) family. In a good still, the condenser / "worm" is pure copper, and the distillate is kept in copper or glass - much like high quality candy! In a bad, high capacity still, the condenser is made from an old auto/truck radiator, so that the hooch gets contaminated with glycol from the antifreeze, and lead leaches into the end product from the solder joints throughout the radiator. And then the bad guys pack it in polyetheylene milk jugs...

A couple of shots of the bad stuff will produce a sensation similar to a hairline fracture of the skull, and leave you wonderin' about nerve damage. OTOH, I had some of that Port-a-gee Rocket Fuel they call Grappa, and it was so smooth and clean that you sipped it and inhaled, taking the alcohol vapor in through your lungs. Drink plenty of water, next day is "never better!"

[Are_grits_groceries]

11. Oh, I always wanted to know who was vouching for the hooch.

If nobody had a clue about it, I didn't want it.
There were some nasty still setups.

[Mopar151]

12. 100% on that!

The Grappa was a Christmas gift to a chick's family - a jigger full, I was good to go!

[Mopar151]

9. Everclear is actually legal, 95% gerain alky.

In Vermont, the liquor stores will sell you "Graves" pure alcohol - but you gotta sign for it, "for industrial purposes only".

[dixiegrrrrl]

13. So I got the name right?

Wasn't sure if I remembered it correctly.
Happy juice and varish remover, all in one!

[Are_grits_groceries]

14. Well, at least you could remember it.

That shite can clear brain cells at lightning speed.

[panader0]

5. I see Nogales on the Az/Mex border.

When I was a kid my dad was a Lieutenant Colonel stationed at Davis Monthan AFB in Tucson. Standard social life involved plenty of cocktail parties.
Back then, in '58 or so, you could import a quart of inexpensive name brand booze from Mexico for every person, every crossing.
The folks would load me and my brother and whoever else in the car and drive to Nogales for the big score.

[el_bryanto]

10. That's a pretty interesting map - thanks for posting it. nt