Prohibit cannot be allowed! The most interesting thing about dry laws around the world

A complete or partial ban on alcohol is a topic that worries any connoisseur of alcoholic beverages. Today we will take all the most interesting things about dry laws, press from this fragrant cake, let it ferment, distill and serve you in portions, in delicious misted piles.

A complete or partial ban on alcohol is a topic that, one way or another, worries any connoisseur of alcoholic beverages. So the online magazine “Rum Diary” decided to keep up with the trend. There is a lot of information on this subject on the Internet, so we will not replicate the next “10 facts” or go deep into the history, background and consequences. Today we will take all the most interesting things about dry laws, press from this fragrant cake, let it ferment, distill and serve you in portions, in delicious misted piles.

First toast. Aperitif.

“Once upon a time, in a far, far away country, there lived one prince – a respected, brave, but narrow-minded person. And he saw how young horsemen, instead of plowing on princely lands and going on a hike to rich neighbors, have fun all day long, drink wine, get acquainted with beauties, fight and sing songs. And I must say that since childhood this ruler was tormented by an ulcer, gout, stupidity and complexes. And he decided that everyone else should live as badly as he himself – he banned wine, ordered the vineyards to be cut down, and at the same time ordered the national anthem to be sung in chorus every day. At the funeral of the prince, this hymn was sung especially beautifully, and on his grave a vine grew by itself, which gave ripe, juice-filled clusters. They made fine wine out of them, but they didn’t drink it – they save it in case another such idiot comes to power.”

This old legend is one-to-one similar to all stories with the introduction of dry laws in world practice. Almost all of them were experiments aimed at increasing labor productivity and improving the “moral character” of citizens. Without exception, all experiments were unsuccessful, some of them ended in the collapse of the state economy, and in some places – the states themselves.

Anti-alcohol laws began to be introduced in the early twentieth century. The first was adopted in 1907 in Canada, and off we go: 1907-1992 – the Faroe Islands, 1910-1927 – Australia, 1915-1935 – Iceland, 1916-1926 – Norway, and in 1919 prohibition was introduced in Finland .

“5-4-3-2-1-0” is a code that every hot Finnish guy of the 30s is familiar with. It means the date and time of the opening of shops with alcohol after the repeal of the law – 5/04/32 at 10 o’clock.

In 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment, the famous prohibition law in America, came into force in the United States. In 1932, this amendment was repealed – for the first and last time in the history of the States.

The first dry law in Russia in 1914 was “sent down” by the tsar-priest Nicholas II – interestingly, he himself is not a fool to drink. We all know how this event ended – with the collapse of the Empire and the arrival of the Bolsheviks, who, by the way, also banned drunkenness in 1917, but in 1923 they allowed it again. By decree of People’s Commissar Rykov, cheap vodka appeared on the market, which was immediately nicknamed “rykovka”.

In the future, the struggle for sobriety continued with varying success. Anti-vodka campaigns were carried out in 1929, 1958, 1972. It was at this time that a terrible miscarriage of the soviet “punitive psychiatry” was invented – the Medical-labor dispensary.

But the most famous is the dry law in the USSR of 1985-87. Alcohol at that time was produced and sold, but its quantity decreased, and the cost increased several times. During the fight against windmills, Crimean, Moldavian, Kuban vineyards fell under the distribution, alcohol stores were massively closed.

As a result, instead of high-quality alcohol, people began to drink dubious shmurdyak, and some even even colognes and BF glue. It is believed that it was at this time that the future “brothers” of the 90s were born – the “initial private capital” grew on illegal imports and the manufacture of alcohol, which became a sentence for the USSR.

Second toast. For health!

Alcohol poisoning has always been the flip side of dry laws. Not all bootleggers have anything like a conscience. In counterfeit alcohol poured everything – up to poisonous and toxic substances. Mass poisoning with methanol was noted during Prohibition in Finland, the USSR, and in the States, methyl alcohol was specially added to technical alcohol so that they would not drink. The result is 10 dead and 000 disabled (for comparison, in Iraq, the United States lost half as many people, 15).

Pharmacies have always been at the forefront of selling “special” substances to the afflicted. Today’s tramadol and harmless atusinchiki are a trifle compared to what was happening in the days of dry laws. In the States, for example, the Jake drink, a Jamaican ginger tincture, was popular. The authorities, having sniffed out that it was consumed by drinkers, ordered pharmacists to change the formula of the drug so that it tastes nasty. An industrial plasticizer went into action – then it was believed that it was harmless. The result is hundreds of paralyzed tasters and several horrific deaths.

