Prohibition Ends

The Twenty-first Amendment was adopted on December 5, 1933 and became became officially effective on December 15.

The (1920) 18th Amendment (that “the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited”) was thereby repealed and such activities (albeit subject to regulation) became legalised.  This wowser-inspired law conclusively demonstrated that when you wish to ban a well-established vice, be careful what you wish for…

Repeal was enough to justify reaching for the nearest bottle of really good champagne!

Edgar Allan Poe would have been bemused.  Here are Poe‘s Lines on Ale:

Fill with mingled cream and amber,
I will drain that glass again.
Such hilarious visions clamber
Through the chamber of my brain –
Quaintest thoughts – queerist fancies
Come to life and fade away;
What care I how time advances?
I am drinking ale today.