The Hound was having his usual Leinie's Honey Weiss (with lemon) on draw at a local watering hole on Monday. Lost in the golden taste and admiring the deep-grained mahogany bar --- which certainly could tell a tale or twelve --- when a grizzled senior citizen said: "Seventy-five years ago you would be drinking your first legal beer in 13 years."
Excuse The Hound, but paying attention to 75-year anniversaries isn't yet on my MySpace account. But the senior was right.
On April 7, 1933, the taps were reopened after our great social experiment (or failure depending if you were a wet or a dry) and beer flowed for everyone when Prohibition ended. For some in Lake County, such as the good citizens of Zion, which went wet just a few years ago, there were some holdouts to returning to selling booze. Beer was legalized first; then distilled spirits and wine a year later.
It was a dismal period, if watching "The Untouchables" on "ME TV" is any indication.
"And," the senior noted, "you can thank a Democrat for that. Now buy me a beer."
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