The prohibitionist measures of the US government did not touch one interesting drug rich in ellagolic acid – it was prescribed for people with heart disease and malignant tumors. The wonderful panacea is well known to us – it is malt whiskey. It was sold in pharmacies and cost a lot of money, but it was the only almost legal alcohol that could be obtained at that time.

In pre-revolutionary Russia, alcohol was not banned – it was dispensed by prescription in a pharmacy. A whole galaxy of Aesculapius-dealers appeared, who handed out prescriptions for the drug for money. Apothecaries also had their share in the “business”. The tradition continued in the USSR during the era of stagnation – in pharmacies it was possible to buy both medical alcohol (by prescription), and all sorts of hawthorn, calendula, eucalyptus.

Third toast. For beautiful ladies!

“Thanks to the native party and Gorbachev personally! My sober husband came home and you….l great!” – such a ditty went with us during the anti-alcohol campaign of the late 80s. And in general, it is believed that the bulk of the supporters of Prohibition in Russia and throughout the world belong to the fair sex.

The beginning of an active fight against alcoholism is associated with the development of emancipation. At the end of the 1893th and beginning of the 18th centuries, hundreds of pious organizations operated in the Old and New Worlds, mostly religious and predominantly women’s. In the States, even after the Civil War, the so-called “Women’s Christian Temperance Union” appeared, and in 1929 the “Anti-Saloon League” – organizations that subsequently had a decisive influence on the adoption of the 1958th amendment. Similar “public associations” were created in the USSR – just under the campaigns of 1972, 1985, XNUMX, XNUMX.

Known, for example, such a “wrestler” with alcoholism, like Callie Nation. She traveled across the States holding an ax in one hand and a bible in the other. In every city, she broke into the saloons and crushed everything she saw with her hatchet, saying that the liquor dealers “lured men straight to hell.” Later, the old woman changed her name to Carry A. Nation (support the nation), began to publish a newspaper and “sober” souvenirs, on which, they say, she had a good income. Why not the American Dream?

But emancipation is a double-edged sword. Among the women there were many who liked to drink and did not support the unconstructive “ban and period!”. For example, a well-known opponent of Prohibition in the United States was Grace Coolidge – by the way, the wife of President Calvin Coolidge. She loved good liquor, criticized the anti-alcohol policy of the Republicans and even named her dog “Rob Roy” – after the famous cocktail based on scotch and vermouth. They say that after this, the love of Americans for their First Lady skyrocketed.

Prohibition in America was accompanied by a surge in female alcoholism. The reason is simple – the ladies, who before the ban drank mainly wine and light cocktails, began to consume low-grade strong whiskey together with their husbands. The same was observed in our country – everyone knows the colognes “Jasmine” and “Rose Water”, which were considered “female” drinks.

Fourth toast. There are no irreplaceable!

Banned alcohol? Well, people will find a way to “kill themselves” without your wines and cognacs! Everything went into the business – cosmetics, shampoos, tooth elixirs, “anti-freeze” and other muck. Soviet alcoholics, and not only alcoholics, were especially famous for their ingenuity.

Here is a small “TOP” of their favorite “cocktails”:

• Cucumber lotion. 68% + relatively sane taste. All that had to be done before drinking was to dip a red-hot piece of iron into the liquid, which supposedly cleansed the drink of toxic impurities.
• Varnish. The unforgettable Venechka Erofeev claimed that every baby knows how to clean polish. To do this, 100 grams of salt is poured into a liter of liquid, the mixture is shaken, after which foam and sediment are removed. People who often drank this marvelous drink turned brown-purple in their faces, for which they were called “eggplants.”
• Clay BF, aka Boris Fedorych. Before use, the glue was allowed to “drill” – they put a working drill into the jar, which gradually wound the adhesive. They threw it away, and the remaining alcohol with a terrible chemical aroma was drunk with pleasure.
• Denatured alcohol. Before use, this swill underwent a real “purification by fire” – it was set on fire and waited. When the flame turned blue, the methanol burned out, the liquid was drinkable. Due to the fact that a skull and crossbones were painted on bottles of methylated spirits, it was often called Cognac “Mastrossky”, two seeds.
• Dichlorvos. Disinsectal had a double effect – both alcoholic and toxic. Most often it was puffed into a mug of beer. Only no more than two zilch – otherwise you can die!
• And, finally, the highlight of the program is shoe polish! The method of cleaning it is simple and ingenious – shoe polish was smeared on a piece of bread, which absorbed alcohol over time, after which the bread was eaten. True, shoe polish was reserved for the most extreme case, when there was simply nothing else left – the chance to “glue boots together” is too great.

