U.S. Alcohol Variations

[Thagomizer]

Captain,

A little history seems to be appropriate here.

Fifty years ago, home brewing was illegal in Texas. However, I could purchase cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon hop-flavored malt syrup in our grocery stores. (We Texans are not always law-compliant on trivial issues.)  I sometimes wondered who was pouring hop-flavored malt syrup on their pancakes and waffles.

I brewed in a six-gallon ceramic crock with a loose-fitting heavy ceramic lid for the initial high krausen process. (I had not heard the term “high krausen” at that time.)   Afterwards, I siphoned the brew into a five-gallon bottle with a fermentation lock for finishing the process.

When fermentation seemed to be complete, bottling was in order. To put this in proper perspective, you must realize that I was brewing with baker’s yeast. This will support an alcoholic concentration of up to 18%. The wort I provided was probably good for about 5% ABV fully consumed. Therefore, I had a starving, voracious yeast at bottling time. If I threw a pinch of priming sugar into the brew an almost volcanic eruption occurred.

How to proceed? There were two approaches

·         Be nimble in adding the priming sugar and capping.

·         Add the calculated total amount of priming sugar to the wort; wait for the eruption to subside; then stir, bottle and cap in a timely manner. (Much less urgency.)

Had I realized my situation, I would have adopted the second method. I will use the “pinch of priming sugar test” on future brews using Cooper’s yeast.

Life is good.

[Captain 3 Droids]

To be honest I just can’t believe no home brewing only 50 years ago. Was that to protect the brewing industry.

To this day a number of countries in Europe there are are restrictions as to the number of home brew litres.
 

Us bloody Aussie home brewers try so hard to make up to you all. 😃🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺

[Thagomizer]

Captain,

Texas politics is sometimes reactive.  A significant number of citizens were still upset that Prohibition had been repealed by the 21st amendment to the US constitution in 1933.  Texas law still forbade home brewing until sometime in the 1970's.  None of us paid much attention to this and the law was pretty much ignored except that it was difficult to obtain brewing supplies.  (There are no known arrests of home brewers during this period.)

To put this in perspective, Texas has 254 counties which are divided into a various number of precincts.  Each precinct has the right to determine liquor sale privileges; i.e., a precinct can be Wet, Damp or Dry (colloquial terms).

·         Wet:     Distilled spirits, wine and beer can be sold.

·         Damp:  Beer (and sometimes wine) can be sold.

·         Dry:      No alcoholic beverages can be sold

Fortunately, I live in a “damp” precinct, but I am close to a “wet” precinct where I can purchase Kilbeggan Irish whiskey and other fine spirits.

Things have now relaxed somewhat in that I can order any brewing supplies I want over the Internet except for distillation equipment in which I have no interest.

And we Yanks (especially Texan Yanks) admire and appreciate your Aussie spirit, independence and brewing skills.

Remember the Alamo!

Life is good.😃

[Captain 3 Droids]

Thanks for that Thagomizer, I could tolerate the “damp” but the dry…..’

[Thagomizer]

Patrick,

Texas was not quite so openly "extralegal".  During the summer of 1963 I was working as an engineering intern for a petroleum company in Tyler, Texas.  Smith County was totally dry.  You had to drive to a liquor store called The County Line at the edge of Smith County to buy anything alcoholic.  That highway required a lot of maintenance due to excessive traffic.  On one visit there at opening time on a Saturday morning, I saw a panel truck from a major Tyler Hotel in the parking lot.  It was being loaded with cases of beer, wine and distilled spirits.  Apparently, this was the week's supply for hotel guests (for a large markup at the hotel).  Strangely, I was given a free case of beer.  Sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time. 😉

[Patrick Barnwell]

 Thagomizer

i Visited Shepard AFB in Wichita Fall Tx several time for training, on the weekends a lot of the guys would head north to the border after the NCO club closed because the OK bars stayed open much later…. I always planned ahead and stocked up on two fingers tequila from the class 6 store on base so I could host after hours parties in the barracks …. .. a long time ago

[Thagomizer]

Patrick,

First of all:  Thank you for your service to both our countries.

I'm glad you were able to cope with our ridiculously complex liquor laws during your stay in the US.  

Unfortunately, the US was still reeling from:

• The 18^th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1919 which forbade the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages
• The 21^st Amendment to the US Constitution in 1933 which cancelled the 18^th.

The 18^th Amendment was considered "Anglo-Saxon Insanity" by many of our European immigrants.  They were right.

The 21^st Amendment was intended to restore some sense of order and to minimize the criminal opportunistic gains provided by Prohibition.

This was a failure and Organized Crime simply diverted to other vices.

There was great confusion as Federal law allowed alcohol, so local sovereignties often retained control.

htgrfedhgtfrewu yThagomizer

[Rob Courtney]

This has been a very interesting thread to read, especially the licencing laws. I'd imagine property values dip in the dry areas

[Rob Courtney]

 

[Rob Courtney]

My favourite part was asking a few of the old fellas the question when they had obviously been having a good session all day with no food. Had no idea why turning the glass upside down was a problem until he did it...

[Thagomizer]

3 hours ago, Rob Courtney said:

This has been a very interesting thread to read, especially the licencing laws. I'd imagine property values dip in the dry areas

Not for long.  When I bought my current house 19 years ago, I discovered that it was in a dry precinct.  It was a new housing development and other new dwellers of like mind quickly got an ordinance amendment proposal passed on our next precinct meeting.  On the next ballot, the new homeowners voted overwhelmingly to make us a "damp" precinct.  Democracy works.

[Thagomizer]

There is an irony to this.  During the time it took to convert our precinct from "dry" to "damp," I could buy the non-alcoholic wine preferred by my bride in local grocery stores.  I still had to drive about 10 miles (16 km) to the liquor store in an adjacent "wet" precinct to obtain the beer and wines that I wanted.  

When the new rules went into effect, the local grocery stores dropped their non-alcoholic products and re-stocked with conventional beers and wines; therefore, I had to go to the liquor store to buy my bride's non-alcoholic wine although I could obtain my wine and beer at the local grocery.

Life is good - but can be strange. 😐

[Captain 3 Droids]

This us some surprising and strange info for us piss head Aussie drinkers.