Fifth toast. If you want to do well – do it yourself!

The main panacea for Prohibition in Russia is known under the name: “moonshine”, “sam”, “kosorylovka”, “tyrant” and so on. In America, its name was the more poetic “Moonshine Liquor” or simply “Moonshine”. But the essence of this did not change – the same homemade liquor from the simplest and most affordable ingredients – cereals, sugar, fruits, etc.

In the USSR, moonshine was driven regardless of whether the state is currently fighting alcoholism or not. But during the days of prohibition in Russia, the inventive mind of our man invented more and more new ingredients. For example, it was at this time that mash began to be made from candy pads. When the stores ran out of sugar and sugar-containing products, potatoes, beet tops, and molasses were used. Anyone who has tried treacle moonshine knows how disgusting it is – the headache after it may not stop for 2-3 days, and the redness of the eyes does not go away for weeks! As Ostap Bender said:Even from an ordinary stool you can drive moonshine. Some people love the stool».

My father told a funny story about one moonshine “point”. “Maman” Aunt Klava was unhappy with the fact that customers constantly take away the glasses they have been given out. As a result, two holes were made in the shutter of her house. It was necessary to stick the head into one, and the hand into the second, small one. When a thirsty person voluntarily placed himself in this makeshift pillory, they poured him a glass that could only be drunk inside – he did not climb through the hole.

In the States in the 30s, the production of “Moon Liquor” reached an absolutely unimaginable scale. Despite all the efforts of the police, bootleggers hunted wherever possible – in their own homes, in forests, on abandoned farms. They were caught, but they returned again, despite inhumanly cruel punishments. A case is known when the court sentenced an 85-year-old man to five years of hard labor and a fine of $ 500 for driving several bottles of whiskey to a holiday for himself and friends.

In 1926, the largest underground distillery in US history was discovered in Oklahoma City. The total volume of its production capacity exceeded 100 liters, the workshop was underground, at a depth of 000 meters, illegal water supply, electricity and an elevator were laid to it.

By the end of the 20s, in some states, violations of the eighteenth amendment accounted for 95% of all crimes. The state spent about a billion dollars annually on the fight against moonshiners, more than 75 people were arrested every year. A quarter of a million cops enforced Prohibition, and another 000 fought corruption in the ranks of that quarter.

Last toast. A little beer after.

During the anti-alcohol campaigns, not only strong liquor, but also innocent beer was persecuted. For example, in Iceland, Prohibition was abolished in 1935, but teetotaler organizations begged for an indulgence – beer remained banned for another 50 years. On March 1, 1985, the government lifted the illogical ban. Since then, every year in early March, it is customary for Icelanders to drink beer all night long, and the foamy drink itself has become a favorite in this country and even received national status. That’s what is called “dorval”!

Slightly better things were in Australia. During the First World War, Australians worked for the defense industry from 6 am to 5 pm. After that, the workers were supposed to sleep, so the bars closed at exactly 17.00. Drinkers were forced to leave work early to have time to drink beer. By the way, there was only one glass for each visitor, a new portion was poured only when the previous one was over.

And during Prohibition in the United States, there was even a slogan “No beer – no work! By the early 30s, it was widely believed among workers that the government was deliberately not repealing the unprofitable amendment in order to receive bribes from the mafia and bootleggers. Before Prohibition, beer was very popular, but in the 20s, most of the large factories went bankrupt, they began to produce yeast, sweets and other goods. Only “Budweiser” remained afloat, which was the first to master the production of “almost beer” – a weak malt drink with 0.5% alcohol. The Americans spat, but drank, and the well-known brand remained well-known. This allowed Budweiser to become the most popular beer after the repeal of Prohibition in America.

In general, during the times of dry laws, a lot of interesting things happened – strange, unusual, even wild. God grant that you and I only have to read about it, but not feel it in our own skin. I am for everyone to be able to introduce their own “dry laws” for themselves and cancel them when, where and with whom they want.

And I would like to end the article (and this Friday evening) with the famous words of Franklin Roosevelt, spoken immediately after the eighteenth amendment suffered its dizzying collapse: “now it’s time for a beer! “